UKC

Planning to climb Jungfrau and Monch in early September. On a budget therefore exploring the possibility to camp/bivvy at Jungfraujoch instead of staying in the Mönchsjochhütte Hut.

Wondering has anyone done it before? Is there any anti-camping rules enforced like in the Mont Blanc area? Thanks a lot.

Seems like it's ok. I found this Swiss account of extreme tent testing on the Jungfraujoch from 2016:

https://www.hjop.ch/zelttest-polarmond-auf-dem-jungfraujoch

... winds of 125km/h, -20°C and 1m of new snow in the night (ok, it was January ... ) The tents held up ... have fun!

My guess is the Swiss would take a dim view of this. I'd a least contact tourist information. The Bergli bivouac would  a fantastic alternative. 

If you keep to the true spirit of bivvying by being as invisible/silent/clean as possible then nobody will bother you because they will never see you. But yeah the Swiss are pretty hard fast on the camping rules.

Thought the Mönchsjochhütte Hut was expensive but was wrong! 28CHF (bed only) and plenty of spaces. Guess that's why can't find much information on camping in Jungfraujoch. Will just go for the hut then.

Back in the day folk would kip in a sleeping bag in the corridor just inside the door out onto the glacier, but I guess they'll have put a stop to that these days.

the train up there is the most expensive bit, 200CHF for a return ticket each

I didnt believe you so i went to order some and today it would cost 225.60CHF. Insane

15CHF for a bottle of water too

Prices set by the demand from coach trips. Not sure if you can sneak on at the lowish mid station or pay significantly less by walking up to it. 

Not much difference.  Possibly cheaper options:

Buy a Swiss half fare card (or similar) and use public transport throughout a trip.

Walk in from Fiesch to the Jungfraujoch

Climb the Inner Rottal Ridge to get to the Jungfraujoch.

Yes  It's a nice long rambling, scenic, slightly down hill walk off the back.  But an unrelenting tedious mind destroying walk up. Imho. 

But if you've got more fitness than cash, walking in is the solution. The money saved would pay for food in the hut. 

The cheapest way would be to take 2 days: 1. Fiescheralp (public transport to here from Lötschental) - Konkordiahütte; 2. continue to Mönchsjochhütte. The glaciers are all at present unproblematic and without snow according to the Konkordiahütte website. Definitely better for acclimatisation, much cheaper, and absolutely magnificent scenery!

only 5chf if you buy the boiled stuff.

there should be plenty of snow around to melt in September though I imagine clokpin will be taking a stove if they're only thinking of paying for a bed and not board

I initially thought that the lady behind the counter meant for the two of us, I was sadly mistaken. 

I suppose its not that bad when you think most of that money is being paid by tour groups, and that a percentage of that money will go towards conserving paths and services that we enjoy.

"...that a percentage of that money will go towards conserving paths and services that we enjoy."

I can't see any evidence of that on the Jungfraujoch website, for that matter I can't see any sort of CSR information on the site. The railway is owned by a private company, operated as a tourist attraction for a profit. It'd be great if it was the case that some of that money does go back into funding environmental causes and offsetting the impact of both climbers and tourists though.

EDIT:

Apologies, the above comes across a little confrontational

haha thats the least confrontational reply i have probably ever had on UKC. I was just looking for a silver lining, i need to get into the rail business $$$$.

You could also start from the Grimsel side rather than Fiesch (better to reach by public transport from the North), and walk in via Oberaarjoch, Finsteraarhornhütte, Grünhornlücke and around or over Trugberg. A bit longer (half a day or so), but great!

I did more or less that route some years ago, and agree it's a nice easy walk, though I found the trek up the glacier from Konkordia to Jungfraujoch rather a tedious slog. We stopped at Oberaarjoch and Finsteraarhorn huts on the way to take in a couple of peaks.

On the Jungfraujoch railway, it used to be the case that the early morning train (mostly used to take supplies and staff up  to the top) was a little bit cheaper, though still expensive. Don't know if that's still the case.

Still true:

https://www.jungfrau.ch/shop/en/good-morning-ticket-jungfraujoch/

Half fare card:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/travel-in-switzerland/international-...

is basically free if used for this journey

When I walked down from the Eigergletscher station to Grindelwald Grund this summer there were half a dozen guys in fluro PPE drilling on the cliff above the start of the 'eiger trail' and the trail had been re-routed lower down. I dunno who's paying for that work (rock scaling to prevent rockfall?) but it's not cheap.