a walk thru the alps day 10: twilight zone

Day 10: Lenk to Gstaad (and then to Chateux d’oex
Distance: 21km
Elevation: uphill, then long gradual downhill
Eats: the usual, plus an amazing gnocchi in Lenk and a gracious breakfast at Hotel Alpina

A few impressions:

-river valleys are much more gradual (read, less punishing) than glacial valleys
-We’ve pretty much left the land of ‘gruetsee’ and entered the land of ‘bonjour’
-just because a hike is gradual does not make 21km easy
-Switzerland is a beautiful country. Even an ‘average’ valley is picturesque.

The craziest part of yesterday, however, was descending into the town of Gstaad which was straight out of the twighlight zone, filled with stepford wives wearing sweaters over their shoulders, men driving Bentleys, and a chalet style Prada store. Needless to say, we stuck out like smelly sore thumbs and quickly caught a train to find accommodation in a less ‘steep’ town, Chateux d’Oex.

The hotel we had booked, Hotel Buffet de la Gare, (the buffet hotel by the train) was surprisingly, right by the train station. Imagine yourself in an old Alfred Hitchcock film, set in a buffet hotel by a train station and you’ve got a pretty good mental image.

Chateaux d’Oex is a small ski town, definitely in the French region of Switzerland. Lucky for me, Katy and Courtney speak French and are enjoying practicing their skills.

Today, since we strayed from the Alpine Pass Route to find affordable accommodation, today’s hike isn’t officially on either that or the Via Alpina. With the amazing signage of Swiss trails, we should be in good shape to arrive in Leysin (where our hotel is said to have a jacuzzi!!) for our last day of hiking tomorrow.

a walk thru the alps day 9: haiku

Day 9: Kandersteg to Lenk
Distance: 16km
Elevation: gained 1200 meters, lost 1000 meters
Eats: the usual

The Alpine Pass Route, a haiku

The Alpine Pass Route
It’s Swiss for knee-replacement
But it is pretty.

Travelers note: the Hotel Alpina in Lenk is amazing! The hosts were very nice, the room was beautiful and clean with it’s own bathroom. Highly recommended!

a walk thru the alps day 5: mythical

Day 5: Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen
Distance: 19km
Elevation: gained 3500ft dropped 4500ft
Eats: delicious fresh grainy bread, coffee, cheese, fresh local yogurt, creamy vegetable soup in a bread bowl, crisp local apples, chocolate, ovomaltine

Soup in a bread bowl…looking out at a spectacular view: the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau–three of Switzerland’s most famous peaks, glaciers carving a path through them. It’s stunning.

Mythical. That is the word of the day according to Kim. From our lunch break overlooking the three peaks, to our destination–Lauterbrunnen, the idyllic valley that inspired Tolkein’s Rivendell, mythical just about sums it up.

The hiking was somewhat brutal–fairly straight down from the pass, which is a bit rough on the knees. Apparently that’s why all the tour groups take the bus/railroad options. It is a bit disheartening to arrive at the top of a three hour climb and have to wind your way thru a huge tour group decked out in their mountain garb. Though the views from the hike were amazing.

Even more amazing is our accommodation for the night. There were no rooms left at the town hostels so we are in a hotel…only one letter different but a world apart, both in price tag but also in comfort–a private bathroom in our very own room (instead of down the hall), beds with soft sheets (instead of using our ‘sleep sacks’) and plush towels (instead of using our travel towels that are more like chammies) and even a tv (that we have yet to turn on) but most impressive, a balcony view of a waterfall and valley that’d give Yosemite a run for it’s money. Mythical. Spectacular. Stunning. It’s hard not to keep repeating words like that.

A few more Swiss impressions:

-if Switzerland is always neutral, what’s up with the Swiss army knives? (Katy wants to know)

-Swiss cheese is WAY better than swiss cheese

-the wood stacking (along every cabin/barn) would make the most OCD amongst us proud

-almost every house has a vegetable garden overflowing with chard, kale, lettuce, beans, as well as many colorful flowers–perhaps the long winters explain the brief explosion of color…

Tomorrow we have a short three hour day, though straight up the valley wall, to a car-less village and hopefully a trip up the Schilthorn…

a walk thru the alps day 4: der nordwand

Day 4: Meiringen to Grindelwald
Distance: 21 km (plus 2 miles to the hostel)
Elevation:
Eats: bread, yogurt, hard cheese, coffee, apple, banana, chocolate, bread, cheese, pizza, rosti

Today began a dreicht Swiss day. With full raingear on, we started up the five hour ascent to Grosse Scheidegg, where we enjoyed a celebratory apple strudel with vanilla cream sauce. The up was far better than the down, which was a punishing 3 hours of fairly steep descent. A definite highlight–a black shale steep canyon with a rushing river below.

A few other Swiss impressions:
-the are cows everywhere. Thus the cheese.
-because of the cows, there are turnstiles in the fences to let you pass but not the bovine
-the Swiss seem to be big fans of the seesaw/teeter totter. They are everywhere
-we met a young Swiss wood carver today–it’s a four year apprenticeship program to become a professional wood carver. I’ve never met a wood carver before
-rosti is amazing. Picture a giant hash brown with cheese fried on top of it, topped with half a pig’s worth of bacon and cocktail onion sweet pickle garnish

Another highlight of today is being in the shadow of the Eiger. The Eiger’s North Face is legendary in the mountaineering community. There is also a railroad that runs through the mountain. We’d tell you what it’s like but it costs 210 Swiss Francs, which with the current status of the dollar is pushing $300. Instead we’re planning on heading up the Schilthorn, which has a rotating restaurant featured in the James Bond movie Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It also apparently has a stunning panoramic view.