Stage 33 -- Muerren to Griesalp

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Friday August 3rd, 2007

The weather was improving by the following morning, but there was still a light drizzle falling as we set off at 8:45 in misty clouds: no tremendous views of mountains and glaciers today!

After a damp couple of hours we stopped at the old and atmospheric Rotstock Huette (complete with its old and atmospheric outdoor pit toilets (yuck)) for some restorative hot chocolate and apple tart. Russell and Sally, continuing a pattern that had started on the ascent up to Muerren in the previous stage, thereafter forged on ahead, leaving me and the guest hikers to follow.

The simple fact is that those of us hiking the whole of the H2H are in the meantime in much better shape than some of the guest hikers. This was not unexpected, and for myself I had decided before the hike that when and if such a situation occurred I would hike with the guest hikers, for several reasons:

o Safety: it was quite likely that I'd be more experienced from a hiking perspective than some guest-hikers, and furthermore I would have the maps.

o Morale: if I were a guest hiker and none of the three whole-way hikers were to stay with me, I'd quickly start to feel disheartened and like a second class citizen.

o Being a good host: for the most part the guest hikers are my friends, and it would feel wrong to leave them to hike alone.

o And lastly, entertainment: new faces, new conversations, and after all, what would I do with the time "saved" by hiking faster?

Russell and Sally, perhaps also for various, but different, reasons, and also because with me staying back the guest hikers were not alone, felt free to hike at the speed that was most comfortable for them. As a result, and in spite of waiting for a half an hour at the 2612m Sefinenfurke pass, they reached Griesalp an hour or more ahead of us. We arrived, more or less punctually (as compared to the sign-posted times and my own estimates) around 5PM.

There is perhaps less to say about the trail than usual because for most of the time we were hiking through clouds with limited views. The last couple of hundred meters of climbing before the pass, and the first couple of hundred of descent afterwards, were very steep and tiring (giving us a taste of what was to await us on our hike over the Hohtuerli the following day... but I am getting ahead of myself).

The high-point, at least emotionally, of the day was encountering a small herd of large white goats that seemed to possess a certain nobility, if goats can be said to posess such a quality. They were completely unafraid of us, quite friendly, and left me with the impression that they regarded us as equals... quite different from feeling I get from most domesticated animals other than cats. I found that I quite liked them and learned later that they were a breed from the Saanen region of Switzerland: perhaps we should get some for Provence? On the other hand, having observed the unconcerned way they ignored barbed wire fences (slipping between or under the wires), perhaps not: I'm not sure that we would keep them for long!

Our accommodation for the night, the Berggasthaus Golderli, remains an idiosyncratic place with a disconcerting mixture of friendly generosity and irksome and inflexible rules. However, since there is not much choice in Griesalp (one of the more isolated villages we have come across), as the saying goes: beggars can't be choosers. The alpacas were still there, but at least this time the cows kept their distance in the night and I was able to sleep!

Last comment: there is such a difference in my physical fitness from last time we were here (four years ago): then I was exhausted when I got to Golderli, this time I was only a little tired and could have continued for several additional hours if necessary. A pleasing change!

Rest day in Muerren

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Thursday August 2nd, 2007

With excellent timing the weather turned unpleasant during the night and the our rest day was filled with clouds, rain, and thunderstorms. Despite (or perhaps because of?), this our three Romanian guest-hikers (Bea, Ioana and Lidia) decided to go for a walk. The three of us who are doing the whole of the H2H cannot understand this desire of guest-hikers to move when it is not necessary. We do as little as possible and rejoice when we are fortunate enough to spend such days in a hotel with an elevator!

This time, however, we "missed out" on an experience: getting caught in a thunderstorm. According to those involved, the sky turned black, thunder was heard and it started to rain. After a short dicussion about the relative safety of forest versus meadows (resolved in favor of the former) they ran to a hayshed. Shortly after their arrival they heard a tremendous and sustained roaring noise that didn't sound like thunder, and looking across the valley through a gap in the clouds they saw that vast waterfalls had sprung into existence on the sides of the Jungfrau, and that in one of them a Mure (mud/rock slide) was happening. They called us in the hotel to let us know so I saw it as well: most impressive! I'm glad I wasn't in the valley when it came down.

The rest of the day was uneventful, except that we had an excellent cheese fondue dinner in a local restaurant, washed down by several bottles of wine and a round of double Baetzis (an apple/pear schnapps) ordered by Russell. The evening turned somewhat raucous and culminated in Arnulf stabbing himself in the hand with a fork while demonstrating a drinking game :-). I'm not sure if the other diners were appalled or envious at our behaviour, but we had a great time!

Stage 32 -- Kleine Scheidegg to Muerren

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Wednesday August 1st, 2007

Weather-wise and hike-wise, a near perfect day. Some may prefer untouched wilderness, but for me I know of no more beautiful valley in the Alps than Lauterbrunnen. Its sheer black glacier cut walls, in places almost 1000m high, coupled with the majesty of the surrounding mountains and the profusion of waterfalls, put it in a class of its own.

We took the direttissimo trail down from the Kleine Scheidegg via the Truemmelbach valley, descending 1250m in about 3.5 hours at times along trails cut into the vertical rock face, arriving at the valley floor so shortly after the sun that the dew was still fresh in the grass (due, it must be said, more to the N/S orientation of the deep valley rather than an early start to our hike!).

