View of the valley from the Eiger Trail

My first good night’s sleep was at Alpiglen! My stomach FINALLY seems to be settling down after four days of nausea and frequent bowel movements.

After a typical breakfast of rolls with butter / jam / honey, coffee with steamed milk, meats and cheeses, Dave and I leave the Berghaus to hike along the Eiger Trail along the base of the Eiger mountain. We decided to hike the trail after several hikers had recommended it to us.

Although thick fog mostly obscured the views along the trail, we caught glimpses of the valley and the mountains like surreal dreamlike visions.

After two hours of hiking, the trail ended at Station Eigergletscher, which was a train station for a train that went inside the mountain to Jungfraujoch and the “Top of Europe.”

There are three distinct types of visitors in the Alps:

• Serious hikers (like us) who hiked all day, were self-sufficient and stayed in the mountains
• Casual day hikers
• Tourists

All three blended together in the towns and villages. Tourists traveled in packs and never left the towns and villages. Casual day hikers traveled in small groups (typically parents with kids or couples) and disappeared once we had hiked more than an hour or so away from the towns and villages. In the mountains, there were only the serious hikers who traveled solo, in pairs or in small groups. Truthfully, you could often tell the serious hikers by our odor.

Looking up at the tourists swarming at Station Eigergletscher:

Photo: Tourists swarming at Station Eigergletscher

We also saw a few antelope near the station:

Photo: Antelope

Leaving Station Eigergletscher, taking the longer and more scenic route down to Wengen.

Photo: Dave frolicking in a grassy field

Along the way, we watched a small avalanche cascade down the side of one of the mountains – I think it was the Jungfrau:

Photo: A small avalanche cascading down the Jungfrau

As we approached Wengen, I had a brilliant idea to cool off in small waterfall:

Once in Wengen, we found a COOP (small Swiss grocery store) and loaded up on bread, meat, cheeses and beer. We took a series of trains to our next stop: Kiental.

Life was simple in the Alps. No cell phones (except for emergencies and lodging reservations), no Internet, no television and no [business] work. Our concerns each day were when to wake up, what to eat and how far to hike. Simple!

Photo: Dave deep in thought as he evaluated options for the next leg of our trip. We were both looking pretty rough at this point.

Unfortunately, we arrived in Kiental too late to ride the Sesselbahn up to the Berghaus Ramslauenen and had to hike up the side of the mountain instead.

When we arrived at the top, Dave noticed that he had lost his jacket somewhere along the trail. The Frau who ran the Berghaus graciously handed Dave the keys to her car.

Photo: The bar at the Berghaus

We had the entire Lager (dorm room) to ourselves that night likely because the weekend was over and the rest of the world had gone back to work.

Continued on Day 6.

Read about previous days: Day 1-2, Day 3, Day 4

My complete set of pictures are available here.

Live life richly 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