Soon we went above the clouds and stopped at the Kleine Scheidegg, where we could see the Eiger glacier. From there, we took a train to the Jungfrau peak which was all the way through a tunnel in the moutain and took us to the top to Jungfraujoch. The view from the top was pretty and we spent a bit of time just exploring around and reading about it. There is a display of old photos when the tunnel was built which is quite inspirational. On the top, I also saw the famed Indian restaurant of DDLJ fame offering pure vegetarian thalis, which is well known among us Indians. It was closed now though because of corona.
We met our mountain guide who split us into 2 groups and we got onto the snow to get ready. We tied the harness to each of us, and then off we went behind him, along the glacier. Surprisingly, he didn’t brief us at all which I felt wasn’t the right way to go. For a lot of people, being on a glacier is a new and different experience. And it felt like we were thrown in the deep end without a clue. But anyways, we were able to learn as we walked along.
The weather on the whole trek was sunny and warm and it definitely made our walk a lot more enjoyable. We could see the scenery, and didn’t have to wear too many layers. It actually felt quite hot at times.
Our group were all tied with the harness to each other for safety and we walked in a single file, and at the same pace. For the first half of the trek, we were getting down the Jungfrau mountain. It was the start of the glacier and covered in snow. It sometimes got a bit tricky to walk so fast down the steep snow and I fell a few times too. As we were walking, we saw some crevasses too but they were not too large today. But we still had to jump over a few of them which felt scary even if the gap was less than a feet. I would always stop before one, take a deep breath and then jump over. But overall, the walk was quite comfortable.
Once we were down the mountain, it was flatter (this area was called Konkordiaplatz) and we were just walking on snow, slowly but surely. We stopped at times where there were rocks, for a quick snack or water, but generally just kept walking on. Its in Konkordiaplatz where we saw and learnt most about what glaciers are about. There were so many snow and ice structures to see, it was quite interesting all along. We walked past some icicles on the snow. Sometimes, we heard loud sounds made by crevasses falling off the glacier somewhere, but we could not see where it was happening.
In the middle of the trek, we saw sand from a recent storm from the Sahara give a brownish tinge to the snow, and further down, the snow had a pinkish tinge due to pink algae living there. There were rivers of water crisscrossing the surface. And some of these rivers were falling down holes which could be 100s of meters deep. We tested the depth of a few of these by throwing rocks in. And some of them were so deep, we couldn't even hear the sound of the rocks falling into the water, deep down. When we were looking down these holes, we had to be so careful so that only one person could stand there peering down, while the rest of us stayed far off. So if someone fell inside, the rest could stop the fall (hopefully). The whole thought was very scary though, how close we were from danger.
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River going down
a glacier hole |
At one point, we saw a trekker from another group walking a few meters from us fall into a waterhole! Thankfully everyone was tied, so he was safe, and the fall was controlled. But it was a scary moment, and it made us realise how much we were playing with danger, which we didn’t feel earlier as it felt like we were just walking on the snow. Glaciers are different and hold so much within them, it is intriguing. And most of us don’t know much about them anyways.
As we walked deeper into the platz, we saw two other glaciers flowing down from the mountains on both sides and combining with the Aletsch glacier. The glaciers were very clearly demarcated, as on both sides of each of the glaciers, there are always loads of rocks flowing down the mountains.These flowing rivers of rocks are called moraines. Its like they draw the boundaries of their own glacier and can be seen from far away. These moraines hold a lot of information and are an interesting topic of study for scientists.
We stopped for breaks mostly along these moraines, as some of the rocks there were huge enough to serve as a table for our lunch. On one such stops, our guide went out looking for small herbs to take back with him – schnapps, which are used to make the schnapps drinks! Surprisingly, there were some small plants growing here and there on the glacier. Wonder how. We also saw loads of birds flying above us, all of whom live on the snow. Its impressive how animals evolve and can survive even in such difficult terrains.
While we were walking, we were also visited by a few fighter jets who were practicing flying over the glacier! They came in from one side, flew deep in the valley and swooshed over our heads before continuing on their sorties. It was quite interesting to see them as they skillfully and loudly flew past our heads into oblivion.
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| Our hut on the ledge |
When we were in Konkordiaplatz, we could see the Konkordia mountain hut where we would spend the night. It was on a mountain ledge far off, and it still took us a few hours to get there after spotting it for the first time. Towards the end, we got off the glacier and had to climb up the steep cliff on metal steps to get to the hut. It was the last part of the hike and quite tough indeed. Reaching the hut though made it all worth it.
