Sunday 23rd August: Cool morning, blue skies with the odd shower: 10°C to 5ºC up to 16°C.
Griesalp to Lauterbrunnen: 21K: 8.45am to 5.30pm: 8hrs 45mins, plus 30 minutes of train/cable car
Accommodation:Valley Hotel Lauterbrunnen
Goodbye Nauturfreundehaus
Sunny skies as we leave Griesalp
Follow the grey gravel track up
Coffee break half way upr
Graham eats nuts to save weight
Steep stoney track to top
268 step ladders to the top
Swedish friends are already there
Sefinenfurgge Pass at 2612m
Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau peaks
Rain sets in
Lunch under a poncho
Swiss postcard, cows and alps
Eiger Monch and Jungfrau
More picture postcard stuff
And more
Balcony walk, spectacular views
Steep cable car drop to Lauterbrunnen
Today's walk between Griesalp and Lauterbrunnen has been voted THE best short walk in the world by American Backpacker Magazine. And when we climbed to the top of the Seninenfurgge at 2610m and saw the view of the snowcapped Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountain peaks looming high above the valley, it's easy to understand why it's the best walk and certainly it was our highlight today.
The morning started with the annoying discovery that there were showers at the Naturfreundehaus, hidden in a corridor and that last nights cold water splash wasn't necessary. So after another lovely Swiss breakfast, we all had last night's shower this morning. The weather is fine but clouds loom on the horizon. We need to get started so we're out the door at 8.45am. But a short distance up the road, Jenny' succumbs to pinched feet and decides to walk back to Griesalp to catch the Post bus then train around the valley into Lauterbrunnen. So it's just the 3 of us trekking today.
It's still cool as we walk up the shadowed side of the valley along a gravel road. There's several trekkers heading our way including a young Swedish couple whom we play tag with the whole day. The gravel road ends and we soon find ourselves on a narrow steep track heading up to the Sefinenfurgge Pass at 2610m, a 1200m climb from our lodging at the Naturfriendehaus. After more than 2hrs of climbing, it's time for a coffee. Graham lightens his load by demolishing all the macadamia nuts.
The track soon turns from steep to very steep and the only way to make headway is to lean forward on trekking poles, dig the toes in and push hard, stopping every 20 steps for a 10 second breather. Zigzagging backwards and forwards across the rocky scree, the track becomes step ladders, strung between enormous poles and filled with dirt. There's 268 steps to the top (I counted them), with no room for anyone on the way down to pass so its a matter of timing to get to a wider spot to enable a descender to pass. The view from the top, Sefinenfurgge Pass (2612m), is spectacular - there's a wall of alps down the right hand side of the valley with the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau standing above all.
After 5 minutes of standing and admiring the view, the clouds move over and it starts to drizzle. Time to get off this mountain. It's very steep going down and shaley and slippery. But after 40 minutes we're on flatter meadows and find a place for lunch. It's still drizzling with rain while we sit huddled under ponchos eating bread and cheese piggy style. Another 15 minutes and the sun comes out again revealing the magnificent Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, a view that stays with us for the next hour. It's spectacular with meadows, cows and mountains as we wander along a balcony high above the valley.
Another steep drop down a stoney path to another ledge and the rain starts again but it's only a 1hr 30min walk to Murren, a pretty ski village half way down the slope. The BLM hybrid train/cable car is at the end of the village and we arrive at exactly 5.06pm, just as the train is pulling out, but there's another one at 5.21. The train ride around the mountain is just as spectacular as today's hiking and soon we're at the cable car change over and dropping steeply into Lauterbrunnen. The BLM station is next door to the COOP where Jenny is shopping for our dinner tonight. She has been in Lauterbrunnen for a few hours having bussed it out of Griesalp on the steepest (28%) bus route in Switzerland, then trains via Interlaken to get here mid afternoon.
The Valley Hostel Lauterbrunnen is only 300 metres up the road and looks new. It's perfect for us - separate rooms, a very clean communal shower, and a guest kitchen downstairs with table and chairs where we eat Jenny's haul of lettuce, salmon, lasagna and cheeses. An early night after a long day.
Jenny with her Coop haul