24th August      

Today we left behind our lovely apartment  at Gaschurn in the Montafon Valley and headed for Engelberg in Switzerland.

 

Travelled via Klausson Pass. Spectacular scenery but 'gosh' what a long drive over the pass. A long way up and then a long way down. Both tired by the time we arrived in Engelberg.

Engelberg was a huge surprise. I didn't do a lot of research about Engelberg other than it being a spot on Google Maps and a place that I thought would have some nice mountains and great walking. The town is situated at the end of a valley and is completely surrounded by peaks over 3000m. This is the view looking down the main street of Engelberg. This view is on all sides and the place is simply stunning. But I couldn't say that about the weather. We had awesome views as we drove into Engelberg, but within an hour it was raining and completely shrouded in clouds with the forecast for similar for most of the week. And you could not even tell that there were any mountains nearby the cloud was so thick and low. The apartment is very nice. Modern for a change instead of the usual traditional. It is right in the middle of Engelberg with everything within walking distance. Oh! All except the golf course. And we have heaps of english channels which makes a nice change. Euro Sport has the Us Open Tennis at the moment.


                                                           26th August

We spent a cool, showery day on Sunday looking around and going for a small walk. There are numerous chair-lifts, all in walking distance to our apartment, and today we decided that even with the bad forecast, we would make use of one of them and go up into the mountains and hope for the best. Our starting point was Furenalp and totally in cloud when we started off.

Looking up at Furenalp from the bottom station of the chair-lift

At the top station and a brief glimpse of the peaks across the valley.

Engelberg from the path from Furenalp. Afternoon weather an improvement on this morning.


                                                   27th August

Another bad day forecast so I left Ray at home and took the train to Luzern.

                                                               29th August

Today the forecast is cloudy but no rain so it is off to the top station of the Brunni chair-lift, with our destination Rugghubelhutte. Contrary to most other hiking valleys, Engelberg has very few huts. Only 2, I think, and this is the easiest one to get to.

This chair-lift is 2 stages and here we are nearing the top.

Even though the weather was cloudy in Engelberg, just as well we decided to hike today because it was beautiful high up and as we hiked, we were looking down upon the cloud-filled valley. In this photo, the highest mountain on the left is Titlis at 3239m and on the smaller one on the right of it, Klein Titlis (small Titlis) at 3020m, is the top station for the main tourist attraction in the valley, the Titlis Rotair (revolving) Cable Car.

The hiking trail can be seen on the mountain on the right.

                                             Rugghubelhutte.

The clouds clearing enough the get a brief glimpse of Engelberg

Looking back at the hut as we start our hike back down. Just as well we started early. Can you see the line of hikers as they are nearing the hut? I think the hut is about to get busy.!!

                                         Ray as he stares in awe at the views.

In the end, a great day for a hike. Cool weather with great views and it is always good to start with a chair-lift as they can be an adventure in themselves. Tomorrow the weather is forecast to be sunny, so it will be a good day to go up to Titlis.

Thursday 22nd August

After our big day yesterday, today we opted for a quiet, no hiking day, and  took the car to another valley that would have taken too long on public transport, even though it was free with our card. Our day was to Lunersee. Lunersee is reached after a long twisty drive high up into the mountains followed by a chair-lift, again free with our card. An awesome location and extremely popular because of the ease to reach the See and Douglass Hutte that stands on the edge of the See. A majority of huts are located in remote and hard-to-get-to places that make it nearly impossible for older, less agile people to ever visit. Not so Lunersee.

Surrounded by high mountains, the See is filled each year by melting snow. The high-level mark is clearly visible.

                                                    Looking back down the valley.

The wires for the chair-lift can be seen coming down from the top of the mountain. Not the one on the left. This is one of the steepest chair-lifts we have taken in all our trips.

                                                               Friday 23rd August

Our last day in Gaschurn and the weather is forecast to be rainy. Apparently??? Looked good when we woke up so off we went on our reliable valley bus to Schruns and the Hoch-joch chair-lift to Kapell and then the lift to Sennigrat at 2289m. The views from the top were amazing and any photo could never do justice to the far-reaching views. We walked to Wormser Hutte and then back down to Kapell via the Seeweg , visiting Herzsee, Schwarzsee and Speichersee.

                                   This is looking down on Herzsee from near Wormser Hutte.

                                                                      Speichersee

                                                              View down to Schruns.

                                          The dip in between the 2 mountains holds Herzsee

                                          Farms that scatter the hillsides through-out the valley.

The day was beautiful so it doesn't pay to listen to the forecasters. A little bit cloudy and hazy with such a lot of moisture in the air, but still a great day with great views. Had lunch in Schruns and waited for the shops to re-open. They shut for lunch from midday until 2.00pm. This is really frustrating as people are usually getting down from the mountains then and everything is shut except for restaurants.

Off to Engelberg tomorrow in the heart of the Swiss Alps. End of school holidays for some this week-end so I hope traffic is ok for the trip. About 250kms by the quickest route but I usually like to try roads off the major highways. We will just wing it and see tomorrow which way we end up going. So it will be a couple of days before my next blog. Cheers for now. Talk again soon.

Wednesday 21st August

Today we will tackle our biggest hike so far. 14km and total height gain of over 800 metres. A huge advance from the 240m on my first day where I nearly collapsed. So I planned the day with some trepidation. We caught the bus to Bielerhohe at the top of the pass and embarked on our hike to Wiesbadener Hutte , up and across Ratsattel  and back to Bielerhohe via Bieltal Valley.

                                Early morning start along edge of the Silvretta-Stausee at Bielerhohe

             The glacier that you can see on the left is just above Wiesbadener Hutte, our first destination

                                           Looking back along the trail we had just walked

                                                Our first sighting of Wiesbadener Hutte

        Having a breather and an apfel-strudel for fortify the body for the slog ahead. Over Ratsattel.

                                           Looking back at the hut, part way up to Ratsattel.

      Two marmots sat on a rock sunning themselves and didn't seem to be bothered by us at all.

The one on the top of the rock was so cute, he just sat there with his front legs crossed, so relaxed.

 
A last look at the mountains above the hut before we go over Ratsattel. The hike to the hut is graded medium while the hike up to Ratsattel and down the other side is graded difficult. And believe me it was a hard slog. Giant boulders with no real trail and steeply down. At one stage we ended at an enormous drop and had to go back up to find another way down. Very hard going. So no piccies. All concentration for this part of the hike.

Nearing the bottom of the valley and our first sighting of the Silvretta-Stausee. What a relief!! 6 hours and my feet were killing me. And still another 30 minutes to the bus. But what an achievement! And I am so glad that we did it. An awesome hike in stunning surroundings.

Not sure that I will be planning anything major for tomorrow. Will have to wait and see how the body pulls up.