Bettmerhorn! Friday, 8/30/19

In the last 10 to 12 days, Jimmy and I and our Road Scholar group have hiked a good-sized portion of the Swiss Alps, which took a lot of energy, but which we tackled with relish!  This trip has been a fantastic experience, viewing panoramic alpine scenery while walking-hiking around mountain paths, a real wonder.  The group has been enthusiastic!  Today our final "walking" field trip involved a cable car ride to the Summit Station atop Bettmerhorn (8684 ft), and hiking on from there.  We were looking forward to this one.

Bettmerhorn, as seen from our hotel porch.  Zoomed in.

Bettmerhorn means Bettmer peak.

But first (as we've been known to say), but first we had to walk to the cable car station, which was uphill and probably a mile away, give or take.  We got an early start, and got our aerobic exercise right away.  Worked off breakfast!

I swear, I don't know how they do this successfully all over the world.  These things shoot up to the top of mountains at such an angle, it simply blows my mind.  Smooth, too, usually.  This pic was taken at the top of the cableway summit station, looking down on Bettmeralp and Bettmersee (lake), far below.

At the top, Bettmerhorn summit station offers impressive views of the Bernese Alps and breathtaking views of the Aletsch Glacier.  We stopped to take photos from the restaurant (not open yet) and use the restrooms.  It wasn't cold at this elevation; neither was it warm, but it was very bright!

Inside the station was a 3D table model of the glacier and surrounding peaks, as well as information on the glacier itself.  I've included a few panel pics, above. 

We regrouped and began our walk to the glacier overlook.  We weren't alone, families and day trippers and small busloads of others used the same cable car system to reach this destination.  Just imagine this one fact, if you will.  At the curve, the glacier is one mile across, from one side to the other.  Also, you can see how high/deep the Aletsch glacier was not THAT long ago:  Where the lighter/darker colors change on yonder mountain.

The glacier at this point is 900 meters thick (2,953 ft).  With binoculars, the group was able to spot a "glacial erratic" sitting atop the ice.  It would be hard to guess the boulder's size since we were so high above it, but we guesstimated it to be the size of a SUV or a small truck.  It looked like a pebble without the binocs.  I took a picture, but didn't include it -- too hard to decipher.  I loved looking at the polished blue ice (below)!

Equally noteworthy to us is what you see below.  I've check marked (in yellow) both Wengen, near the top, and Bettmeralp, close to the bottom -- the two places we've stayed in Switzerland, on either side of the Jungfrau and the Bernese Alps.  If the crow flew, it would cross the space (up and over, for sure) quickly.  As the road goes, it's around the mountains, not over.  We've been blessed to see this part of the Alps and the Aletsch Glacier from both ends.  From the source to it's termination.  Wow.  Really, wow!  

After this, our local guide, Dominique, took half our group (a few more than half) for the longer hike along the glacial ridge and return down to the hotel. Our half (a few less), with Karin in the lead, took the shorter hike along the ridge and back home ... a 2300' descent. We made the correct decision.

Boulder-hopping isn't easy, especially if you have short legs!  Everyone had to be sure-footed before stepping down.  All the while we were treated to wonderful glacier/mountain views.

By this time, the day had warmed significantly and the sheep were trying to hide in the shade.  Some of the sheep had blue markings, another herd was marked in green.  The colors identified the sheep as belonging to certain farms.  They looked different than sheep in the US.

Stunning!

In the thin, bright sunny air, quite a few hikers got sunburned on this trek along the ridge and down toward the hotel, despite sunscreen and hats.

My Mom would have a heart attack if she were still alive and saw me standing on this rock a thousand feet, or more, above the glacier, straight down to the ice.  Heck, I'd probably crack my head open first on boulders before I hit the ice.  No worries, I didn't fall.

Imagine eating lunch parked on a boulder, surrounded by this sight!

This good ol' boy (a young'un, we thought) came mooving down the trail while we ate our sandwiches.  It passed us, got maybe a hundred yards further on, stopped, mooed again, then turned around and ambled back the way it came.  It was probably looking for its mommy and/or its buddies.  Lunchtime entertainment!

