In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
John Lisker/Jeanne Blauner
SUMMARY OF TRIP INFORMATION
In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
Leader John Lisker
Co-leader Jeanne Blauner
Central Switzerland
11-25 July 2015
Total # of days 15
Backpacking
Bicycling-Mountain
Bicycling-Road
Title of trip
Leadership
Location(s)
Dates
Type of trip
check all that apply
Primary type of trip
Number of participants
(excluding leaders)
Advertised cost
Airfare range if not included
When should the trip notice be
published in AMC Outdoors?
Do you wish to have your trip
listed online before it is
published in AMC Outdoors?
Smaller trips and leader
subsidization
Camping
Cultural
Family
Hiking
Paddling-Canoeing
Paddling-Sea-Kayaking
Skiing-CrossSkiing-Downhill
Snorkeling
Country (Nordic)
(Alpine)
Trekking (e.g., hutWalking
Other – please describe
to-hut)
Trekking (e.g., hut-to-hut)
Select one of those checked above.
Minimum 10
Maximum 10
$ 2,450
Does it include airfare? Yes
No
$ 1,100-1,300
Will leaders assist participants with flights? Yes
No
First Appearance: Month Nov-Dec
Year 2014
Last Appearance: Month May-Jun
Year 2015
Note: AMC Outdoors is only published in Jan., March, May, July, Sept., Nov.
Yes
No If yes, please list the approximate month and year when it should
be posted on line. 1 Oct 2014
Is this proposal for a small group trip – i.e., less than 14 participants and 2
leaders or 7 participants and 1 leader? Yes
No
If yes, why is a small group proposed? small groups are better and safer in back
country adventures
If a participant fee increase of more than 15% is proposed, please explain why?
This trek in a remote setting is a technical trip, justifying 20% leader subsidization rate
LEADER AND CO-LEADER INFORMATION
Leader name
Leader address
Leader email
Leader phone
Wilderness first aid
training
CPR training
Prior leading experience
Trip one
Trip two
Trip three
Form Revised February 2014
John Lisker
2390 Commonwealth Avenue, Auburndale, MA 02466
john.lisker@juno.com
Home 617-244-1636
Work
Cell
WFA
AWFA
WFR
Expiration: May 2015; will take again
CPR
BLS
Expiration: June 2015; will take again
If this is your first Adventure Travel trip as a Leader you must be present at the AMCATC meeting at which the trip proposal is considered.
Please list the last three longer (5+ day) trips you have led for the AMC including
destination, type of trip, dates and number of participants. Feel free to list additional
trips you have led, particularly if they demonstrate experience related to the trip you are
proposing.
Big Bend: Hiking & Art, February 2014
Under the Alpine Giants Hut-to-Hut, August 2013
Down Under Adventure in New Zealand, February 2013
Adventure Travel Trip Proposal Form, page 1 of 5
In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
John Lisker/Jeanne Blauner
Other related trip
experience
Hut-to-Hut in the Dolomites, Aug-Sept 2012, Tuscan Mountains and Cinque Terre, May
2012, Patagonia Feb-Mar 2012, Yosemite backpack July 2011, Canadian Rockies
backpack Aug 2010, New Zealand Jan-Feb 2010, Morocco Feb 2009, Tour du Mont
Blanc July-Aug 2008, New Zealand Feb 2007, Colorado San Juans backpack 1999,
Greece May 1999, Wyoming Wind River Range backpack 1998, Colorado Elk Range
backpack 1997, California High Sierras backpack 1996
Co-leader name
Co-leader address
Co-leader email
Co-leader phone
Wilderness first aid training
CPR training*
Prior leading experience
Trip one
Trip two
Trip three
Other related trip experience
Scouting
Have either of you led this trip
before or traveled to this area?
Languages
Does either the co-leader or
leader speak the local language?
Couples
Do the leader and co-leader
have a significant personal
relationship?
Private trips Do either of you
lead trips that are private - not
sponsored by the AMC?
Jeanne Blauner
509 Neck Road Unit ,1 Lancaster, MA 01523
jablauner@comcast.net
Home 978-202-5606
Work
Cell
WFA
AWFA
WFR
Expiration: March 2016
CPR
BLS
Expiration: March 2016
If you are a new co-leader you must submit an application to be an Adventure Travel
leader or co-leader prior to submitting this application. Also, it is strongly
recommended that you be present at the AMC-ATC meeting at which the trip proposal
is considered.
Please list the last three longer (5+ day) trips you have led for the AMC including
destination, type of trip, dates and number of participants. Please indicate if you were
the leader or co-leader.
AMC Boston Family Outings evaluated trips Feb 2014 Calumet, West Ossipee, NH,
and March 2014 Gale River, Franconia, NH, as well as numerous additonal AMC
Family trips. Week long Sierra Club trips include more recent family trips, two per year
for the past 14 years, to Acadia, the Adirondacks, the White Mtns, and Cape Cod.
