Onward to Gasenried!

Kris and Tom volunteered to take a day off of hiking to help modify the remainder of the trip. We had already decided that we would not go to the Europa Hut - the trail up to the hut is through reputedly unstable boulder fields with lots of exposure. There were reports from fellow hikers that parts of the trail were damaged and there was one point where there was a lengthy detour. Many of the other hikers we met were changing their plans, too, and not going to the Europa Hut. So Kris and Tom's mission was to cancel our reservation there and figure out some new logistics for the next two days.

Meanwhile Kevin, Chanda, Greg, and Betsy set out for the last major hike at about 7:40 am.

We made good time up to the col - all the way up we could look across the valley and see the route that we had descended yesterday into Gruben.

 

Note Chanda's excitement at reaching the top of the col!

 

We know that as happy as we are to reach the top that the descents are often harder - here's a picture of what we saw on the other side. We would literally be going down into the clouds.

 

Of course, we had to have the full boulder/scree experience - we spent about 1.5 hours picking our way down through boulders. For me, this was my most successful day ever negotiating the rocks. The combination of acclimation, increased confidence, and lighter packs has made a big difference.

Over the last several days we've met some wonderful other hikers - since we've all been staying mostly at the same places and we see each other on the trails, we've enjoyed the fun of getting to know their stories. Here are Chris and Kim from Australia and Laura and Ashley from Portland.

 

Right after this point we had made it through the rocks, but then had a stretch of "exposed trail" - basically this means a very narrow trail with a steep drop off - this time there was no chain on the mountain side to hold onto so it was a little unnerving.

 

When we finally rounded the corner, however, we we rewarded with one of the most magnificent views from our trip - the Dom Mountain surrounded by an amazing panorama of other peaks. The Dom is the highest peak in the Swiss Alps lying entirely in Switzerland.

From that beautiful view we continued our way down to Jungun, a small hamlet on the side of the mountain. Our plan was to meet Kris and Tom there (they had traveled there by bus and cable car).

At Jungun, we all took the cable car down to St. Niklaus and then hopped on a bus to Gasenried. We were SO HAPPY to get to our hotel by 5:30! That gave us some extra time to enjoy some time on the patio overlooking the mountains before washing clothes, eating dinner, and falling into bed. No late nights for these hikers!

 

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