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| Hut terrace |
The mountain hut had a terrace with a magnificent view, built on a rock ledge above the glacier. It overlooked the three glaciers all coming down their mountains and flowing as one, separated by moraines. We spent a nice evening enjoying the view, eating snacks and swapping stories on how the experience had been. We had ended up walking a bit more than 9 kms on the day, with a walking time of around 3 hours, while the total trip had taken us about 5 hours.
We saw and captured the glacier in different lights – dusk, sunset and then under the stars. It got cold very soon, so we had a cosy meal eating the simple but hot and tasty dinner the hostel staff had cooked. We chatted with our group, most of whom were Germans (looks like Switzerland is a popular hiking destination for them). They all seemed to be well travelled, having done such glacier treks before. After dinner, we sat outside for a bit, looking at the stars on a clear night. There were a few more huts on the nearby mountains too and we saw their lights twinkling at night. But it got chilly very quickly and I called in an early night as we had another 6am start the next morning.
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| Glaciers at dusk |
The mountain hut was quite well maintained for the location it was in. It was quite basic in its amenities. There was no running water there. The rooms were shared and had bunk beds. There was an outside terrace and not much else. There were very few spots to charge our phones, but they had wifi in the common areas! For where we were though, it still felt like real luxury. Apparently food and other deliveries were dropped there by helicopters regularly. The staff also had to walk a few hours from Jungfrau every time they wanted to come here. And I thought to myself, one really needed to enjoy something like this to be able to do it every week. The whole atmosphere in the hut was very jolly and lively. There were loads of guests, all in high spirits which made it fun.
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| Morning on Aletsche glacier |
The next morning, we had an early start around 6am and left the hut to walk more on the glacier before heading back to civilisation. The colours of the glacier during sunrise was quite spectacular to wake up to. The first part of the hike was getting down the mountain, through a steep rocky path. It was quite risky and scary, and we all took our time to get down. At the same time, there were a lot of groups leaving, so all the groups maintained a gap of 15 mins to avoid traffic jams on the way down.
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| Steep climb down |
After we got down, we crossed two moraines to get to the last glacier and walked on it for the rest of our time on the snow as it had the least dangerous crevasses. The sun was up and much of the surface had got icy, so we all wore crampons on our shoes which was quite a new experience for me. It helped us walk on the snow comfortably as the metal spikes dug into the ice and provided a better grip.
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| Giant Crevasses |
Today felt like a hike dependent on the skills of our guide to navigate and get us to where we were going. The crevasses were quite huge and we had to walk around lot of them to get to a place where we could safely jump. Even then, we had to cross some very large crevasses and at times had to depend on the crampons getting us a grip as we jumped. Our guide at times had to use his snow axe to create steps for us in the ice to step on. He had to use his knowledge of the glacier to decide what path to take, where to step, and where not. He also showed us some insects, called glacier flea which live in the freezing waters of the glacier. And just like that our glacier walk was over as we got off and turned towards green land.
The depth of the Aletsch glacier is about 1 km and it moves at a speed of 200 metres per year. On the sides of the flowing glaciers, we could see lines along the mountains up to where the glacier had been, 100 years ago. And that gives an idea how much the glaciers have melted and reduced over the years. Our guide told us that the Aletsch glacier has been receding every year and current estimates suggest that in 50 years, there may not be any snow left, but just a lake in its place. Hope that doesn’t happen in my lifetime 😧.
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| Leaving the glacier |
Anyways, as we got off the snow, we stopped on the rocks to have lunch in the sun before heading off for a few more kms of hiking before we could reach a gondola to get down to the train. And as soon as we got off, the colours and views changed drastically. We walked past a few lakes, surrounded by wild white flowers. It felt like such a welcome change after the tough white glacier landscape of the last two days. And suddenly it felt so less hostile. We then kept walking for a few hours, through hills, valleys with some picturesque villages, a long tunnel and so on, enjoying the greener side of Swiss beauty. We also saw lot of people paragliding in the valley and I really felt like doing it soon.
As we were walking through the mountains, we saw a helicopter rescuing someone from the forest. They dropped off the medical attendant who went into the forest, found the injured person and tied him to the rope dropped by the helicopter so they could lift him off. It felt quite a skilled operation to me but apparently such helicopter rescues are quite common in Switzerland. It was sad to see someone being hurt, but on the other hand the rescue felt straight out of a movie, especially how the pilot was manoeuvring the helicopter in such a difficult terrain. Later, we also saw a few helicopters helping construction of a house where they were coming and dropping material for the building. Life must be quite tough in the mountains here, right? Sometimes we forget that aspect when we travel here as tourists for short times.
