29 June 2011

Blüemlisalphütte

Wandern: Oeschinensee to Griesalp (overnight at Blüemlisalphütte)

We recently took an amazing overnight hike in the Berner Oberland region. We hiked from the Oeschinensee (on a rainy day) over 1200 meters up to the Blüemlisalphütte (something like a hostel for serious mountain climbers). The following morning we hiked down to Griesalp.




We had our annual Father's Day picnic overlooking the Oeschinensee and the sun actually came out for a minute.




Very cool wire bridge (Zoë wants to install one of these on the playground back home):





It was a steep climb to get to the hut, but so much fun once we were there. First we traded in our boots for clogs to wear inside.


We had wonderful fruit tea to warm up--there is no potable water there, so they make tea from boiled water instead.


There are several sleeping rooms, each with rows of bunks. We took some time to warm up after the rainy hike.



And then we had a nice dinner, though Steve and Heidi were feeling the altitude....



Overnight it snowed. Outside the hut it felt like a blizzard (check out our improvised sock mittens).














But the sun came out and we eventually made it down past the snow line.





23 June 2011

Then and now with the Spitzbube man


left: July 2007 (Bern) — right: June 2011 (Zermatt)


Wandern: Zermatt

We're trying to squeeze in a few last hiking trips before we return home and we had to see the famous Matterhorn.



The schoggi selection was easy for this trip. Sure enough, that is what the Matterhorn looks like (except with more clouds in real life)....



Our hike took us past several lakes.














In this area most of the forests are European Larch.






We always enjoy riding a cog wheel train, too.