Jul 25, 2011 - 2:54 AM
If you'd made clear you were meeting a guide then you would have actually got the information you were looking for. So, now you've revealed what you actually want then the correct answer would be that there's the SAC Mönchsjochhütte. You could stay there but it would be daft to walk up and down the cafe. What you could do is ask the guide to meet you at the hut. So what you should do is ask the guide, which frankly is what you ought to have done to start with being as you're paying them.
Drip feeding information where the answers relate to life or death safety isn't very sensible is it? I appreciate you can't see you're wrong but how do you expect me to know you've booked a guide if you don't say so? How can I tell from what you posted that you're not a tourist arriving who's heard the Mönch is an easy peak and decided to have a go in training shoes? Clearly my assessment that this was a new activity for you was entirely correct and it would not have taken much to add "with a local guide" to your first post would it?
If people don't want professional advice then I'll not bother, I'm not being paid for it and I'm not going to put up with someone being rude.
Arno really needs to give a little thought to how to answer similar questions in future, it's pretty clear quite a few mountain incidents have their roots in accident chains initiated on forums.
All that said, the Mönch is a great climb, mixed snow and rock, an "airy" ridge traverse and views over the entire Oberland and most of Switzerland on a good day. Have a good time!