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Thursday, August 8th, 2007
Well, the river in Lenk didn't flood overnight, but we did have another surprise when we woke up: snow down to around 1700m. Our planned route for the day would have taken us over 2040m... not good. I studied the map and found an alternative: we could go further north, cross a lower pass (around 1700m) and then descend to Gstaad, from where we would walk up valley about 10km to get to Gsteig. Much longer in total, but less up and down, so the time should be about the same. A question to the hotel owner confirmed our impression: the high pass was not recommended for walkers today. So that was that.
We set off around 9 (later than usual, in spite of the expected long day, because the weather was supposed to improve in the afternoon) in rain. And it continued to rain on us all day. The rain got lighter and lighter, but it never completely stopped. The trail up to the low pass was steep and slippery, the pass (at the snow line) was cold, and the walk down to Gstaad then up to Gsteig was really long (about 16km after we finished the steep part of the descent from the pass).
In addition Russ developed a reprise of his thermonuclear butt-chafe from last year's C2C, so he won't be hiking tomorrow. And Sally, who has I think been secretly hoping for something like this, will also take the day off. So I'll be hiking alone. I'm not going to do the high route that I had planned -- there's still too much snow around for me to feel sure of finding the trails -- but there are plenty of lower level alternatives, so I'm not worried (and you shouldn't be either, Lidia!).
Total for the day was around 7.5 hours for me (longer for Sally and Russ due to various butt-related factors...), but that was only because I practically ran from Gstaad to Gsteig. A more reasonable time would have been around 8.25 hours. So, I'm beat.
Had a great dinner (fondue :-) and the best schnapps I've ever had. Now pleasantly sleepy and will drop off as soon as I turn of the hair-dryer that is currently drying my boots. Tomorrow I cross the Roesti-Graben and must start speaking French (ca va faire grave!).
A bientot....
