Titlis

My mom came to visit us in Switzerland this week.  We spent several days entertaining her in Zurich in the evenings (while she explored the city on her own during the day), and then on the weekend I took her up into the mountains to get a feel for the real Switzerland.  Initially I was planning to go to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, or Interlaken to see Jungfrau, Moench, and Eiger, but the weather forecast said that it would be rainy and storming over the weekend, so I decided that it wasn't worth spending the money to get there if the views were going to be all cloudy.

Instead, we decided to go to a 'local' mountain - Mount Titlis (I still snicker everytime I say it). Titlis (hee hee) is about a 2.5 hour train ride, plus a .5 hour gondola ride away from Zurich, so perfect for a day trip.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a beautiful sunny day, so there was little chance that we'd get disappointed.

We packed our bags, wearing light summer clothes and taking extra warm clothes for the cold mountain top (there's a glacier on mount Titlis, so you know it has to be cold up there).  We left early in the morning, and took an hour to look around Luzern while waiting for the next train to Engelberg. We walked over the covered bridge, and wondered why there were so many bridges in the town.

Then made sure we got a good seat on the train up the mountain.  After reaching Engelberg, a sleepy ski town known for its monastery and lots of statues of angels everywhere, we took a series of gondolas all the way to the top of the mountain (3238 meters above sea level).

The last gondola was the world's first rotating gondola.  Not quite as exciting as it sounds, but neat.

Up at the top there is a snackbar with a nice sundrenched terrace (complete with lounge chairs for suntanning and an amazing view), and a chairlift to the glacier park.  We even got to see the Titlis Buddah (giggle).

Apparently the Swiss mountains are used in many Bollywood films, and have since become very popular with tourists from India.  I got to take my picture with some stars - not sure who they are, but they must be popular.

Being the adventurous cheapskates that we are, we decided to walk down to the glacier park, rather than take the very expensive chairlift.  The walking was tough since the snow was very soft.  Also the fact that we were so high up and that there was snow everywhere didn't change the fact that it was still really hot!  Unfortunately halfway down the path was closed, so we could go no further.  We never made it to the glacier park and all its toys,

but we did get more superb views.

After walking back up the snow hill (not easy in the high altitude), we had lunch and then went back down the mountain as the storm clouds approached (the weather forecast was spot on).

We also ran across some Marmots - spot the Marmots.

Hiking in the Alps

Well we didn't exactly take it easy for our next hike.

We chose a two day walk that include a climb of 1000 vertical meters, followed by a descent of another 1000 vertical meters.  In between the two was an overnight stay in a mountain hut.  Luckily they provided dinner, breakfast and beds with bedding  so we didn't have to carry food, tent, sleeping bag or mattress.  Too easy!

Link to details of the track.

We woke up at the crack of dawn and set off early on the train. 

The problem with taking the train in switzerland is that you can't really sleep on the train because you'll miss spectacular scenery - every time I was almost asleep a mountain or clear blue lake would appear and I would stare at it in amazement.

Eventually we reached the final train station and got in a post auto (it sounds more spectacular than it is - it's just a regular bus) to take us up the first half of the mountain where we would start the hike in a town called Vrin.

When we arrived in Vrin it was like stepping into a postcard. Everything was there: the mountains, the green grass, the wooden houses, the swiss flags, and even the cows wearing cowbells. 

We walked along the road for a while until it actually ended and then moved on to a dirt road until that ended at an electric fence.  It took us a while to figure out how to cross that, until Sally noticed that there were conveniently placed handles that allowed us to unhook the line, go through the gate, and then rehook it.  After the fence, the road wound up the hill through a field of grazing cows - well the cows weren't so much on the field as on the road.  

We got distracted taking pictures of the cows and missed the sign that told us to turn off the road and onto the actual hiking trail.  So we kept going up the hill until the GPS noticed that we were not following the right trail. 

Back down the hill, past the cows, until we found the trail again.  Then up, up, up, until the herders hut, where we had lunch with the cows.

Then up some more, where we came across a man who chatted with Sally (but it turns out Sally didn't understand a word of what he said), crossed through a stream, and climbed some more.

