Adelboden, Bern, Switzerland Monday, August 27, 2012

Allmenalp Cable Car

To hike or not to hike, that is the question. Inwardly, I am leaning toward a train to Interlaken and maybe a swim in the lake. We have a nice breakfast and are still undecided. Getting back to the room, I tell Carol if we are taking the train we have 25 minutes to get ready and I jump in the shower. When I get dressed it is closing in on train time and I say something, which is when Carol says we are hiking. Probably because, I had threatened to put in the blog that she wimped out on our last day. Stupid threat backfired!

Looks Easy Right

We hike out of town to a cable car called Allmenalp for a steep ascent up a cliff to a meadow where we will start our hike. From the lift, the trail is not that bad climbing along an old road past a farm. As we keep getting closer to the pass it looks like we are headed for, I get a bad feeling. As we get closer, it is obvious the trail will get steeper. Now, once again we start to climb in earnest. Straight up a cliff. Well, not exactly straight up as there are switchbacks of a short Swiss nature with some of the turns calf busting steep. It is a sunny day although much cooler than the first days of our hike. That does not stop the genius perspiration from soaking my hat and shirt as well as other unmentionable areas.

Not So Easy

At this point, I think we are both annoyed that we are such stubborn bastards, and could not allow our egos to take the easy way out today . It just gets steeper and steeper and looking down, I can’t believe the vertical side of this mountain we are climbing. Looking up is worse and gets me dizzy as we are only about half way. Slowly we climb, step by step, inch by inch, my legs feel like lead compared to yesterday, but retreat is no longer an option, it would hurt worse! I round the pinnacle of a cliff we were climbing towards, holding on to more chains as it is a ledge pointing upward. Once past that, the trail gets unbelievably steeper. If you stood up straight, you would fall backwards, so you climb hunched over, trying to keep your hands from scraping on the ground. Luckily it is only a stretch of about 75 yards and we make the saddle.

What We Conquered Yesterday

Time to sit and ponder why we do these things. Looking around, we remember as we can once again absorb the beauty of the alps and see down the valley to Kandersteg and and up the other side to all we conquered yesterday. We talk to a Swiss guy who came up from Adelboden who says the sign is accurate when it says 3 hours. Of course, we listened to the Swiss guy last night who told us this trail was easy. When it comes to hiking, do NOT trust the Swiss.

In Front of Us

We start down a fairly steep trail and can see Adelboden far in the valley below. The trail is steep with loose rocks in spots and not so bad in others. The terrain and surrounding mountains are different than what we have hiked through. No glaciers, greyish rock and scree on one side and grassy hills on the other. Once again the trail plays tricks on us, looking like it will level and the dropping off the side of a cliff.

 

Cold Water

After about an hour and a half of hiking, we reach a meadow with a water source and strange piles of rocks everywhere. We eat on a rock in the middle of this meadow with beauty around us everywhere. We think the rocks are maybe cow graves from avalanches past, but really have no clue as to the origin. The water source is typical of what we have used. A pipe from some underground springs, feeding into a cow trough. We have used these throughout our hikes, we’re told they are safe, and luckily have not fared badly in doing so.

Country Road

After lunch we hit a road for the long gradual descent into Adelboden. This is truly not a horrible grade and although tired, my knee and legs do not hurt or burn as bad as yesterday. Reaching the edge of town, we have what we think is a half mile climb to the bus station. At a corner, I see a bus stop so check it out. It has a sign with an arrow around to the next corner for Frutigen, which is where we have to go. Rounding that corner, I look at the schedule, one bus per hour at 54 past. It is 3:54 and the bus is coming to the stop. Perfect timing is a welcome reward for the end of our Swiss hiking experience. The ride to Frutigen is longer than we thought, but we do not care, our feet are not moving. We arrive at the train station and only a 5 minute wait for the train to Spiez. At Spiez, 10 minutes and we are in Interlaken at 5:15.

Irish Pub in Interlaken

It could not have worked out better. Same room as before, Carol puts laundry in while I shower, than showers herself. She hangs the laundry and we head out to an Irish pub. Fish and chips, a burger, two beers, and free dessert and coffee which was excellent. The 3 Tells Pub is recommended in Interlaken.
The only down side is our bus timing back was not good so we walk off some dessert( as if we needed it at this point) on the 1.25 mile walk back, all in our 2 dollar Walmart sandals. That is all, we are crashing!!! Definitely glad we hiked today!
CNC
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space.

Expenses
18SF- allmenalp cable car
46.80SF- 2 dinners, 2 beers, and free dessert
105SF- Hotel Rugenpark
6 SF- laundry

Miles hiked – 9 Miles
Total miles walked- 11.25