Dave eating a typical breakfast

After eating a typical breakfast of muesli with yogurt, coffee with steamed milk, rolls, croissants, cheeses and meats, we began our last day of real hiking.

The morning was damp with dense fog. We had two options: around the side of the mountain or over the mountain. On the advice of our host from the Berghaus Ramslauenen, we chose to go around the mountain, as the hiking the ridge line at the top of the mountain in the dense fog would be hazardous.

Along the way, we came across a helicopter team who was grounded and waiting for the fog to lift.

Photo: Swiss helicopter

Once one the other side of the mountain at a lower altitude, the fog had lifted. The trail was very mild compared to some of the mountainous terrain we had covered earlier in our trip.

Photo: Beautiful flowers along the way
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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
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Dave crossing a snowfield

Day 4 of 7: July 20, 2008

After another sleepless night with multiple trips in the dark, cold, windy night to the toilet on the side of the mountain, I climbed out of my bunk around 0630. The early morning risers had already eaten breakfast and left to summit the mountain. Dave and I left the hut around 0730 in anticipation of afternoon showers, which we hoped to avoid while on the mountain.

Crossing the snowfields was perhaps the most dangerous aspect of hiking in the Alps (except for the sheer cliffs) as the snow was slippery and there was nothing to slow you down from accelerating if you slipped, except for the rocky bottom a few hundred meters away. We tread carefully across, walking in the prints of those who had gone before.

After a short descent from Gspaltenhornhütte (2,455 meters), we would ascend up to Sefinenfurgge (2,612m), which was a saddle pass between Büttlassen and Hundshorn.

Photo: Sign at Sefinenfurgge

Photo: Dave and I pausing for a picture at top of Sefinenfurgge
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View of the Matterhorn from Zermatt

Days 1 of 7: July 17, 2008

My friend, Dave Tipler, and I spent a week traipsing through the Swiss Alps in July. Dave was in Darmstadt, Germany for business, and I was in Roth, Germany for the Quelle Challenge. The timing worked out perfectly!

On Wednesday, July 16, I took the train from Roth (near Nurembourg) to meet Dave in Darmstatdt (near Frankfurt) and we drove down to Randa near Zermatt at the base of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.

To get to Zermatt, we took a car train from Kandersteg to Goppenstein via the Lötchberg Tunnel. The train was able to carry tourist buses in addition to dozens of cars at a time.

Lötchberg Tunnel car train

On Thursday morning, we caught the train from Täsch to Zermatt (tourists and hikers were not allowed to drive to Zermatt) and our hiking adventures began!

On our first day, we climbed from Zermatt at 1,620 meters (5,314 feet) in the valley up through Furi and the Schwarzee to the Hörnlihütte SAC (Swiss Alpine Club hut for sleeping and eating) at 3,260 meters (10,696 feet) or roughly a mile higher. The Hörnlihütte which was as close as we could get to the Matterhorn without Alpine gear (crampons, ropes, etc). When we reached the hut, we enjoyed a $12 bowl of Goulash Soup - all the food and supplies are helicoptered in - before hiking another 4 hours down over and up to another hut (Gandegghütte), where we spent the night.

Dave and I on the way to Hornlihutte

The first day was the toughest day for me. We started our hike at 8:40 AM and finished at 7:10 PM, 10.5 hours later. Dave had tried to describe the hiking to me when we met for planning prior to leaving for Europe, but his descriptions fell on ignorant ears and I just didn’t get it. “No worries. I can do anything. I’m a Ironman-distance triathlete,” I had told myself prior to our trip.

I was humbled, and I was pushed outside my comfort zone physically from the steep climbing and mentally from the precarious hiking along narrow, uneven trails, which if one slipped or tripped, would lead to a 1,000 foot slide or even drop down the side of a cliff.

Two hours into our hike, we reached Furi, at the top of one of the Gondolas that came up from Zermatt. We had decided to skip the Gondola in order to warm up our legs to hiking. When we stopped at the restaurant at Furi, I crashed on the picnic table for half an hour from exhaustion. It was going to be a long, challenging day! One moment at a time is a mental strategy that I use for Ironman racing, which I applied this day as well.

In front of

I suppose that having a stomach bug the first four days didn’t help me, as I had to visit the WC (water closet or toilet) or find a large group of stones to hide behind every two hours. I don’t think all the other hikers in our hut appreciated me climbing out of the bunk to shuffle across the creaky floor to open the creaky door before heading down the stairs and outside to visit the WC in the middle of the night and back again. Ah, well, you play the cards you are dealt.

When we finally reached the hut that evening, dinner was already being served. Dave and I sat down and paid $7 each for one of the best beers that I had ever tasted. The food was delicious, too, but my stomach was unsettled, and I had to force feed myself while propping my exhausted head up with my hand. I have never felt as tired even after racing 140.6 miles in an Ironman triathlon!

At the hut, we met a family of four from Ohio. They were the only Americans we met up in the mountains during our trip, although we did see a few American tourists (not hikers) around the towns and villages.

Dave and I had a four person room with two sets of bunk beds to ourselves. In order to get to our room, we had to pass through the room the family from Ohio.

Hiking back

After a relatively sleepless night, we ate breakfast then headed back down the mountain to Zermatt.

Leaving Zermatt, we took the train back to Tasch then drove through the Lötchberg Tunnel to Kandersteg. Dave had originally planned for us to hike back into the mountains that afternoon in order stay in another hut, but we opted to stay in town at Hotel Ericka.

Day 2 of 7: July 18, 2008

The second day was our shortest day during our trip, as we decided that we needed to an easy day to recover from the first day in preparation for another long, tough hike on day 3.

Map of our hike on days 1-2

My adventures in the Swiss Alps will continues in my next blog entry.

More photos are available on my flickr site.

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