Switzerland Alpenventure: Gimmelwald

I woke up my last morning in Luzern, packed up and pulled up the SBB App.  This app is where you can buy transport tickets throughout Switzerland.  Tickets for trains, cable cars, pretty much everything, I think.  It is nice because I was able to put in Luzern to Murren, and not have to buy separate tickets for each different leg or type of leg of my journey.  The trip from Luzern to Gimmelwald (my final destination) involved a train from Luzern to Interlaken Ost; a train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen; a cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grutslap; a train from Grutslap to Murren; and lastly, a cable car from Murren to Gimmelwald.  I intially only bought a ticket to Murren, because I hadn't decided if I wanted to take the walking path from Murren to Gimmelwald or the cable car.  By the time I arrived in Murren and trekked from one side of the village to the other, I had decided I was paying the extra 3.20 CHF (roughly $4) to take the cable car.  I still stand by my decision to only pack in backpacks though, because nothing sucks more than suitcases on cobblestones and hauling them up stairs.

The trip from Luzern to Murren was roughly 3 hours and boy was it a beautiful 3 hours.  I did seem to be on the wrong side of the train though.  I hadn't really thought about it when I boarded.  There was a map on the little ledge in my seats and I saw that for about 2/3 of the trip I'd be on the wrong side, but then the last part, I should have all the views of the lakes out my window.  Even being on the wrong side, things were gorgeous.  Bright blue lakes!  Green mountain sides!  Farms!  On my side there were a lot of backyards with small gardens and fruit trees.  Lots of apple trees.  It makes me want to plant an apple tree in the community garden.  Then we pulled into a town and I thought I was going to be on the right side to see the lakes and everything, but it turns out that was were the train pulled into the station in town and backed out, so I was still on the wrong side!

One of the many lakes we passed on the train.

At Interlaken I had about a 10 minute layover between trains.  Then I got on for the short trip to Lauterbrunnen.  The train actually split into two somewhere between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen with half the train going to Grindelwald and the other half going to Lauterbrunnen.  At Lauterbrunnen, I stopped by the bathroom and then headed to my first cable car-as-transit-between-towns cable car.  The cable car to Pilatus was more of just a ride up the mountain and seemed like a tourist attraction; but here it was actual transportation.

Up at the top of the cable car line I got onto a 2 car train.  I don't know how they got the train up there.  I seriously want to know.  The ride from Grutslap to Murren was maybe 15 minutes.  You were traveling up on the ridge of a mountain getting peaks of what lay across the valley through the pine trees.

View from the train between Grutslap and Murren.

Upon arrival at Murren, I walked the length of the town, stopping at the grocery store in town to get some food for the next day or two.  Overall, while the prices were probably higher than in Luzern, they weren't as bad as I expected, considering that all the food has to arrive in Murren via cable car/train.  With another bag in hand now, I was for sure taking the cable car to Gimmelwald.

The view from the hostel window.  See, totally worth it!

So how to describe Gimmelwald?  A Swiss Hobbiton.  It's rustic, beautiful, built on the side of a grassy hill.  I read about Gimmelwald in a guidebook, which I soon learned was very old fashioned of me as the two others I was talking to while eating supper and hanging out after learned of it from TikTok.  They were both in the 18-25 range, so just mere babies.  Haha!  One was from Estonia and the other from New Zealand.  The girl from Estonia had never seen mountains before and was so excited!

Gimmelwald

See, couldn't you imagine Samwise Gamgee living here?

I'm staying at the Mountainhostel which has room for like 60 people in 3 dorms, where you're literally sleeping side-by-side.  Luckily for me I at least am on an end, so I'm only sleeping next to one person and it is a lot easier for me to get in and out.  But the bed really isn't that bad and the views are just stunning.  Everyone is like, "honestly, I'm here for the views and the bed works."  

After arriving and setting up my bunk, I grabbed my computer to type up my Luzern post and then headed out for a walk around the village.  The town is a farming village, so there are goats and cows out and around (you can hear them clanging).  On the walk I passed multiple houses that had mini-fridges where you could buy cheese and some other homemade things from them.  They just have an honesty box to put money into or a QR code to send money to.  In the evening I had some ham and cheese sandwiches, chatted, and then played some Estonian card game.

