August 23, 2015

August 23, 2015

The weather forecast was for rain today, but we woke instead to clear skies.  We left our rain coats in the chalet and took the train and cable car down to Lauterbrunnen to explore the valley.  It wasn’t long after we got there that clouds moved in and it started to drizzle.  I am sure if we brought the raincoats (we usually do), it would have been dry all day.  In the end it only rained a few drops here and there.

From the valley floor, Lauterbrunnen could almost be a twin for Yosemite. Both have very sheer towering walls.  But this is not a national park and people have lived here for millennia. Add in the greater rainfall and Lauterbrunnen is much greener with more waterfalls.  Plus the Swiss penchant for making money means hotels and ski lifts abound.

It is a very pleasant walk down the mostly rural valley floor to the other train station of Stechelberg.  There we eat our Swiss lunch of cheese and crackers and watch para-gliders land in an open field.  We even see three base jumpers in their wing-suits leap from the cliff rim above us, opening their chute at what seems the last second.

After taking the gondola back to Murren, we rest up for an hour or two and then take the local funicular a 1000 feet above our hotel.  A leisurely hour hike back down brings us home. On the way to the hotel Aimee and I spy a base jumper heading to the rim. I follow him down hoping to get a shot of him making the leap. I watch him suit up, but at the last minute he moves laterally twenty yards down rim behind a tree before jumping.