When we reached the gondola in the village of Fiesch, at the end of our hike, we had lunch in the sun, also patting ourselves for a hike well accomplished😊. We had walked 16kms today, walking for about 5 hours over an 8 hour hike. And then we were off, taking 4 different trains to get back to Grindelwald, on the highly efficient Swiss train system!
The hike had been an excellent experience, but I must say that I was not impressed with the guide. We would have enjoyed a lot more if he showed some more interest in how everyone was faring, shared more information about glaciers and allowed us some time to enjoy being there. It felt like he thought his only job was to get us from point a to point b.
He just didn't give us any tips on what to expect and what to do, how to navigate glaciers or anything like that. And that was a bit scary. He behaved as if everyone in the group was an expert glacier climber like him already. He didn’t slow down while walking, didn't look back while walking to check if others were still following him and didn’t even stop enough for people to take photos. Most of our group were trying to take photos while walking, and many didn’t as it was too dangerous to do that. His comment when some people asked him to slow down was that falls and slips happen on the glaciers, and that everyone should treat it like walking on the street 😲. Definitely not very helpful advice. He also didn't explain much about the glacier and the landscape as I would expected on such a long walk.
It felt like he was on a mission - to get us to the hut at the fastest pace, and that’s it. Enjoying what we were doing wasn’t part of his thought process. I can understand that for him, being on a glacier was nothing new. But for someone experiencing this for the first (and maybe even the last) time, it holds much more importance. So it would have been good to have some more interest from him. He was surely not a good guide for someone walking on the glacier for the first time. But still, the glacier did not disappoint – it was spectacular, and a once in a lifetime experience for me.
Back in Grindelwald, we checked in to the Tsuggen hotel for the next 2 nights, which was another cute little place with very helpful staff. We treated ourselves to a tasty Indian dinner at the Golden Indian, to celebrate the successful hike😊. During the dinner, we saw a procession passing through the village with the locals carrying and blowing large Swiss bells. Apparently it’s a Swiss tradition to mark the cows coming back down after summer – Descent of the cows. And then we called it a day, as we had another (!) early morning start the next day too.
Schynige Platte
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| Train to Schynige |
The next day, we did another long hike of about 19 kms along the Schynige Platte, a long mountain ridge with breath taking views. My friend had tried to do this trek thrice but hadn’t been able to complete the hike before because of snow and/or bad weather. But today, the weather was perfect – warm, sunny and cloudless. And we got our perfect day for traversing this stunning mountain ridge.
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| Top of Schynige Platte |
We started early morning and first took a train back to Wilderswil (I think) near Interlaken, from where we took a mountain train up to Schynige Platte which was the start of our trek. The mountain train was very slow but breathtakingly picturesque. It chugged along the steep edges of the mountains, taking us through forests with some magnificent views of Interlaken and its two lakes. On the top, there was a restaurant and some gardens which worth visiting. From there, we started on our long trek around 830 am.
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| Interlaken and the lakes |
First we walked along the top of the mountain while enjoying panoramic views of Interlaken and the two lakes. And on the other side, there were just mountains after mountains.
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| Views on the trek |
Then we passed through some gorgeous small valleys all on top of the hills. There were cows eating in these grasslands, and the sounds of the cowbells were everywhere, providing a background to our trek. It was a scene and feeling that can only be experienced – surrounded by lush green mountains filled with green grass and wild flowers, cowbells ringing, the sun shining and the air as fresh as a cucumber. Wow.
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| Sagistalsee lake |
We then took a turn and walked all around the Sägistalsee lake. It is quite a scenic lake, in a rectangular shape, down in the valley. And all around there were wildflowers as it was still summer.
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| Lunch stop |
After the lake, we turned and then walked through some high mountain peaks on the side, and then crossed over towards the other mountains through a ledge. There was a restaurant at the crossover point which provided a welcome break after walking so long in the sun.
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| Wildlife :) |
Along this path, there were more cows and some of them just sat lazily, chewing and staring at the trekkers going by.
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| Bachalpsee lake |
And our next stop was the famous and spectacular lake, Bachalpsee. We could see it from far and slowly came closer, seeing new angles to it. It was truly an fascinating sight – this bright blue lake surrounded by lush green hills, reflecting the high snow covered peaks across the valley. And by now, the crowds had also become huge. It turned out, that there was a direct gondola from Grindelwald to First from where you just have to walk some 20-30 mins to get to the lake. While we had walked 7 hours to get here! There were also loads more Indian tourists here, and I knew I was in the popular part of Switzerland😊.
