hiking: männlichen (2343m)

After today's morning session, the workshop scheduled a hiking/site seeing break, so Derek and I walked up to Männlichen (2343m) across to Kleine Scheidegg (2061m) and back down. All together a nearly 20 mile loop. First, up the steep roads of the rolling fields, through the woods, and following under the cable car route.

When we reached Männlichen, we could peak over the other side at Brienzersee, along the Lauterbrunnen valley, and down onto Wengen, perched on its cliff. Yikes, this will be the marathon route, less than two weeks away.

Eiger.

At Kleine Scheidegg, we see preparations being made for the marathon finish...and storm clouds coming closer.

The rain reaches us as we make our way down to Grindelwald, the route is not too steep, and the thunder echoing through the mountains is beautiful. A little ways before reaching town, we discovered a sheep tangled in electric fencing. Derek was able to free her from the repeated shocks, but she did not seem to be in good shape. I hated to leave her, but after we found a neighbor of the owner, we had to continue down, as it was still raining, nearly dark, and my feet were exhausted. 

hiking: unterer grindelwaldgletscher, bäregg

This afternoon, I headed back to the same trail head near the Oberer Grindelwaldgletscher that we took this morning, but went the opposite direction, toward the Unterer Grindelwaldgletscher. I passed the Pfingstegg lift, walked through a long tunnel, and continued to the refuge at Bäregg (1775m), where I enjoyed a glass of homemade elderflower syrup- holunderblütensirup to celebrate my rainy-solo hike. Aren't these long names fabulous letter combinations! It started to drizzle not long after I set out, and continued for the next couple hours. I zipped my raincoat over my backback, and enjoyed the dramatic (but limited) views of the glacier, and waved to Derek in the tiny village below. 

I got back to the apartment for a nice hot shower, made some dinner, and enjoyed a beautiful evening's Alpine glow from the balcony. This was a full day of hiking.

hiking: oberer grindelwaldgletscher

This morning we hiked up to the Oberer Grindelwaldgletscher. What we thought would be a quick and easy morning jaunt became a climb up narrow passages on rather rustic ladders...even better than we hoped. The morning light was lovely, and we spotted our first wallcreepers (a beautiful bird that lives on high cliffs and flashes bright red on the undersides of its wings). What an unexpected treat! We raced down, and back to town, arriving just in-time for Derek to make the noon conference start.

hiking: first (2167m)

This morning, we packed up and drove to Grindelwald. Derek has a workshop for the week, so Pinot and I tagged along to enjoy the mountains. As soon as we got settled in, we started on a late afternoon hike up to First under a perfectly clear sky, and looped back to town just before dark.