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Fürenwand – Via Ferrata

On Friday we finally made it to Engelberg and the Via Ferrata on Fürenwand leading up to Fürenalp. It was about 4 years ago we did this Via Ferrata the first time. Honestly I did not remember it being that steep, it is about 750 meters elevation change and parts of it goes pretty much up straight walls with short overhanging moves and a free hanging ladder. Before Friday I was actually thinking of bringing inexperienced climbers on it but changed my mind once I was on the wall. I think I would like to be positive that people does not have issues with heights before taking on this wall.

Our first plan was to go shopping in Zürich. The weather forecast however said it was going to be the only dry day during the weekend so we changed our plans and went climbing instead. Although it was not raining it was partly wet and at some points even a bit slippery.

It was nice to come up on Fürenalp and see the sign for the restaurant. It was definitely time for lunch and a panache (beer mixed with lemon soda). 🙂 There was no wind at all so it was actually ok to even sit outside and enjoy the views.

Rainy weather – not so bad after all

The perfect ending of this season would be to do the Via Ferrata Fürenwand in Engelberg. It is a short but challenging Via Ferrata which ends with a free hanging ladder (it moves a little bit) that is just slightly over hanging as well. Really good fun if you are into this kind of thing.

A few weekends now we have been about to go but the weather has been playing tricks on us. Either the forecast has been bad and we have decided to do other things or the forecast was good but we still woke up to pouring rain. We have one more weekend before they close down the cable car (which is nice to take down once you have had your after climbing beer in the restaurant on the top of the cliff), so I am hoping for nice weather!

Instead of burning some calories we ended up adding some… What is better than some cream tea on a Sunday afternoon just as the sun decided to come out for a few minutes? 🙂

 

Ah, seasons!

Well, here it comes. The autumn. When I looked out the window this morning snow had fallen on the mountain tops. Above about 2000 meters the peaks were nice and white. Much of it disappeared during the day but it was clear that a new season is here.

I had some difficulties believing what I saw this morning considering the beach was full of people just last week when it was still almost 30 degrees Celsius. Summer was still going strong.

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This is what it looked like at Ufschötti at the Lucerne Lake (Vierwaldstetter see) just a few days ago.  

Actually I am pretty excited about the autumn since we have escaped colder weather for a few years now. Even though it has been great not having to wear lots of clothes for years I have missed the seasons. Last time I experienced a full autumn in Europe was 2010 and then we moved to Arizona in December and missed winter. So now it is time to dig out those boots and jackets. Looking forward to it!

First outing

We have lived in Lucerne since 1 June and from our balcony we see the mountains, particularly the Pilatus. It is regarded as the “house mountain” being the highest peak close to the city. With its 2128 meters it is higher than the highest point in Sweden. Considering our interest in hiking it is astonishing that we have not hiked one single time since we came back to Switzerland. The weather has been fantastic so there was really no reason. But I have to admit that after doing so much hiking during our trip and moving around every day made us lazy and we have enjoyed just staying put for the summer.

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The Pilatus is very green this time of year. If you zoom in you can see the red gondolas on the right side of the mountain.

Lately though I have started to feel the urge to get up there again and on Saturday we did our first “real” hike since Tasmania in March. (I am not including smaller walks to see certain sights.) We decided to hike the Pilatus from the Alpnach side which is the most direct route and therefore also quite steep. You start at the Pilatus Bahn station (yes, there is a train going up on this side of the mountain) on roughly 450 m altitude. It starts off on the meadows but rather quickly you enter the forest and do not get out in the open until almost half ways to the top.

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Before getting into the forest.

Once above the tree line you soon see your goal for the first time and it becomes very obvious that it is a fair way to go. You can see the switchbacks you have in front of you but you also have a nicer view and it is more alpine with beautiful meadows and steep rock faces. The top of the mountain was mostly covered in clouds so it did not make much sense to take pictures at this point.

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What is a hike in the Alps without cows? In the background in the left image you can see the train track.

Being not in the best of shapes it took me about half an hour longer than last time I did this hike 3 years ago. We did not keep that good track of our time, we stopped and talked to fellow hikers on the way, but I think we did the 1700 m altitude in about 3 h and 40 min. My goal is to cut that time with at least one hour. I would be happy with 2.5 h. Andy’s goal is a bit more aggressive but he would have to run part of the time to reach his 1.5 h goal…

At last we reached the peak which is crawling with people. The amount of people that actually hike up is not very large, most come up with the train or the gondola on the north side of the mountain. Recently they renovated the facilities on the top to fit even more people indoors. I guess a lot of the tourists does not realize that it gets quite cold up over 2000 m, especially when the wind is blowing. This way they can get a nice lunch or snack without having to freeze half to death.

And being out of shape we took the train down. 🙂 It is quite a cool train being the steepest rack railway in the world. They say the steepest part is 48% which is quite impressive considering it opened in 1889.

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This is the half way station. You can get off and on here if you don’t want to do the complete hike or just get off, stroll around, say hi to the cows and then continue with the train.

 

Movies in Switzerland

Yesterday we went to the movies. We attempted to go see something a few weeks ago but could not find the film in original language. It is actually still a problem to find the movies you want to see not dubbed in German. I very much believe that dubbing the movies destroys the original. It is obvious that everything is recorded in a studio, the speech does not match the lip movements and just hearing someone like Sean Connery or Morgan Freeman speaking German is simply wrong. Here they are used to it though and many prefer the German versions, obviously. Many think it is a nuisance to read subtitles.

However, Despicable Me 2, runs close by in original language. Luckily! I was almost expecting having to wait until I get back to Sweden to watch movies in the cinema. We have been waiting for this film for a long time and it did not let us down. Very funny. Go see it! 🙂

Another thing about going to the movies here is the break… Yes, they do make a break in the middle of the movie. When you are really into it and it is exciting and you just want to see how it continues the screen goes black and the lights are turned on. Come on! I guess the reason is that they sell beer at the theater so people need a toilet break and time to get another one. Annoying if you are not used to it. Next time I have to buy a beer to make it worth while.