International trips include La Traversee de Charlevoix Quebec X country ski Feb 2000,
Dolomites B&B and Hut 1996, Dordogne France Aug 1992, Austrian Alps B&B Sept
1988.
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below:
Steve Cohen ran an almost identical trip in 2013.
Co-leader: Yes
No
Leader: Yes
No
Not applicable:
Yes
No
If yes, please list who has agreed to be your back-up in case one or
both of you need to drop out. This is required for approval!
Yes
No
If yes, please note that you cannot advertise AMC and private
trips together unless there is a clear distinction between the two in any materials
you send out.
LOGISTICAL DETAILS OF TRIP
Summary
Please provide a description
of the trip and the activities
planned. If available, please
include or attach an itinerary.
Accommodations
Please describe your plans for
accommodation(s)
Form Revised February 2014
This trek will follow the route laid out by Kev Reynolds in his recent guidebook, "Hut to
Hut in the Jungfrau Region", and pioneered for the AMC AT program by Steve Cohen in
2013. Aside from the days of arrival and departure there will be hiking every day with
an average altitude gain of ~700m/day, and distance covered of ~10km/day.
Aside from the first two nights and the last night, all accommodations will be either
mountain huts or small mountain hotels.
Adventure Travel Trip Proposal Form, page 2 of 5
In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
John Lisker/Jeanne Blauner
Our plan is to make hut reservations 4-6 months in advance. My experiences and
Steve's (TMB - 2008, Haute Route - 2010, TMB - 2011, Dolomites - 2012) is that at
European mountain huts, when reservations are made well in advance, there is no
problem booking the huts.
Meals: Please describe your
plans for providing meals. If
the budget includes any funds
for leader meals not shared
with the group please justify.
Local Transportation
Please describe your plans for
local transportation
Will leaders or participants be
drivers of motor vehicles?
Permits or permissions
Does the trip require special
permits or permissions?
(required on many U.S.
federal lands and national
parks)
There is always a possibility of a hut that cannot be booked. In some cases we can
substitute a nearby hut and hike a little longer one day and a little shorter the next.
Depending on where the unexpected booking difficulty occurs, we could alternatively
stay in one of the mountains towns that we pass such as Grindelwald.
Starting Sunday 12 July 2015, all breakfasts and dinners will be provided. Lunches can
be purchased at the huts. Alternatively lunch supplies can be bought at local markets.
Boat, bus, and train to Ballenburg Museum, and train to hike start on the first hiking day.
Each person is responsible for getting to the starting point in Interlaken, and getting
home from there.
Will leaders be drivers?
Will volunteer participants be drivers?
If so, MVR checks will be needed. See Appendix S1.
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what you will need to do to obtain them:
If no, please describe the process you went through to find out that they were not
required:
That's just the way it is across the Alps.
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what type of equipment and how you
will ensure that people know how to use it:
Special equipment
Does the trip require special
equipment?
Special experience
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what type of experience? Also describe
Does the trip require special
how you will ensure that the participant has this experience?
skills on the part of the
Experience and ability to hike many consecutive days, with substantial ascents and
participant?
descents, and nontrivial milage.
Pre-trip activities
Yes
No
If yes, please describe below what you will do:
Do you plan to get your group Unless the participants are geographically dispersed, we will have at least one pre-trip
together before the trip for an
outdoor activity to get to know each other.
activity or social event?
This trip will explore both the natural and cultural splendor of the Swiss Alps.
Conservation, education and
We'll interact with locals throughout the trip, learning about their customs,
recreation
How will this AMC-AT trip meet the
natural resource management and environmental stewardship. Along the way,
mission of the AMC?
we'll enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery that generations before us. In
www.outdoors.org/about/mission.cfm
addition, on our first full day, we will visit as a group an outdoor museum
focused on Switzerland's rural agricultural heritage.
TOUR OPERATOR AND GUIDE SERVICE INFORMATION
This section should be completed if the trip will be using a tour operator, outfitter, guide service, travel agency or
other such company or person(s) for a significant part of the trip or for the entire trip. Any person(s) or companies
that are handling a significant portion of trip funds or arrangements need to be vetted. If there is more than one
tour operator please provide this information about each such entity.
Will this trip require a tour
Yes
No
operator or guide service
Please describe their services. If you are using a tour operator for the entire trip,
during part of or for the
please describe why you will be using them rather than doing this trip on your own:
entire trip?
Name of tour operator/guide
service
Form Revised February 2014
Adventure Travel Trip Proposal Form, page 3 of 5
In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
John Lisker/Jeanne Blauner
Tour operator website
Safety record
Please provide information
about their safety record.
Insurance
Do they have liability
insurance?
Emergency response
Please describe the outfitters’
response plan in the case of an
emergency.
Liability? Yes
No
Are they willing to list AMC as an
additional insured?
Maximum amt: $
Yes
No
RISK ASSESSMENT
Please assess the risks and hazards of your trip. Carefully consider each area of risk and how it may affect your trip.
