Hiking in Switzerland (and a bit of chocolate too)

After spending a day discovering the cheese of Gruyere, we decided to spend some time hiking around the area, see the mountains and follow a "cheese expedition" through the region. Our time in Gruyere is possibly the first few days where the weather hasn't been sunny for us while we were out and about. It has rained before, but usually when we are driving or at night in our tent. Despite the gray clouds and the occasional spitting of rain, we still enjoyed our time there. (Right - Hovan on the "cheese expedition" next to some primary cheese producers... cows).

The campground we stayed at is a real family affair, and almost all the spots were taken up by RV's that looked they were around for the long haul. We were the only tent in the whole campground, but it was wonderfully clean and had all the amenities we could have wanted.

One night we decided to enjoy some traditional cheese fondue and the camp owner offered a discount if we ate at their restaurant. The fondue was incredible, made with a common regional mixture of Gruyere and Vacherin the end, the family sat down to eat their fondue dinner right next to us, so we felt like we were in someone's home and not their restaurant. Their little daughter (2 yrs old) was playing all around us, and when our dinner was served she snagged a big piece of our fondue bread. She did it so fast that her father never noticed. We suspect she has been doing this for quite some time, but she's so cute, who would complain. (Left - Eating delicious Swiss Fondue).

After leaving Gruyere we decided to head even deeper into the mountains. We have spent the last few nights in Gimmewald in a hostel up in the mountains. We had to take a gondola to get up to the hostel, and it is only a small way up the Schilthorn Mountain. The view from the hostel is amazing and there are huge mountains in every direction. Right across from us is a whole range, including the Eiger and the Jungfrau, which is the highest point in the Alps and the tallest peak in Europe. The weather has been absolutely stunning, nothing but blue skies and the occasional puffy cloud. (Right - the mountain hostel where we stayed).

The hostel is very nice and apparently a common gathering point for English speakers. Almost everyone in the hostel is Canadian or American. For the most part it has been pleasant having some good laughs with fellow North American's, playing card games and swapping stories. It is a low point in the season and even though the Couples Room sleeps 16, there is never more than 8 or 10 people in the room. The other exciting aspect of the hostel is that it has a kitchen we can use. We haven't been able to cook a meal for ourselves in the last month, so we loaded up on all sorts of good groceries and for at least 3 or 4 days we have not had to eat a plain cheese and meat sandwich.

The last 3 days we have been hiking up and around in the mountain ranges, enjoying the incredible scenery and soaking up the local culture. The housing in the area is incredibly quaint and you might think that it was a Hollywood set for a Swiss movie. The housing structures here are so different from everywhere else that we have been in Europe and has a very special charm to it. (Left - one of the many beautiful Swiss Chalets).

Yesterday we took the gondola up to the top of the Schilthorn which peaks out at 10,000 feet. We decided to hike part way down the mountain and then back up to the second highest peak and then take the gondola back down. The first portion of the path from the peak was some of the most treacherous that we have ever seen. There were sheer drop offs on both sides, with jagged rocks, loose scree and weird twists. The only thing to compare was the time that Christine dragged me and our good friends Jeff and Joanna over the more dangerous side of Mt. Arrowsmith, but that lasted maybe 10 minutes, this one went on for about an hour. (Right - View from the top of the Schilthorn).


After hiking for about 3 hours I spotted an ibex at the top of a ridge peak, and so Christine and I did a bit of treacherous off-path hiking to get close. The closer we came the more and more ibex we saw, I counted at least 22 of them. The ibex are the Swiss mountain goat and there are not huge populations of them, so we were pretty excited. After carefully threading our way back to the trail we had a tough decision to make. If we wanted to catch the gondola we had 3 hours to get to the station, and the Swiss signage indicated about 2 and 1/2 hours to reach it (the Swiss are a pretty fit mountain hiking group of people). We could either hike down or go up and take the gondola down. Since we had paid for the gondola ride we decided to push it. (Left - Ibex in the mountains).

After a rather pleasant 45 minutes or so we came to a spot that decided to climb about 1000 feet straight up. After reaching the summit of the hill we had a very very depressing view of another 1000 feet climb up a somewhat treacherous cliff to reach the gondola station. At this point we were committed, exhausted and perhaps a little depressed that we were working against the clock. We managed to race the clock and reach the gondola tower with 30 minutes to spare, so we went at the exact pace the sign said, but in the end it was quite an exhausting 7 hour hike. (Right - the view from the top of the first 1000 foot climb).

The other notable thing about the top of the Schilhorn is that when the gondola was built it was the longest in the world (a record I don't know if it still has). Also at the top was built the very first revolving restaurant. The year after this was built, the site became a key movie set for a James Bond movie. Unfortunately for them, it was the worst Bond movie ever, titled On Her Majesty's Secret Service and starring the one-hit flop George Lazenby (that's what you get when you hire a pretty-boy Australian model to play James Bond). Thinking about the Bond movie gives me fond memories of watching all the movies with my father when I was younger, and now that he has moved to Victoria we can watch them all over again. (Left - the gondola that oes to the top of the Schilthorn).

Today we took it a bit easier and did some more relaxing trekking around the town. We spent the afternoon hiking to a town called Murren so that we could use the pool and hot tub to relax. It has been a pretty relaxing day, resting up for the further adventures of Switzerland. Tomorrow we are off to eastern Switzerland, but we have not yet decided where we will go. We can figure that out when we get to the car and will play the next couple of days fairly loose before making our way to Venice. (Left - Hovan filling the water skin from one of the many free flowing drinking water troughs).

Best wishes to all of you.

Christine and Hovan