Aarbiwak

The Aarbiwak is a remote high mountain bivouac of the Swiss Alpine Club SAC Pilatus and is located at 2731 m in the rear Aar massif in the municipality of Guttannen in the Bernese Oberland, directly at the foot of the Lauteraarhorn in the middle of a wide glacier basin. The small metal hut offers 17 simple sleeping places and is open all year round as an unattended shelter; in practice, it is mainly used during the high-altitude touring season in summer and early fall. The bivouac is mainly used by independent rope teams who bring their own food; the hut has cooking and eating utensils, two camping gas stoves with suitable gas cartridges and some non-alcoholic drinks for a fee, but running water is only available outside on a rock face, in a rain barrel or on the nearby glacier. The normal ascent starts at the Grimsel Hospiz on the Grimsel Pass road and leads as a long glacier tour in around 7 to 8 hours and around 1000 meters in altitude via Grimselsee, Unteraar-, Finsteraar- and Strahleggletscher to the bivouac; an alternative route runs from the Grimsel Pass at Berghaus Oberaar and takes around 7½ hours. The Aarbiwak serves as a starting point for high-altitude tours on the Lauteraarhorn, Finsteraarhorn and Studerhorn as well as for crossings via the Strahleggpass, Finsteraarjoch and Agassizjoch to neighboring SAC huts. The first bivouac was built in 1973, but was destroyed by a storm the following winter; the current, storm-proof bivouac was built a little lower down on the rock face by volunteers from the Pilatus section in July 1976. Current weather and glacier conditions, closures and advice from the section should be checked carefully before setting off on a tour (sac-pilatus.ch).