July 2010 – Globitrotter

Timing

Last weekend I went to Switzerland again to visit Andy. This time the weather was not on our side and we cancelled the planned two day hike in Grindelwald. Instead we decided to hike up the Pilatus which is Lucerne’s house mountain. It is a “smallish” mountain about 2150 m or so, which is a few meters higher than the highest mountain in Sweden, Kebnekaise.

It was a very hot day with temperatures well over 30 degrees and we did wonder on the way up to the top what the h-ll we were thinking of. We could have been having a lazy day at the lake… Of course we had also decided to walk all the way from town and not from the foot of the mountain. In good time we made it though and could enjoy a well deserved beer at the top before we hiked all the way back again. We had stunning views of the Vierwaldstätter See and Lucerne. Unfortunately I forgot my camera this time so no photos today, you will have to imagine it.

On the weather forecast they had warned for thunderstorms and clouds did start coming in during the afternoon. As we came closer to town the sky was completely black behind us and we started to walk faster in order to make it back before it started to rain. It did start to rain a little and we actually ran the last few hundred meters. When we came up to the apartment it had started to rain very heavily and a few minutes later it hailed. It was one of the more violent thunderstorms I have experienced and we managed to time it by a minute. Considering the whole adventure was about 10 hours I think we did a pretty good job.

Because I do not have a picture from this hike I am attaching one from our latest tour. This picture is of us crossing the rope bridge was taken by Johannes Peschut who we met on the climb.

Good things about hiking in the Alps

There are several reasons why I like hiking in the Alps. I like rock so the dramatic exposed peaks in the Alps suites me just perfectly. Other good things are that the season is a bit longer (than in Sweden at least) and there are no mosquitoes. Also if you don’t have a lot of time or don’t feel like hiking through the forest on low altitude or have problems with your knees you can in many places take the cable car. This way you can do cool hiking on high altitude even if you just want to do a day hike. But my favourite is that after a steep hike up to a hut somewhere you can always get something cold to drink.

Here, at the Weissmies Hütte in Saastal, we found a sofa where we spent the afternoon with a beer until the guy who worked in the hut came and told us that dinner was served. What a great place!

Via Ferrata (klettersteig) on Jegihorn

The weather made it! It was a beautiful day when we went out to climb the Via Ferrata on Jegihorn in Saastal. We had spent the night in Weissmies Hütte about 1 hour from the start of the Via Ferrata.

The first part of the the route was easy climbing with a few ladders. After an hour or so we reached the ridge. Once on the ridge we had to climb down a little to reach the rope bridge we had to cross to get to the top of Jegihorn.

It was a fairly long rope bridge where you definately had time to think about what could happen if you slipped…

The small dots in the center of the photo are our shadows when we are on the rope bridge.

Immediately after the rope bridge we had to climb up this thing.

After the rope ladder there was a fairly vertical wall we had to climb before reaching the top. They had added some grips to make it easier. This was my favourite part, very exposed and with a fantastic view. Nice!

After about 2 hours on the Via Ferrata we reach the top of Jegihorn on 3206 m. We were hanging around the top for more than an hour talking to other climbers before we headed down to the Weissmies Hütte again for some lunch and a beer. For those who like Via Ferratas I can definately recommend this one, I was climbing it with a smile on my face.