IAESTE Hiking Weekend
The hiking weekend began with the steepest bus ride in Europe. It really was quite steep in places, made the bus ride up to the Remarkables in New Zealand tame in comparison. Because it was only one lane the bus driver was constantly hitting the horn to let cars know we were coming round the corner. The swiss post buses have a REALLY loud and long horn tune.
And then began the hiking. The first stage was about on par with the Jura weekend hike. Quite steep and energy draining but a pleasant stroll in comparison to what came later.
After about an hour hike we made it to a restaurant and alpine cheese factory. We got to see how they made the cheese, and how it is aged. To be able to market as Alpine cheese, the cows have to live and the cheese has to be made at a certain altitude (I forget what). In the winter they move everything down into the valley though.
We got to try some. It tasted like cheese.
Then the hiking continued, this was the hardest part of the weekend. It was incredibly steep and in many places slippery. Incredible views though. Eventually we all made it to the top - well as high as you could go without climbing gear - to the cottage that we were staying at. The only was to get supplies there is by helicopter (or by carting it up the massive hike). We had some beers when we got there and it reminded me so much of beers in Lake Tekapo on the NZ Ski Trip last year. For Comparison (NZ | Schwiez) Then we went down for a bit of a walk on the glacier, which was fun although quickly turned into everyone throwing chunks of ice at each other. There was an Aussie guy from Adelaide on the glacier that took a group photo for us.
We stayed the night in the Blüemlisalphütte alpine cottage. Our room had a top and bottom bunk, but they are all joined so it’s about 20 mattresses up the top and 20 down the bottom so you all sleep close together. As such we got to hear some nice snoring through the night. It wasn’t too bad though. Also you weren’t allowed hiking boots inside so you had to wear sandals. The Swiss sure love socks and sandals. I should mention that even at work you see people wearing socks and sandals. Dinner was really nice, they do pretty well for somewhere so remote. Even the beer wasn’t too expensive (6.50CHF for 5dl). That’s another thing that is stange here. They don’t use mL. They use cL and dL. I have no idea why, it seems to be a Europe thing but it doesn’t make much sense.
Sunset was particularly amazing, the view of the various peaks of the alps was spectacular. Once it got dark, it got really cold. But I still ventured outside with a few other keen people and we did a bit of stargazing. There was no light pollution or clouds, so you could see everything perfect. It was also interesting to see all the different constellations of the northern hemisphere.
The next day we started the long hike down the other side to Oeschinen Lake and Kandersteg. Along the way Andreas found some Edelweiss, which is apparently a really rare flower. Also on a creek there was a salamander, which was quite cool.
After having lunch by the lake we went tobogganing! YAY! It was quite lame I thought, was way too slow and much less fun than I was expecting.
More hiking down to Kandersteg, by this stage the trail was mostly meadows, so I could finally take of the Swiss Army boots I had been wearing all weekend and get some relief from the many, many blisters that had formed. Although the boots were quite heavy to carry and I had to pay close attention to where I was walking so I didn’t stand in sheep poo.
Those of us under 25 paid for a train to Bern and then walked around for a bit while we waited for the Gleis7 to kick in. Was a great weekend, but even today (2 days later) every step is difficult and walking up stairs is horrible.
