Last night was as bad as feared. Knocking back a couple of shots of Williams (pear schnapps) and a beer put me to sleep around 10:30, but I was awake again by 1:45, and tossed and turned for the rest of the night. Interestingly there weren't many snorers audible, and those that started seemed to stop quickly (probably as their hiking partners poked them in the ribs to make them sleep on their sides... and thus stop snoring). But there was lots of movement (as people went to and from the bathroom), some light (headlamps, phones), and lots of little noises. At least Gabi seemed to sleep reasonably well (she didn't notice any lights, for example), despite being poked in the ribs a couple of times :-).
So I was a little bleary as we started off this morning around 8:30... but I woke up quickly as we climbed the Altmann. It was a near vertical Klettersteig of around 260m, which doesn't sound like that much, but was surprisingly exhausting after coffee and not sleeping the night. A couple of interesting things on the climb: we saw a group of Ibex (Steinböcke) above us, and Swiss kids. I'll explain the latter.
Throughout this trip I've been surprised at how laissez-faire Swiss parents are about their kids and boulders and cliffs. At Hotel Forelle, for example, there was a near vertical rock ridge of perhaps 4m in height. Kids from about 5 years old up were climbing on it the whole time, chasing one another along the top, tripping and falling over rocks and boulders, and so on. I didn't see a single parent intervene (nor, for that matter, a single child cry or get injured). So, this morning on the Altman, climbing up a difficult and steep Klettersteig, I look back to see a Swiss family (mother, father, two kids under 7) climbing up after us. And they were fast too! Impressive.
We traversed to a saddle with a beautiful view of the ridges and valleys between us and the Rhine valley and then went down an at times very steep and difficult path to the photogenic Fählensee and Berggasthof Bollenwies where we are staying the night. Took us a little more than 3 hours under a hot cloudless sky, so we were ready for lunch (Chaesrösti and Fleischkäse washed down by 2.5 liters of mineral water).
But of course we weren't just going to sit around in the afternoon, so we slogged up to the high ridge overlooking the Rhine valley and walked along it for a while in the afternoon sun, enjoying the stunning views. I was able to point out Liechtenstein and the town of Feldkirch in Austria, as well as the location of the Gafadura mountain hut across the valley, because we hiked through this area on the H2H and stayed overnight in the Gafadura. However, I was pretty ignorant about everything else we could see below... I only know things I've hiked through!
We got back to Bollenwees at around 4:30, had showers, and the Wirtin (owner / manager) told us that the place would be very full tonight... and would it bother Gabi to sleep in a room instead? That would be fine, said Gabi, grinning. Some people are just born lucky. As I write this, she is outside, reading in the sunshine. Lunch was excellent, so we are expecting the same of dinner. I imagine I'll go to sleep early, given my lack of sleep last night, and also because tomorrow is another big hike (the last!).
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