You
may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a
good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught
up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
We've got nicely settled in at the lovely Victorian Rosenlaui berghotel (1328m), and now we're off for an invigorating walk to help out with any appetite deficiencies and generally stiffen up the sinews, and we've leapt aboard the Swiss postal bus (left) up to Schwarzwaldalp ["Black Forest Pastures"] at 1456m, where we're transferring to the narrower postal bus for the onward journey. That's Kristin wandering all about in the parking lot, 19 August 2008.
Kristin at Schwarzwaldalp (1456m), 17 August 2008, wondering which way the weather's going to go. At this point, it's hard to tell.
Now we're disembarking at the pass at Grosse Scheidegg (1962m), ready for anything. The Wetterhorn looms behind it.
Kristin memorizing the hiking signs at Grosse Scheidegg, so that we won't get horribly lost, and then WE'RE OFF!
The Wetterhorn peeks down at us in a foggy fit as we set off, with our little lunch (Gruyères cheese and Bassins fig bread) bouncing along in our backpack and squeaking out from time to time something that sounds very like "Eat Me".
The bovine-enhanced scenery, as we proceed, with a munching indifference to the majesty of the views.
The hamlet or rural agglomeration of Scheidegg-Oberläger (1950m), where pigs thrive.
Kristin loves nothing so much as a pig and ordered up this photo specifically. Except for marmots. She'd rather have a marmot photo but there were none to be had (despite what the brochures promised), so pigs had to suffice.
Evidently there are some people -- no names are being mentioned here -- who find pigs sexy from the back.
That's pretty weird.
Nonetheless, we could argue all day and all night about pigs, and get no closer to agreement.
As clouds and drizzles flit in and out, the Wetterhorn rules.
Kristin preparing for the Hornseeli and anticipating lunch by its balmy shores.
The Wetterhorn in Cloudy Wetter
The Hornseeli ("Little Horn Sea") at 2147m, and lunch
"Little Horn Sea"!!
Lunch (Gruyères cheese and Bassins fig bread) at the Hornseeli (2147m), and then off we go up over the ridge and down the sloggy wet far side northwards in quest of the Eternal . . . well, in quest of . . . well, just to get down the other side.
Kristin contemplating muddy options downward
Kristin still contemplating muddy options, now in the rain
Rain + Mud = More Mud
The clouds blow out for half a moment and bestow upon us a splendid isolated hanging valley, far from the hustle and bustle of modern hyper-civilization. Sort of.
An alpine traffic jam
Alpine creek
High alpine meadow, with creek.
Waterfalls on Alp Breitenboden, as we plod onward in the misty muck.
Here's the mucky part -- the rural agglomeration of Im Obersten Breitenboden (2048m). The misty part comes next.
Kristin negotiating muck as we continue our huge circle hike some 800 metres above Rosenlaui and, eventually, dinner.
A nice wide path at this point, and less mud
A glance back down into an alpine valley with creek, and a view of the way we've come down from up on the left.
From time to time, a torrent, with a fine little bridge laid on for the happy walkers
Excellent views, even with crappy visibility
Fog and mud, stretching on perhaps endlessly
Dinner will be awaiting us somewhere down there
Fog and mud, still stretching on perhaps endlessly
Fog and mud, really starting to stretch on pretty endlessly
A brief epiphany as the fog lifts, the Wellhorn and Kleine Wellhorn on the far side of the Rosenlaui valley, and then . . .
. . . the fog's back again, and we're beginning to wonder if we're really where we thought we were.
Looking all about for signs of civilization
Miraculously, as the mist rises, signs of civilization.
A pig farm, in fact, called Grindelfeld (2100m), or rather a farm with pigs.
Rosenlaui berghotel directly below us, a matter of 800 metres or so. The hotel is tucked in behind the clump of trees in the centre, but if you squint you can just make out our trusty VW, "Bruno", in the parking lot. The Rosenlaui Gletscherschlucht ('glacier gorge') is just beyond that.
That brief glimpse was reassuring, but now we need to get down there before dinnertime.
The narrator daydreaming about the Rosenlaui dinner possibilities
Oh joy, oh bliss. Kristin loves nothing so much as a pig [except a marmot]. Grindelfeld farm.
Grindelfeld as we start down the farm road from 2100m
The Wetterhorn (3692m) to the southwest towards Grindelwald and the Eiger
And the Wellhorn (3191m) across the valley, with the Rosenlaui glacier peeking out from behind it on the left
Grindelfeld again
Another view up towards the Rosenlaui glacier, or what's left of it, with the Kleine Wellhorn on the right
Stepping smartly, in "hiking sandals" now, over a chilly stream
The Obere Mettlen farm (1849m) on the long march downwards
One advantage of "hiking sandals"
Not far above Rosenlaui, dinner has already begun in the berghotel, but we'll be there before the kitchen closes for the night.
And with time for a shower first.
On tomorrow's agenda, a sunnier hike above Grindelwald.
Dwight Peck's personal website
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All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 23 August 2008, revised 1 October 2012.
