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Friday July 27th, 2007
Another significant hike today, with one of the greater downhill walks to be done on the H2H: some 1600m in a single continuous descent. But it was a glorious hike! The views were once again remarkable, both to our left where the centerpiece was a huge glacier, and ahead across the deep Haslital to the vertical wall of the 3700m Wetterhorn and the Grosse Scheidegg pass that we will cross to get to Grindelwald during the next stage.
The day was mostly sunny, but there were some clouds, at times lower than we were, which kept the heat down. The path was excellent: well maintained and graded, and the distance and climbing and descent were all rendered much easier as a result. A tough day, with some 6.5 hours of fairly fast hiking, but an immensely enjoyable one.
Except, perhaps, for Beatrice during the descent. Bea's weak knee causes her to change her gait to accommodate it, and that leads to various other problems. She was during the first two days most sensible about taking gondolas and chairlifts at times to reduce the daily stress, but today, perhaps under the overly benign influence of Voltarene, her painkiller of choice, she was too ambitious and took only the last of the series of four lifts down from the top. The result: she announced at dinner that her leg had seized up on her as soon as she got into the gondola, and that the apothecary she visited thought that the problem might be tendon / ligament related, so her participation in the H2H might be over.
And then we saw once more the benefit of having our own personal ER doc (Notarzt) along with us. Russell asked a few questions, pressed a few places on Bea's leg, and announced that he thought it was a muscle strain and that with ice, massage, and the judicious application of a miracle ointment she should make a swift recovery... perhaps even quick enough to allow her to hike to Grindelwald after the rest day.
His advice was followed to the letter, and so it turned out to be: at breakfast the following morning, Bea announced that her leg was feeling much better. The miracle ointment (distastefully produced by catching, killing, and rendering marmots (Murmeltiere), and purchased a couple of days earlier at Staefeli) had done its job once more. Our perfect record of having had no drop-outs due to the stresses of the H2H will continue!