Devise a plan to prevent each hazard and to respond to it if it becomes necessary. Please be very specific for each section
if applicable.
Trail conditions, river crossings, weather, wildlife (bears, snakes, etc.)
Climate/terrain
Potential hazards
Rugged trails, unpredictable mountain weather, altitude.
Response
We will travel as a group and assess conditions as we meet them. There are lodging
options along the route if the itinerary needs to be changed due to unsafe conditions. The
route follows standard, safe trails. If anything obliges us to omit parts of our intended
route, Switzerland has excellent public transportation.
Political concerns, crime, language translation, terrorism
Foreign Country
Potential hazards
None.
Response
Switzerland is an economically and socially stable country.
Road conditions, drivers, insurance
Transportation
Potential hazards
We will get to the Ballenburg Museum and back by boat, bus, and train, and start our
first hiking day with a train ride. When we walk (rarely) on roads, there will always
some small pedestrian risk from vehcles.
Response
Be careful, use common sense.
Level of fitness, screening concerns, experience with equipment or activity
Participants
Potential hazards
Experience level, health, social interactions.
Response
A full screening process will eliminate many potential problems. Any problems which
arise will be dealt with on an individual basis. Both leaders have extensive group
leadership experience and are practiced at handling uncomfortable situations. Potential
health threats will be aired during the screening process so leaders will be aware of
participants' risks. We will look for people with backcountry experience, tolerance for
rustic conditions, and experience in foreign countries.
Conditions unique to this type of trip
Other
Potential hazards
None.
Response
None.
EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN
Please describe your plans for dealing with emergencies. Give as much detail as possible and list any special
communications equipment you may need to ensure the safety of your participants. DO NOT LEAVE THIS BLANK
Mountain huts all have wardens that have communication abilities (e.g. radios,
Emergency communication
Phone contacts, language,
telephones, etc.). The hiking trails we will be on have significant traffic in July. Many
documentation, distance from
Swiss speak English; John has some French.
emergency services
We will be carrying first aid kits and a cell phone with a Swiss SIM.
Emergency equipment
What sort of emergency first
aid or communication
equipment (satellite phone,
two-way radios) do you plan
Form Revised February 2014
Adventure Travel Trip Proposal Form, page 4 of 5
In the Eiger's Shadow: Hut to hut in Switzerland's Jungfrau Region
John Lisker/Jeanne Blauner
to use, if any?
Evacuation
Please describe your plan for
evacuation from the
backcountry location if
applicable?
Medical care
Please describe the medical
care available in the area(s)
where you will be traveling
and list names and telephone
numbers for these facilities.
Mountain safety is taken seriously in the Alps and there are numerous rescue options
including helicopters.
Switzerland has first-world medical facilities. This area has mountain safety and rescue
capability and appropriate facilities.
COST AND BUDGET DETAILS
Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc. Currently the exchange rate is about
Foreign currencies
For int’l trips list each foreign currency, the
$1.12/Swiss Franc; the budget is figured at $1.25/Swiss Franc. Except
current $US dollar exchange rate and what
for leader airfare and minor administrative expenses paid in dollars
contingencies you have if that rate changes. If
here, everything will be paid in Swiss Francs.
a tour operator or agent is being used, what
currency is the agent to be paid in?
Non-refundable airline tickets for the leaders will have to be purchased in advance, but
Group Trip Deposits
What deposits will be required
not until it seems clear that the trip will go. (The cost of refundable tickets is
from you by airlines, hotels, tour prohibitive.) Other reservations do not require deposits or are refundable on short
operators, etc., and when?
notice.
The purchase of non-refundable airline tickets will be postponed until it seems clear
Group Trip Refunds
What is the latest date you can
that the trip will go.
cancel and still receive a full
refund of any deposits?
Initial deposit of $500 are due with application. Second payment of $750 due two
Participant deposits
What are the initial deposit and
weeks after acceptance. Final payment of $1,200 due 1 June 2015. Deposit checks
your schedule of payments by
from wait listed applicants will not be cashed unless and until we accept them AND
participants to you?
they confirm continued interest.
Cancellation by an accepted participant will not be allowed to raise the cost to the
Cancellation policy
What will be your cancellation
other participants or to the leaders. Published MINIMUM penalty schedule: none
policy for the participants?
before February 2015, $200 in February-April , $400 after April 2015. If actual costs
are higher, they will be included in the assessment. We will reserve the right to
REDUCE cancellation penalties if costs incurred can be passed to a replacement
participant.
Minimum numbers
Yes
No
If yes, please describe conditions:
Will you still run the trip if you
do not get the minimum number?
Reference web links:
AMC-ATC Home Page:
Forms:
Deadlines:
E-Mail Addresses:
Club House:
AMC-ATC Chair:
Form Revised February 2014
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/application/
http://snebulos.mit.edu/orgs/amc/committee/proposals/
nholland@outdoors.org
mikebarry657@mac.com
Adventure Travel Trip Proposal Form, page 5 of 5