August 22, 2015

August 22, 2015

This morning we set out to explore the other side of the Lauterbrunnen valley.  So we took the train and gondola down to Lauterbrunnen and then another train up the other side to the alpine town of Wengen. Wengen, like Murren is perched on the rim of the cliff.  It is not as high, nor does it have as good a view of the high peaks.  It does however have a better view looking down the Lauterbrunnen valley. From Wengen we took a cable car up to the ridge called Mannlichen.  We hiked a few hundred yards uphill to a small peak called Mannlichen Gipfel.  There we got a great view of Interlaken and Lake Thun.  We also spend some time watching a couple paragliders take off.  A cow kept trying to lay down on one poor guy’s chute.

The premiere hike on this side of the valley is from Mannlichen in the other direction to Kleine Scheidegg.  It is directly towards the base of the Eiger Peak. It should be an awesome walk, but at this time of day, we are heading straight into the sun. In addition, the trail is crowded with people and the fields to our left are full of Swiss cows. Each one has a bell tied around its neck. The din of ringing cow bells begins quaintly but after a while becomes annoying. Once at Kleine Scheidegg train station, we encountered the Inferno race.  This is the Swiss vertical version of a Triathlon, making it a killer.  It consists of a swim in frigid glacial Lake Thun, a long bike race up and down two small mountains, finishing with a killer 15 mile run up to the snowy mountain peak we rode the gondola to yesterday. Kleine Scheidegg is at the peak of the mountain biking section.  We watch a few dozen bikes crawl up the crest.  We were going to walk back down to Wengen, but we don’t relish dodging bikes racing downhill.  So we ride the train downhill and explore Wengen.  We eventually make it back to Murren where we again meet up with the racers, now on the brutal final up-mountain foot race. Aimee cheered them all on. I believe in exercising and staying fit but what these competitors are doing to their bodies is just insane.

Afterwards we finished the last bottle of red wine watching more paragliders take off on their final flight of the day.  We had dinner at the finish line of the half-marathon event where the community had pasta and bratwurst dinners for sale.