The hills are alive

Incredible.  We stayed in a hut in the Alps that you can only get to by hiking.  The entire alps are filled with huts like this, which have been there for hundreds of years.  I left Freiburg in the morning with Danni and Johan.  We headed up to the Swiss Alps, parking in Stechelberg to take the gondola style cable car (similar to the OHSU tram) partway up the mountain, and from there planned to hike to the Rotstockhutte, the hut we had reserved for the night.  It was chilly, raining, and the clouds were low in the mountains, making all but the bottom very foggy. 

The lady who sold the cable car tickets told us we were crazy to go up.  It was snowing at the top, and at Birg, the lift we were planning on going to, it was so foggy that she said we would surely get lost if we did not know the way.  Disappointed, we called the hut to cancel.  They told us that it wasn’t too bad where they were.  They said that if we walked up from a lower stop, Murren, the weather would be ok, and it would only take about 2.5 hours.  So, we decided to go for it.


We were hiking through a light rain most of the time, with no views at all, due to the fog.  But, it was incredible.  The flowers, the rocks, the open hills and steep jagged rocky parts.  Several times I just had to spin around and enjoy the fact that I was in the alps.  At one point, we heard and then saw a man in full traditional clothing playing a traditional instrument - a horn that was quite a bit longer than he was tall.  One end rested on the ground, and the other end angled up to him. 

It was beautiful, but strange, since it was in the rain, next to a building that was in the total middle of nowhere, with no one around him.  We got up to the building, which was one of the huts, we ran into a lady who told us a wedding we going on.  Peering through the windows, sure enough, there was a wedding in full traditional garb!  In a remote hut on the side of a mountain, that you could only get to by hiking! 

Despite all of the fog, navigation on this trail was easy.,  The trails were very clear, despite the frequent rivers running through them, and every intersection was well marked with signs.  The only confusing part was when we eventually got to a sign that no longer listed our hut. 

We looked around, lost at which way to go, until I noticed that the center of the sign said the name of our hut, meaning we were there!  It turned out we were less than 40 yards from the hut, but it was so foggy, that until we went another 10 yards or so, it was completely lost in the fog. 

We walked into the hut, and it was so welcoming, it was like walking into bliss.  Outside was raining and cold, and we were all wet.  Inside was warm, cozy, dry, and smelled wonderful from the food cooking.  There were places by the stove to hang wet clothing, racks for your shoes, and racks of crocks (the rubber sandals) in every size so you could wear those instead of your wet, muddy shoes.  You could buy snacks and drinks, and you paid for dinner and breakfast with the cost of the stay.  The prices all included that everything had to be brought in by helicopter,

and it was well worth it!  I don’t think I expected much from food at a remote hut.  I was thinking it would be basic.  Instead, it was a gourmet feast!  Bread shaped like mountain animals, delicious soup, great salad, and rabbit stew with polenta.  All amazingly tasty.  And for dessert, tiramisu with fruit.  Mmmm.  I could just imagine the joy a hundred years ago, after hiking across the mountains in snow and rain, with far less gear than we have now, to be greeted by such warm and friendly places to stay.  Ahhh heaven! 

On a side note, I had already been impressed by Danni & Johan, flowing between German, Swedish, and English, with hardly even noticing it.  But we were sitting with a group of 4 French women for dinner, and Danni was even more facile with French than English or Swedish.  So impressive! 

The next morning, we woke up, and it was beautiful.  The sun was shining, the mountains were crisp and stunning.  We were excited about the hike to the top!  Unfortunately, that lasted less than 10 minutes, then we were back to hiking in the dense fog.  As we climbed higher toward Birg, at 2677 meters (8783 ft), there was snow on the ground.  At one point, the trail was very muddy and torn up for a long way, where a herd of cows had clearly just gone through.  We could hear their bells in the distance long before we could see them. 

 Once we passed the cows, the trail was much easier.  We had planned to hike to Birg, then depending on the conditions, either hike all the way up, or take the cable car up the last segment to Schilthorn at 2970 m (9744 ft). 

By the time we got to Birg, our feet were soaked from walking through a river, there was an increasing amount of snow on the ground, and the temperature was barely above freezing.  In my packing for Europe, I had a few warm things, but certainly not snow gear. 

We made the wise decision, and took the cable car, up to the rotating restaurant at the peak, where much of James Bond, In Her Majesty’s Secret Service, had been filmed in 1968 (and they were still promoting it like crazy now).  The clouds cleared enough for great views of the peaks, but still covered lower ground. 







After that, we decided to scrap the plan of hiking most of the way down, as hiking without views in bad weather is not too fun.  We bought a ticket to the bottom, but as it was still early in the day, we stopped in Murren on the way, to look around the town. This was below the clouds, and much more pleasant. 






As we wandered, the weather got even better, the sun came out, and it became warm enough to strip off all the extra layers.  We thus decided (in part because we just missed the cable car) to hike down to the bottom.  This time it was wonderful.  We were going through tiny towns on the side of the mountain which looked as if they hadn’t been touched for 100 years. 





No cars or real roads, only foot paths, with sweeping views of the mountains behind us.  Simply wonderful!