KANDERSTEG KLETTERSTEIG

AUG. 30


Tracy noticed in my last travel blog with daughter Amber in Argentina and Chile in 2008 (http://www.youngsinsouthamerica.blogspot.com/) that I write about what I do, not what I feel. Well, when my buddy Mike left for Munich, it was a rainy, foggy day, and I felt kind of lonely. I still had 2 days left on our Jungfrau region pass, so went for the first time up to Harder Kulm above Interlaken, but all you could see was fog. I went up to Shyndige Platte, but again it was cold, windy and depressing. But there was an alpine garden where I got this shot:

I was sleepy all day, wondering what I was doing here by myself. It rained all night, I moved my bed from the snorer room into the boot storage room. I like the Downtown Lodge in Grindelwald though: for $38 a night, you get free internet, a great breakfast, a kitchen to use, TV, skype on the computer for almost free phone calls, and walking distance to everything, in one of the best places in the world for alpine bliss lovers.


AUG: 31

On this last day of my local train pass I went up Mannlichen gondola again and walked to Kleine Scheidegg on a freezing cold day with fresh snow everywhere. Check it out:




Had a rosti (swiss potato and cheese and egg dish for 20 bucks) at the hotel (I worked at winter 1980) and talked with the new owner, Andreas von Allmen, and visited with Toni Wyss again. I walked to Wengen in honor of the great walk I did with Dad and Joyce, and Berni, and pushing little Kim in a baby stroller, in 1988. Took the funicular to Murren (was a tram last time I was here) and got a little hotel room.


SEPTEMBER 1

A beautiful sunny day! I rented a mountain bike and biked downhill to Gimmelwald, a sweet village Dad and I stayed at in 1975, and had a coffee on the hostel patio before downhilling to the valley floor and then along that beautiful valley back to the telepherique up to Murren. Bought some goat cheese which lasted a week, spread on nut bread and jelly - yum! I got the idea for this ride from a netflix dvd of Rick Steves in Switzerland.

SEPTEMBER 2

Today was just a short hike to the Rotstockhutte, about 3 hours rising slowly above Murren, with views of the side of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.

The hut was $70 with dinner and breakfast. If I had a budget, 7 weeks of that would be a budget buster. It was fun speaking with the other trekkers, Brits who had traveled the world. I moved my bed downstairs but the hut warden did not like that, so he put me in a private room and I got a good nights sleep. http://www.rotstockhuette.ch/

SEPTEMBER 3

A tough day! Finally I could work it! It was a steep 1900 foot climb to the Sefinenfurgge pass in 2 miles, then a 3200 foot descent to Griesalp, and starting at 2:30PM I had a 4000 foot ascent in 3 miles, taking 3 hours, to the Bluemlisalphutte at 9300 feet. The last part to the hut:



http://www.bluemlisalphuette.com/. I knew I could do it because I had done a 3000 foot climb after 28 miles at my last 50K trail race. I love my hiking poles, I use them to push myself uphill and balance myself over rocky steps and streams. I also love my new Salomon light weight boots! I just have to figure out how to get my pack a bit lighter. I filled my canteen at a stream using my ultra violet wand to purify it, that was my only rest stop. I arrived sweaty and cold at the very crowded hut. My room had 22 people in it, and there was no water except $15 per 1.5 liter mineral water. So I found some clean snow to melt and cooked me a soup. There were loud Swiss drunk people singing yodeling songs at bedtime, this was interesting for about 5 minutes, but they kept going for 2 hours. I paid $35 for the dorm room and breakfast. I moved my bed to a hallway but climbers started getting up at 3AM so I got no sleep. This hut was noisy, crowded and expensive, not like the idyllic 1970's and 80's when I visited with my Dad and daughter Kim. Am I getting too old for this Swiss hut stuff? Everyone was using cell phones and partying, there was no alpine bliss, and we were surrounded by a cold fog. But the next morning was clear, here is the hut:


SEPTEMBER 4 - KANDERSTEG KLETTERSTEIG!

A great day! It was a 5500 foot descent in 3 hours from 9300 to 3826 feet to Kandersteg. This was the route Kim and Dad and I took in the other direction in 2004. The Oeschinensee was blue green and surrounded by glaciers and rock walls, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, along with Lake Louise in Canada.


In Kandersteg I retrieved my extra small day pack I had sent by train from Grindelwald, then rented klettersteig equipment (harness with 2 straps connected to carabiners, and a helmet), for 20$. I was about to fulfill a dream of doing this route after chickening out in 2007 when it was wet. It was rated 4 out of 5, "extremely difficult", a 3 to 3.5 hours climb of over 1000 feet. And it was spectacular, intense and scary! The route was crowded with about 20 other climbers ahead and behind me. There were some new experiences: walking on a single wire, holding on to 2 other wires, over a waterfall. Peg climbing straight up a vertical wall of 200 feet while looking down 5 or 600 feet straight down. Walking on a ladder sticking out from the cliff, then going up a twisting ladder to get back to the cliff above. I passed two parties, a group of 4 french people and a father and son (age about 14); this is always tricky because they have to lean agains the cliff while you put the carabiners one by one around them, stepping over their pegs. And the crux move was going around a corner, about a 45 degree angle, reaching around the cliff first with your hands to find a holding spot that you cant see, then stepping around the void to reach the other side. After 2 hours I reached the top, tired, nerves a bit frayed, but excited and happy! I love these things! http://www.allmenalp.ch/klettersteig.html, another climber's you tube video of this climb: http://www.vimeo.com/12794295.













"WALKING ON PEGS", a 40 second video

27 SECOND VIDEO OF WALKING THE PLANK

self portrait shot at the top, tired but exhilirated after 2 hours of nerves on edge, but always safe and protected.

I took the gondola back to Kandersteg then lucked out completely, finding a private room for $35 and a good nights sleep, making a salad on the balcony. Im eating less and can feel Im losing that pot belly at last! I washed some clothes using a piece of soap in the worlds smallest sink, and got a much needed shower (1 franc per minute). I had gone from alpine suckiness to alpine bliss in a day, well, that is traveling.