The last hike?  We saved The Best for last.

The air -- so clear.  The colors -- greens and blues, whites, so brilliant.  Mountaintops you could almost touch --  everything in high-definition!

Yet, you have to know our knees felt that 2300 ft descent!

We put six miles on our feet today, nearly 16,000 steps, both up and down, not the most we've done this trip (but respectable!), coming from that ridge you see high over the lake (above).  The other group did like eleven miles, which we didn't want to do.  Besides, we got back a lot earlier than they did!  What an extraordinary place to spend time.  Today's hike was a showcase, purposeful; if you didn't want to hike down, you could've ridden the cable car back, and one of our group did that.  There are no forced marches here!

This would be our last night at Hotel Waldhaus and we were sad to leave.  Our host, Ernest, had an elegant six-course farewell dinner prepared for the group this evening.  Eggplant Mousse started us off, followed by Broth with Port-wine, Strudel with mushrooms, salad from the buffet, and a Refreshing Sorbet.  The main course was a "Filet from the organic pork with veggies and red wine risotto."  Muy delicioso!  Or should I say Wunderbar?  Finally Panna Cotta followed the cheese course.  Fine wines were offered, as well as beers, and coffee for Jimmy and me.  Oh my goodness, we were stuffed, sated with such an extra-special dinner.

Tomorrow we take the cable car down one last time and board the bus to Zurich.  Some will fly home directly, others will take advantage of the city for sightseeing and/or shopping.  We'll spend two nights in Zurich.  Then we'll hop on a Croatia Airlines turboprop for Dubrovnik!  Pinch me.

The Aletsch Forest, Wed, 8/28/19

Jimmy and I were ready to go this morning! Beginning at our hotel, today the group would walk up to the neighboring village, Riederalp, and from there begin hiking both uphill (huff-puff) and downhill through the Aletsch forest -- a unique nature reserve -- to the Aletsch Glacier, roughly nine miles total. Like I said, we were up for it. This kind of day called for wearing layers, definitely ending in a short-sleeved shirt.

Not sure what the steeple signifies, but we thought it kind of unusual.

The original plan was to hike to the stately Villa Cassel home outside of Riederalp, now a nature center for the forest preserve, but it was closed and covered in scaffolding as it's being refurbished. So, we bypassed the villa and continued on (above) to the forest preserve entrance.  Here we met up with a local guide, a young woman named Sigolaine.  

I think everyone in the group stood here, one after another, awestruck at the scene before us.  I caught Hollye above as she contemplated the beauty in front of her.  It almost looks like she's standing before a Disney backdrop!

I made this picture grainier (is that a word?) to show you this crevasse-laced glacier.  I loved looking at this breathtaking, detailed mountain ice scape.

Walking on a narrow trail in the Aletschwald, "Forest of all Forests," learning about the trees and creatures that inhabit this region.  Black squirrels for one, not something you see any-old-where!  The Aletsch Forest came into being in the region in front of the glacier, where the soil was no longer covered by eternal ice.  Switzerland's oldest stone pine trees grow in this nature reserve, with their strange-looking, but fantastical, tangle of trunks, as you see below.  European Larch are also plentiful.

We'd been hearing Spotted Nutcrackers since arriving at Bettmeralp, and I've seen several, but always too far away (or flying away) to get a decent picture.  voilà! -- Sigolaine had one that would hold still -- it was stuffed!  Durn thing had a name, but I didn't catch it.  These nutcrackers are in the jay family, noisy like a jay, and can crack seeds open with their bills.  Sigolaine is showing us it's food source; in this case, it's an empty stone pine cone.

I've seen lots of low wild blueberry bushes and have picked (and eaten) as many ripe berries as I could.  They're small and sweet, but it isn't easy to pick a hand full, let alone a jar full.  This gadget above does the trick.  If I lived here, I'd buy one or Jimmy could make me one.

Seen along the way, from teeny to the wowzers variety -- clockwise from top left:  Some kind of red-backed spider; a variety of Triphosa moth (?), Alpine green grasshopper, world's tiniest frog, and the queen of bell-ringers:  A comfy moo cow!

