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My watch died overnight. Guess I can only find out what time it is by being nice to Jacky. It wasn’t raining when we got up...

Hiking tour in Switzerland [2]

Dave Hood
2004-02-22 18:16:20

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Monday, September 4, to Lauterbrunnen
Estimated 22 km, 1118 m vertical, 7 hours.

My watch died overnight. Guess I can only find out what time it is by being nice to Jacky. It wasn’t raining when we got up, but by the time we had eaten and were ready to set out, there was a steady rain. We could have taken the Seilbahn to Männlichen, spent the day loafing, then taken another to Wengen. Or we could have taken the Wengen train, a cog railway whose typical grade would have been hard work on a bicycle. But you know us – we hiked…

Dressed up in polypro and Gore-tex, and out we went, about 8 AM. Not as uncomfortable as I might have expected. Plenty of body heat as we hike uphill. My wide-brim hat doesn’t keep my glasses clear, but the hood on my jacket, pulled forward under the hat, does.

There was an ambiguous sign from Grund; we took the wrong path and had to come back. Should have known: both went uphill, but the correct choice was steeper. The trail roughly followed the Wengen cog railway tracks all day; there was a surprising amount of traffic. Short trains, but frequent. Quite common to see two or even three, thirty seconds apart.

Nothing much to see today. We were in the clouds. We hoped it would clear up as we hiked, and we’d be able to see some of the glaciers and the famous mountains that are right here: Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau.

As we climbed, the rain eventually turned to snow. Still comfortable, though we were very slow: Jacky’s cold sapped her strength. Our feet seem to be okay on this second full day of hiking. Trails almost deserted. One party of six passed us at a moleskin break, and that was all we saw. And finally we thought the clouds were starting to break up. Beautiful frosted Christmas tree forest.

Occasional glimpses of the mountains. But a wall of fog – we could see it coming – swallowed us, and there were no more views until we reached Kleine Scheidegg ...