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| On the trail |
Near the end, we also did the cliff walk to get a view of the mountains down. There were tens of people paragliding here among the mountains, and it was quite fascinating to see them all float almost weightlessly in the air. We also saw another helicopter rescue today. It is good to see that the Swiss have such an amazing infrastructure to get people out of mountains in case of emergency. But its scary too, to see how many people get hurt – we ended up seeing three such rescues on this trip.
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| Paragliding |
We finally reached First (which was the end of the trek) around 5 pm, which was quite before the last gondola down. There were long queues of people waiting to go down the gondola, but thankfully we made it to it. As after the 5 lakes trail, I avoided walking down all the way back as those walks are extremely long, and not too scenic either.
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| Wildflowers |
This trek was one of my favourite ones and I totally enjoyed it. The greenery, the fabulous lakes, the gorgeous scenes, the colourful wild flowers, the lazy cows with their cowbells – everything was amazing.
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| Avocado restaurant view |
When we came back to Grindelwald, we had a lot of spare time at hand, so we walked around the town a bit. We saw some people yoodleing in the streets, which was fun to watch. We realised restaurants closed early here by 9pm. So we searched for some place open till later, and finally managed to get dinner at Avocado and Barrys lounge. And Avocado had a fabulous view when sitting outside.
Lauterbrunnen
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| Grindelwald in the morning |
On the last day of our long weekend, we decided to take it easy and woke up a bit later than the last few days. We decided to spend the day idling in Lauterbrunnen. When we left in the morning and walked through Grindelwald, I fell in love with the village again. It looked so charming in the morning when its streets were empty and all you could see and feel was the nature around. The natural beauty of the village was more visible than when it was full of crowds. It had rained at night, and the village felt even fresher than before. It later rained in bits and pieces during the day, so we had to do our activities also in stops and starts.
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| the Lauterbrunnen valley |
We took a few trains to get to the valley of Lauterbrunnen which is a village known for its 76 waterfalls. It is a wide verdant valley surrounded by mile high mountain cliffs on both sides. Supposedly 76 waterfalls fall down into the village from those high mountains. Once we got off the train, we just started walking along the valley, and along all the waterfalls. We could see some of them falling from high above, though lot of them were dry as it was late summer already. These waterfalls are quite popular with ice climbers in winter, when they freeze up. And these daredevils climb the frozen ice, to go up the mountains!
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| Lauterbrunnen |
The whole walk and the village was so utterly divine, so heavenly! There was a surrealness in the valley which we felt within the first 5 mins of being there.And just like that, we kept walking along the stream in the village. We passed by the waterfalls, gorgeous alpine houses, streams with gushing water, vibrant green forests on so on. We bought some fudge from one of the self serve selling booths. And saw the ripe apples on lot of the trees here. We just enjoyed the serenity and breathtaking beauty of the place. And it is because of its serenity Lauterbrunnen is said to be the inspiration for the elvish place of Rivendell in Lord of Rings – a place of eternal peace and charm.
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Waterfall in the
background |
And then out of nowhere it started raining again. We were thinking of going to Murren but then decided to take the train to Wengen. It is a small village located on a cliff where the only way to reach is by taking the mountain railway. We took the train up from Lauterbrunnen, enjoying some majestic views along the way. The village was small and we walked around a bit. It was very quiet, and felt peaceful. We stopped at a restaurant for coffee, and I ran into an MBA friend of mine I hadn’t met for 10 years. What a small world we live in now, isn’t it?
And then soon it was time for us to leave the heavenly world of Grindelwald. We took a train back to pick up our luggage, and then started the long trek back to Lausanne. It turned out that this day we had ended up taking 10 trains in total! But it did not feel tiring at all.
It was raining in Interlaken and somehow it did not look as pretty as on the way up – things look so different with gray clouds and rains. Also we saw a lot of Swiss army soldiers travelling in the trains – this had happened the last Sunday too. Wonder why. I had to get out in Bern and take a connecting bus from the city – it looked like a nice cute town. The ride back from Freiburg to Lausanne was again spectacular. It was the golden hour and all the red roof houses on the way were glowing with the golden light. It almost felt like the Tuscany photos we see on travel websites. I loved the ride back as much as I did the way there. And it was a nice way to wrap up the trip.
It had turned out to be an extremely enjoyable weekend, where we stretched ourselves a lot and enjoyed every minute of it. I think Switzerland is a mindblowing place, and I can see myself coming back here regularly.
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