Above the Oeschinensee

Day 3 of 7: July 19, 2008

When Dave had asked the girl at the visitors center in Kandersteg about our planned hiked from Kandersteg (where we were) to Gspaltenhornhütte (another Swiss Alpine Club mountain hut), she laughed and stated that it was not possible to make the hike in one day. We did the make the hike in one day - 8.5 hours of mostly climbing.

We checked out of Hotel Ericka before breakfast was served at 8 am so that we could make an early start up the mountain. We opted to ride the Sesselbahn (chairlift) up to the Oeschinensee to bypass the initial 1+ hour climb.

Riding the Seeelbahn

The hike above the Oeschinensee was beautiful as shown by the picture below. We met a Swiss mountain man and his wife. When Dave asked him how long it would take us to reach Blümlisalphütte, the first hut that we would pass on the way to Gspaltenhornhütte, he shrugged and said that he had made the trip in 2 hours wearing trail running shoes and a light pack but it also depended on trail conditions. Carrying full packs, we would not be that fast.

At the hut

Along the way, we met Andrea and Clara - two Swiss women who were hiking in the mountains for the weekend. We later discovered that most of the travelers up in the mountains away from the tourist infested towns were Swiss, Germans, French and Italians who came up to the mountains to hike and climb for the weekend. There were very few amenities on the mountains and the huts were unreachable by any vehicle except for helicopters, which could be seen traversing the skies for rescues and supply delivery.

The climb down from the Blümlisalphütte was one of the steeper climbs that we descended. We passed many folks going up who were resting along the way. Even though we were going down hill, the descent was technically difficult made more so by our heavy packs which affected our center of gravity. The trail was quite slippery from water run off. When Dave and I both slipped at times during our trip, we went down quickly and suddenly.

Climbing down from

We did not see very many animals except for sheep and cows in areas where there was grass. “Ding! ding!” was the familiar sound of the animals, as each had its own bell.

Friendly mountain sheep

The trails were well-marked with the yellow directional signs at cross junctions. Along the trail itself, stones were painted with white / red / white stripes to mark the correct trail as well as piles of stones such as this one:

The cairns help mark the trail

Descending from Blümlisalphütte into valley, we had to ascent again up to Gspaltenhornhütte. The scenery was very gray and we crossed by the glacier as you can see in the picture below. Because of the dirt and stones that had fallen on top of the glacier, it was difficult to see the actual ice and snow.

Me with the glacier in the background

The official word from the huts was “Don’t drink the water,” but Dave spoke to one of the mountain guides who said that it was ok. I figured that my stomach was already a mess so it could not get any worse. Plus, neither of us wanted to pay 7 Swiss Francs (~$7 U.S.) for a small bottle of water at the huts. We preferred to spend our money on beer, which cost the same.

Dave filling up water from a stream

We arrived at the hut 8.5 hours after our start from the Susselbahn in Kandersteg. We proved the woman at the visitors center wrong.

We slept in the Lager - a dorm style room. There were three of these rooms in the hut. Note the close quarters - there was no separation between bunks.

Dinner was served family style. We sat down with a group of Swiss and a group of French hikers. We used the same bowl for our soup and meal. Two beers and a full belly - I was happy.

Close quarters in the lager

In spite of an estimated 20 people in the Lager, the room was surprisingly quiet. My stomach was still a disaster so I was awake every 2 hours to make the trek off the bunk, out the room, down the stairs, outside the hut and around the side to the WC. It would be another full day and night before I was feeling normal again.

To be continued on Day 4.

Read about previous days: Day 1-2

My complete set of pictures are available here.

Live life fully and boldly!

David

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David B. Glover
Experiential Writer, Elite Athlete, Coach and Race Director
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine
Personal Web: www.davidglover.net
Business Web: www.enduranceworks.net

©2008 David B. Glover