Adventures in the Alps

Of late I have felt compelled to get out into the country and explore more of its wonders, which are plentiful. Last Sunday Andri and I decided to go for a hike, my first mountain hike in the Alps. Now keep in mind the only other hike I have truly ever been on was a volcano one in Guatemala in order to see live flowing magma. It was hard and my head was pounding as we approached the top, my feet sinking into the volcanic rock with every step. But I made it. Nevertheless, with this one experience in my mind I was a little tentative about heading back up a mountain. The Niederhorn would be the mountain of choice, as one of its trails was voted most beautiful hiking trail last year. It is located on the Thunersee, one of the most picturesque places in the country. We took the train, then the gondola to the top, and headed on our merry way. Making our way across the mountaintop I saw some of the most magnificent views of the lake, cows engulfed in clouds, and a majestic mountain goat, which from what I hear is quite rare in this area of Switzerland.







We trekked down the side of a steep slope in order to find a trail to the bottom, as I needed to get home to write some things for German class. The next morning as I got out of bed, my legs we so stiff and it felt good to have done something. I hiked my first mountain.

Now cut to a couple days later. I asked my buddy, Josi, if she wanted to go hiking, since I had had a lot of fun on Sunday. She agrees and we plan on hiking up the Niesen. Now I know Josi was a professional athlete (runner) for quite a number a years, so I automatically feel inadequate, but think I can hold up. It was only hiking, right? Well, we arrive at the bottom and need to purchase our tickets in order to come back down the mountain and to be able to determine to which station we needed to send our backpacks. Me, not wanting to come off like the lazy ass I am, tell her it's ok to hike from the bottom to the top. As we start up the path, I realize what a huge mistake I have just made, but there is no way to turn back aka admitting that I suck.



The path is so steep that I can't imagine that anyone can actually accomplish this (the path is even called Steep path). An hour or so goes by and I am sweating and basically trying to make it look like I am not about to fall over dead. In my head I am thinking that there is no way to turn back or stop because we are in the middle of the mountain at this point, so it's full speed ahead. We stop for lunch and it is a nice break from the grueling pace Josi is setting and I am following (better her setting it than me! :D). After another couple of hours I am gettin' in the groove and it actually is starting to feel good to sweat under the shade of the pine tree forest. But after a while we hit the tree barrier. This is the point which basically points out that there is less oxygen in the air, hence trees are no longer able to grow. There may be no trees, but we are still truckin' along like it's no big deal. I can't tell whether or not Josi is winded or even tired at this point, but my lungs are a pumpin' and it is really starting to hit me. We are on the home stretch as we wave to the passing Niesenbahn full of passengers. Little did we know this would be important later on.



We made it to the top! My legs and lungs were burning, but I'll be damned. We did it. Josi looks at the train schedule and it says the next train is due to leave in about 20 minutes, just enough time to have a victory beer and take some pictures. As we enter the restaurant and ask when the next train leaves (one can never be too sure, right?), we are told that it has already departed. Remember that train we waved at? Yeah, that was it. haha. We are then given three options: we can pay 300CHF for a train to come get us, pay 107CHF per person to stay in a crew room, or stay for free in the waiting room with mattresses, blankets, a shower, and heat. One can pretty much guess which option we chose: the free one.



Since we were already on the top of the mountain, the weather was beautiful, and when does this really ever happen, we decided to make the best of it. Josi was a real sweetheart and invited me to dinner, which was wonderful. Then there was flan with raspberry sauce drizzled atop, Apple punch, and green tea while being productive little language students doing our homework. We actually accomplished a fair amount of work in the midst of taking some beautiful pictures of the sunset and lights of the city below. The staff was incredibly nice to us and we plan to send a thank you card to them for all their help.





We arrived late to school the next day, but at least we were able to make it. Josi's husband picked us up at the bottom with a duffel bag full of outfits to choose from and toiletries, which I found incredibly nice. We would have been screwed without him picking us up and would have smelled awful to boot. It could have been a disaster, depending on who I was with that day, but, luckily, it turned unto a great adventure because Josi took it like a champ.