Buy yourself some cheese!

In the morning I ate breakfast and then headed out for a day on Schilthorn.  Schilthorn is a peak on the west side of the Lauterbrunnen valley and the perfect place from which to view Jungfrau, the highest peak in the area, and home to the Jungfrau Glacier, though from the look of things, there are a bunch of glaciers in the area.  To get to Schilthorn, I took the cable car to Murren, and then another one up to Birg.  Birg sits most of the way up and was about a 5 minute trip.  Up there at the visitor center there is a walkway clinging to the side of the mountain and some great viewing sights of not just Jungfrau, but also Monch and the Eiger.  I was familiar with the Eiger from a Jon Kraukauer book.  It is known for its rock climbing North Face, which appears to be a fairly vertical climb.

Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (Peaks from left to right)

I hadn't been up there for more than 5-10 minutes when clouds moved into the valley.  NOOOOOO!!!  And right as I hit a point on the walkway with a sign that said "Photo Point", you couldn't see a thing other than white in the valley.  Bummer.  I made my way back up to the viewing point and sat there for another 10-15 mintues, hoping it would clear out before giving up.  I figured I might as well make my way to the top as I still had tickets up there, even if I don't see anything.  But it turns out we were just in some clouds because as we climbed higher up to Schilthorn, it cleared and you could see all three peaks right there!  Stunning!

Above the clouds

I real quickly make a quick pass around, getting photos in every direction just in case the clouds moved in.  Luckily though, for the time I was up there it was just intermittent clouds and nothing that blocked the view for long.  From up on Schilthorn, you can see not only the 3 peaks right in front of you across the valley, but in one spot, between two mountains you can see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe; but it is so far away it isn't all that impressive.

Mont Blanc is the snow-capped mountain almost dead center, way in the back.

One of the things Schilthorn is known for is its ties to James Bond.  Apparently a lot of filming for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a late 1960s post-Sean Connery Bond film, was filmed atop the mountain.  At that point in time they hadn't completely finished building the restaurant and other fixtures in the building, so they let the film take over.  What a great way to bring in more tourism after it was finished.  In the building is a whole display on the filming of the movie.  And it appears I failed to take a photo of the building with my phone (where I get the pictures for my posts from), so I guess you'll just have to create something up in your mind.  I was too distracted by the mountains!

Quick break from eating lunch, to take a picture.

I had a great classic Swiss lunch of ham, cheese, and bread before taking one last round of photos and taking the cable car back down to Birg.  Instead of taking the cable car the rest of the way down, I was going to hike down to Gimmelwald.  According to AllTrails, the route I was planning to take would be a little over 5 miles.  A pretty steady descent.  I failed to notice it was a 4400 foot descent!  Oh my knees!  But it was pretty and the views worth the pain of the following day.

On the way down, I passed some paragliders who were about to take off, and watched them go.  I got my required handstand photo(s).  I got to walk past cows in a field.  I also got to the point where I was afraid if I sat down, I wouldn't want to stand back up, so I didn't let myself sit.  Just keep moving, moving, moving.

The views the whole way down were amazing!  I eventually walked out on that ridge on the right and down into the valley you see.

Cows!

When I reached the top of Gimmelwald I was so thrilled.  Upon returning to the hostel, I grabbed a quick shower and change of clothes, and some ibuprofen for the knees.  Then I went next door to a proper three course Swiss dinner, which was absolutely delicious!  I went to bed early as I was exhausted, taking another round of pain pills before bed.

Sunset as the mountains reflect the sun.  It didn't hit like this the following evening.

I slept soundly and woke up rested, but sore.  It was obvious that the via ferrata plans were being scrapped.  It was just going to be a fairly lazy day.  I walked the 1.5 miles to Murren, slowly, working out the soreness in my hips.  Then I took a slow loop around town before getting some hot chocolate and a cookie.  Sometimes a nice relaxing day is what you need.  Especially after hiking 4400 feet down a mountain.  

Road to Murren

Murren

Up on the ridge in the background is where I hiked from the day before.