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Tuesday/Wednesday, August 7th/8th, 2007
After our "descent" into Adelboden, the following day, appropriately enough, dawned grey and wet. Given this, we decided not to hike the planned route via Engstligenalp, Ammertentaelli, and the Simmenfaelle, but instead to take the much easier, lower, and shorter route over the Hahnenmoos pass (5.25 hours estimated).
In fact, it ended up being a fairly long day anyway, for several reasons. Firstly we started late, then Lidia spent 45 minutes on her cellphone (while stationary) talking with Madi who was having a case of nerves during a thunderstorm while waiting for her flight from Bucharest to Munich. Then there were multiple changes of clothing as the rain stopped, then started, then stopped, then....
In the meantime Russ and Sally had gone on ahead and inadvertently taken a much longer route to the pass (involving a walk along a knife-edge ridge, and then getting lost for a half an hour in the clouds), so they finally arrived at the pass almost an hour after we did!
Actually in a way we were lucky, both because although it rained much of the time it was only a light rain/drizzle, and also because unlike the hall-full of glum looking model airplane enthusiasts in the restaurant at the pass, who were there for some competition or other, at least we were able to do what we had planned to do, even if not under the best of circumstances.
Nevertheless it was not what you would call a "fun day", and it was therefore perhaps not surprising that in the evening Ioana and Lidia decided that, with the weather forecast predicting further rain until Friday at least and possibly to the weekend, they would abandon the hiking to those nuts who are too obsessed to do something more sensible like watching movies at home on a couch in a dry house (can't say I understand the logic of this myself, but I suppose that I may be a trifle obsessed...).
As I write this, it is late afternoon during our rest day here in Lenk. Lidia and Ioana have left. It is raining cats and dogs and has been all day. The river I can see from my hotel window has risen almost a meter since this morning (another 70cm and it will overflow). I'm hungry because I skipped lunch, and will get much hungrier because I have subsequently learned that a conference call at one of the companies I'm involved with has been scheduled for 6PM, so dinner will be later than I had planned. Tomorrow's hike to Gsteig is a long one with two passes: 20km, +1480m, -1360m and no shorter options. The weather is still forecasted to be just as lovely as it is today.
This, my friends, is the dark side of the H2H.
If I don't drown, I'll try to post again tomorrow evening to let you know how it went. Bleah.