A beautiful notch in the mountains, and looking toward a lake in the distance,

but I don't recall the name.  Gorgeous landscape.

We emerge out of the remarkable, old growth forest,

and begin an uphill trek.

In a valley far below us, we spotted a small herd of Red Deer.

Impossible to grow tired of this sight.

This glacier is, unfortunately, also melting.

We ate our sack lunches not far from this spot overlooking the glacier.  Notice a sort of lateral split in the ridge opposite where our group is?  That's the height of the Aletsch glacier over 100 years ago. It's a lighter color on bottom compared to where the greenish color is.  

Where the glacier curves? Hard for us to believe, but it's approximately one mile across (from side to side) there!  We won't be trekking down to it, and it's much too unstable to step on.  Notice the melt water stream?  We could hear it splashing down the mountain from our side!

Simply. Wow!

So much to see/study in this one shot!

Hikers:  Tom, Sheila, Jimmy and me:  The '44 Club!  No, we're not 44 years old (we wish!); we were born in 1944.  And we're all still suiting up, showing up, and enjoying life!

Sometimes Karin, our guide, would tell us the ground ahead was flat -- "Swiss flat," that is.  What she meant was that the area wouldn't be a monstrous up or downhill, maybe a molehill instead.  We got wise to her Swiss flat early on!  There's Bettmeralp below where our hike will end.  It's been quite a trek.

And then these big ol' Black Fighting Cows with their humongous jangling bells crossed our path.  Scary-looking things!

What a day!  We covered some territory today (understatement) -- my phone recorded 24,000 steps and over 100 "floors."  Hiking these Alps is unforgettable!

Transfer to Bettmeralp, Monday 8/26/19

Today we have to leave our tiny Alpine village of Wengen, and transfer by bus to Bettmeralp.  Our almost-week here has been a joy, for the Lauterbrunnen Valley is without doubt the most beautiful place in the world.  Lucky us to be a part of it, if only for a little while.  It took me the better part of a week to get the hang of saying the word "Wengen," but I think I finally got it.  The W is pronounced as V, that part was easy, but my brain told me I should call it Ven·gen. Nope. The closest I can reproduce for you is Veng·in, sort of like the word "again." Isn't life like this? You finally have something down pat, and then have to leave! Our group wondered what Bettmeralp was like ....

Above, at the train station, ready to roll down the hill via cogwheel for the last time.  Looking on a map, Bettmeralp is nearly due south of Wengen, but the Alps are in the way!  Our bus will have to drive east around them, over the Grimsel Pass, and then southwest, a roughly four-hour trip.  But we know Road Scholar will find things for us to see and do along the way!  Jimmy's wearing some bright shoes!

First stop -- a cheese-making factory.  We were all in favor of this -- everybody likes cheese!  In the room above, local farmer's milk has been cooked over the hot wood fire to a certain temperature.  (That room was HOT!)  The huge kettle was hoisted off the fire to where you see it above.

Cheesecloth was carefully inserted into the boiling hot mix to gather the curd and drain away the whey. 😊  A sieve was inserted so the cheesemaker could test the curd for consistency.  Each of us tasted the curd -- kind of crunchy and tasteless to everyone.

Placed in this large cheesecloth-lined tray and drained,

the soft curd forms into large slabs.

... which is then put in round blocks ...

... and weighted down to harden.

Long story shortened, here is the some of this year's final product, above, in various sizes.  These cheeses will be picked up by the farmers to age.

Lunchtime!  We had picnic lunches packed for us by the hotel and most folks opened and ate theirs.  We had lots of lovely cheeses to taste, along with fresh bread, so my lunch consisted of an apple, cheese and bread.  Delicious.  I especially liked the thin-sliced two-year-old cheese, at bottom on the cheese tray.

A short walk from the cheesemaker's was a suspension bridge, the 229 foot-long Handeckfallbrücke, built in 2006.  Yup, it swayed as we made our way across, and it was a long way down!

