After leaving the
Grimselpass on Wednesday morning we had made our way down the long
and winding descent, heading north and the west to reach Interlaken
and replenish our food supplies. Driving into a city after 3 days of
near complete isolation was a bit of a step change and we were
somewhat relieved to be driving out of town again later that
afternoon, leaving the hustle and bustle behind once more and heading
towards the tiny town of Stechelberg, right at the end of the road
along the Lauterbrunnen valley.
Positioned right below the famous trio of the Jungfrau, Eiger and Monach, the roadhead of the Lauterbrunnen valley is very narrow, just over a kilometre across at this point and hemmed in by near vertical rock faces that rise up more than 1000m in places and covered in massive waterfalls. It is a remarkable place.
Rising a little
later than usual the following day after revelling in the luxuries of
a campsite, hot showers and mains electricity, we chose a hike from
our '100 Hut Walks in the Alps' guide. Our plan was to head up from
Stechelberg at 910m to reach the Schmadri Hut at 2263m via a circuit
route that promised to take in some 'fabulous landscapes', including
thundering waterfalls and a mountain tarn. Heading upvalley shortly
after 10am, the high, steep walls of the valley were still blocking
out the morning sun and so we had to wait a while longer to escape
the chill of the night time. On the plus side, as the path soon
changed from a gentle track following the river to a steep and
relentless climb up the towards Gasthaus Tschingelhorn at 1700m, the
chill also kept us cool for a while longer.
The views were
magnificent from the outset, passing through pine forest, along the
loud and ferocious river with frequent waterfalls, looking up at the
summit's of the 4000m Breithorn and Grosshorn ahead each with
tumbling glacial flows on their cliffs and the just visible tongue of
the Rottal Glacier away to our left – it was a spectacular place.
The only downside was the gathering clouds threatening to steal the
view away from us as we climbed ever higher. In fact, shortly after
reaching the Gasthaus we looked behind to discover the valley floor
we had left was shrouded in a thick mist and was completely invisible
to us.
From the Gasthaus
we began a traverse along the valley, still gently climbing on
grassy paths with the impressive panorama of the 4000m peaks always
ahead of us, hidden every now and then by the passing clouds. The
gentle slopes couldn't last all day and the stiffer climbing soon
began again as we made our way up gravelly slopes towards the
Oberhornsee, a tiny mountain tarn that normally reflects the view of
the Breithorn – at least it would have done if the clouds hadn't
gotten so thick by this point that we had lost nearly all of the
view.
Continuing on the
path undulated for a while until it reached the bottom of the moraine
that would ascend the final 150m to the Schmadri Hut, however, it was
at this point we heard the ominous rumble of distant thunder, which,
with the ever thickening cloud we took as a sign it was time to head
back down. After 4 hours of hiking and a 2 ½ hour descent ahead of
us we didn't want to get stuck in a downpour.
Winding down the
opposite side of the valley, looking across at the paths we had
ascended earlier that day, we crossed waterfalls and a tiny farm
until we rejoined the path that led us back to Stechelberg after
almost 7 hours on the trail. Although it was shame the passing clouds
had stopped us getting a really good view of the head of the
Lauterbrunnen valley, we still felt lucky with the weather which had
stayed warm for most of the day and as we enjoyed our hot showers and
mains electricity (Heating!) we reflected that it had been a very
pleasant and challenging hike.
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