The glaciers on the Jungfrau were gorgeous in the morning sun, and on a couple of occasions we saw large chunks of ice break off and shatter on the rocky slopes below. The views down into the valley were at times so birds-eye that they were vertigo-inducing. Muerren, on its green bench on the other side of the valley from us, seemed much too close to still be several hours of hiking away (but it was :-).

In marked contrast to the previous day, and much to Ioana's pleasure, we met only about a half a dozen other hikers during the descent. The steepness and length of the path is clearly a deterrent for casual hikers. Not so the hike up to (or for most people, down from) Mueren. As with the Eiger Trail, many day-hikers take the train up and walk down. The trail was in places fairly steep, but nothing like what we had just come down the other side. Nevertheless for some of the day hikers it was extreme: three Swiss girls we met told us that if they were in our shoes (climbing up), they would turn around. I responded that I had walked there from Munich, with the rest of the way to Monaco in front of me, and so felt like I could probably manage it. They quickly agreed :-).

Once again, we failed to visit the world-famous Truemmelbach falls: clearly sight-seeing and hiking do not mix! We'll have to come back sometime in a car if we want to see them.

August 1st is the Swiss national holiday and there were Swiss flags everywhere, of course with many Cantonal and District flags mixed in (how could it be otherwise in fiercely regionalist Switzerland?). And in the warm evening there were fireworks, although less of these than I would have expected having seen the show that is put on in the mountains of Austria on New Year's Eve.

Muerren was a beautiful as ever, our hotel very pleasant, and the views from our rooms across the valley to the Jungfrau as breathtaking as always. A wonderful day!

Second half of Stage 31 post -- Grindelwald to the Kleine Scheidegg

<posting problems again>

o Sally ostensibly stayed to provide companionship to Russell, but in truth only because she wanted to spend another morning in the wellness center (both Sally and Russell later hiked up the shorter direct route to the pass, thereby maintaining their 100% by foot H2H record).

o Lidia and Ioana and Beatrice took a train up to the mid-way point, in order to (very sensibly) conserve energy for the days ahead. The hike as planned involved 1790m of ascent over some 8 hours, which would probably have left some or all of them unable to hike the following day.

Thus was I left at the mercy of Arnulf, who, duly energized by competitive testosterone flows, charged up the side of the Eiger at a blistering pace. For safety reasons -- because no-one should hike alone on the Eiger -- I was of course forced to follow closely ;-). Thus we completed what should have been five hours of hiking in around 2.75h (pant, pant, pant).

Despite the ridiculous speed, I still looked around as much as I could, and the views were breathtaking, with the Eiger towering above and the vast valley of Grindelwald spread out below. We saw hardly a soul until we got to the point at which we had agreed to meet the three train-takers, at the beginning of the Eiger trail proper. Thereafter the views remained beautiful but the solitude was over: we must have encountered well over a hundred people over the next 2.5 hours as we hiked up to the Eiger Gletscher Station.

And the Kleine Scheidegg pass is no better, with its multiplicity of hotels, restaurants, tourist boutiques, train station, and even a teepee or two. Ioana was quite saddened by the rampant commercialism, but I pointed out that it was probably better that it all be in one place rather than spread throughout Switzerland, and anyway, the Jungfrau railway (which is what most of the tourists comes there to see) was finished in 1912 (started 1895), so it isn't as if this is anything new.

We stayed at the appropriately named Hotel Bahnhof, squeezed in between the train lines coming up from Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, and going up to the Jungfrau Joch (at over 3400m the highest station in Europe, as their advertizing never tires of repeating). I've actually never been up it, unlike (it seems) the majority of Japanese, of whom a staggering number pack the trains that leave every 15 minutes or so. I can't really see the attraction, I must say, but I suppose I'm never going to be a typical participant in mass tourism.

What Hotel Bahnhof lacked in style and elegance, it made up for with clean rooms and facilities and plentiful tasty food. I assured Ioana that tomorrow's hike would be different and as usual we went to bed early: asleep by 10, I think.

Delayed blogs

Apologies for falling behind somewhat with this blog: with Lidia now here, and being in total seven, there is less time to write than I have been used to. I'll catch up soon!

Stage 31 -- Grindelwald to the Kleine Scheidegg

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Tuesday July 31st, 2007

We spent a very pleasant free day in Grindelwald, or more accurately in the Hotel Regina, in large part because it has such a lovely wellness center that we all felt no need to go anywhere else. After blogging and email in the morning, Lidia and Ioana arrived around lunchtime (which we skipped, as is becoming usual on a rest day) and then we all went down to a melange of massages, manicures, saunas (2), steam baths (2), and swimming pools (2, one inside, one out), as well as a saltwater meditation pool, a Kneipp bath, cold and hot showers, and various relaxation rooms. Ahhhhhh.

More than a little refreshed, the following morning we set out for the long climb up to and along the base of the north face of the Eiger to the Kleine Scheidegg pass. "We" in this case being Arnulf and I because:

o Russell needed to find an ear doctor to resolve partial deafness caused by a wax ball he had unwisely pushed down his ear canal (removal successful)