Jimmy and Sheila ready to walk!  Sheila and I found a great wild blueberry patch on the opposite side, and spent a few minutes in blueberry heaven.

On the other side was the Gelmerbahn -- truly a straight-up funicular.  When we looked at the red carriage taking the folks above to the top, we gasped.  No way would we get on that thing (we didn't have time for it, anyway, but look at the gradient, below).  A lovely alpine lake on the other side, with hiking trails around it, would have made it more desirable, but really, No. Thank. You!

Think we were finished?  Nope, next came a visit to a hydropower plant.  I won't go into great detail about our one-and-a-half hour stop here, but suffice to say, it was very interesting.  Not everyone had the desire to learn A LOT about this, but Jimmy liked everything he heard.  Intelligent Swiss tapped into using hydro power and KWO has been producing sustainable electricity for almost 100 years.  They have begun planning for the time ahead when Swiss glaciers melt and rivers run dry.  Their trains and trams and buses all (if not 100%, it has to be close) run on electricity, much of it from hydro.

We used "whispers" supplied by the power plant, so we could hear what our guide said, and they also blocked out some of the NOISE produced by these HUGE machines.

We piled into a small van to access the plant, driving under the lake in a large tunnel, which gave some of us pause ... but on the way back, we stopped to view the crystals discovered during tunneling of the access tunnel to the Grimsel power plant back in 1974.  The crystal cavern contained specimens up to 20 cm long, many highly valued because of their total transparency.  We oohed and aahed at this exhibit.

Back on the bus and on switchbacks to reach Grimsel Pass.  We've left behind one of the (obviously glacial) hydro lakes.  We'd seen a number of bicycle enthusiasts riding UP to the pass (below), and we shook our collective heads in awe of anyone being able to do this.  Also, maybe they're nuts!

Finally, the pass!  A group of Yellow-bellied Marmots lives in a sort of haven up here!  With regular feedings of carrot peels and rabbit-type pellets, why would they leave?

The people behind me didn't move fast enough and rusted in place, unlike the hikers on this Road Scholar trip!  Look at this picture!  Before leaving the US, we checked weather forecasts and despaired at what we saw -- a week of cloudy, rainy, chilly-into-cold weather loomed in Wengen, according to them.  I love it that they were WRONG.  We enjoyed a week of warm, sunny days with cool nights; short-sleeve shirts and even shorts were worn on several days.  It's been beautiful.

Another suspension bridge?  Longer?  Yes -- the second-longest one in Switzerland -- this bridge measures 280 meters (918 feet) and dangles very high above a river canyon.  You can barely see the far side in this picture.  Not everyone wanted to tackle this one, but Jimmy and I threw caution to the wind and crossed it.  This bridge wasn't too far from Bettmeralp.  Below, Jimmy has begun recrossing.

At last, we made it to Bettmeralp.  Holy Toledo, wait ... the bus pulled into Betten Talstation, where the group piled into a gondola with all our luggage and traveled via cableway up a mountain to the Hotel Waldhaus in Bettmeralp.  Whew!  What a day!  The hotel glowed like a gem in this alpine village (also car-free), and we settled into our room, below.  We didn't think we could improve on our hotel/village of Wengen, but ... oh my, we can see the Matterhorn in the distance from our room.  Oh wow!

Will this post ever be finished?  This being Monday, it's fondue/raclette night at the charming Hotel Waldhaus -- menu below.

I don't eat sausage or preserved meat like you see below.  Or, at least I didn't prior to tonight!  I ate everything on my plate, including the small piece of rye bread.  Delicious.

Cheese fondue came next, with bread for dipping, and it was also so good that we ate too much!  Save room for the raclette!

Neither of us had ever eaten raclette -- a half-cheese wheel broiled over an open flame.  When the top layer bubbles and browns, it's scraped off onto a plate, and placed atop the burner for a minute.  Also served with bread (different kind), this was so delicious, I ate till I nearly blew up!  Amazing day!

At 6,400', we have an idyllic view of the valley and the surrounding peaks.  I believe we'll do just fine here.  Just fine.