Eventually we came across snow.  The first patch excited us, but once we started coming across big patches that we had to cross, we were less excited.  After several patches, it became a big snow field, and we put on our sweaters and hats and slogged through it. 

At the top of the snowfield was our summit - the highest point of our walk at around 2400 meters.  

We were ecstatic that we made it and that the rest of the way would be downhill. 

Also the view was spectacular.  We looked over the Grenier plateau - an alpine meadow usually full of wildflowers, however at this time of the year it was full of magnificent snow fields.  We didn't miss the flowers, since we'd seen plenty coming up - but the snow view really was amazing.

Upon leaving the snowfield we found a nice spot to rest and have another snack.  Then we saw our destination.  

The hut. On a little peak in the middle of the valley, past a larger peak. (The hut is very remote. They bring supplies in by helicopter every week.)  It was beautiful. And unreal, like a movie scene.  But what moved us the most was that we had to climb down, then up a steep peak, then down, then up again!  This wasn't in the walk description, nor in the elevation profile.  That and we had to be at the hut by 7pm and it was already getting close to 6pm! 

We accepted our fate, and powered on down into the valley, crossed the bridge over the rumbling waterfall, and up the next hill.  This was a steep climb that traversed the edge of a sharp drop off into the gorge.  Things were going well until, at the most difficult part of the track, a snowdrift blocked the way.  We managed to scramble off the track, up the rock and over the top of the snow drift, and back down the other side.  We made it safely, but it was pretty harrowing.  

We were very gad to make it to the hut just in time for dinner.

The hut was cosy and warm and full of other hikers.  We had a filling dinner and some cold drinks.  We could feel the heat radiating out of our faces - it had been a sunny day and all the snow only made it stronger.  Several of the people we shared our dinner table with were very clearly sunburnt.  We were smart and used sunscreen.

After dinner we went straight to bed.  the rooms weren't heated, but were well insulated and soon enough we stopped shivering and fell asleep.

In the morning we awoke to beautiful mountain views through the little window in our room (I don't think the hut had a single room without stunning views though).  Breakfast was muesli, bread, and tea (or coffee).  Simple, but oh so good.

This second day promised to be easier since it was all downhill.  But before we got to the downhill we still had to traverse some snowfields and climb up another hill to get around the gorge.  While the day started off cold, the sun was out and we soon got rid of all our sweaters and extra tshirts, and were back to our summer hiking gear.  The track was pretty mild for a while, meandering over hill tops, taking us along the river valley closer to our destination.  We were happy at how easy the day was compared to yesterday.

But then it was time to do the descending.  It was a very steep goat or sheep track that just kept going down and down on loose rock.  Going down sounds like fun when you've been walking uphill all day, but it soon gets very tiring and difficult.  Also it hurts your feet.  The downhill left us with squashed toes and blisters by the end.

But as we got lower and lower, we made it back into the cow zone, and then into the tree zone, and everything became green and alive again. And of course we were greeted by the ringing of cowbells off in the distance.  With all the pine trees around the alps suddenly started looking a lot like North America!

The trail eventually flattened out again and we happily skipped along it, happy (for our legs and feet) that it would all soon be over.

In the morning before we left we had decided that we would aim to catch the alpine bus at 12:00 at the end of the trail (since the next one would be at 4pm and the walk to the train station would take at least 3 hours).  Well we missed the bus (by an hour) so we decided to stop at the lake (fed by ice cold mountain water) and rest our feet before walking on to the train station. 

The lake was a beautiful blue-green colour, and the water icy cold.  We soaked our tired feet and enjoyed the warm sun.  Then got up and marched on.  the rest of the walk was along a paved road, which is a lot less interesting than mountain tracks, and we soon tired of it.  Luckilly a car drove by and we managed to hitch a ride all the way back to the train station (the driver was a hiker too and had stayed the night in the same hut as us).

Before going home, we stopped in at a pub in a small town called Chur and watched Germany defeat England in the football.  A good end to a great weekend (even though we were cheering for England).

Next time I think we really will take it easy.