Windstrubel Hike - Bernese Oberland, Simmenfalle to Crans-Montana

Bianca planned this hike. She heard from her previous flatmates that is was grueling but wonderful. That stats were as follows: 3 day hike (so obviously we will do it in two....) a total of 24 km, 11km the first two days which we combined and 13 km the next. 1600m elevation the first day, 53 the second. I will admit that I was intimidated at the thought of hiking almost 2km vertically.

The morning began at the startling hour of 6:22 when we caught the train. Bianca and I had made the unfortunate decision to get up at 5:45 that morning due to some poor planning the night before. We had been at a salsa party and didn't get home till quite late....another stroy all toghether but it made for a groggy morning.


These were the mysterious fog enrobed heights that we were to climb. Looking back I am thankful for the overcast day because seeing exactly how high we had to climb may have been a deterent...


We stumbled across several herds? flocks? of mountain sheep who, for all their charm, shit A LOT. Some points were minefields of droppings.


This sheep was laying directly across our path and obviously didn't mind Chan's close proximity. Chan was going to try to ride it but we were on the side of a mountain so common sense prevailed.



More sheep, steep terrain. Hiking, I now know, is very good for you. I can't remember the last time I kept my heart rate up for over 3 hours. You do feel like you are going to die but it passes.

This slate like rock formed natural stair cases all along the path. In the parts where it was too steep, chains were strung along and we got to spiderman our way to saftey.

At the top of the allotted first days hike which was approximately 4km in and 900m up there was a small lake nestled in the hills. Since the fog was still in it looked like it went on forever....


Then the fog cleared and we were left with this little gem. The water was veritably emerald in hue and sooo clear.

Dave, looking for something in his bag.

Steve grabbing a drink from the natural water fountain known as glacier runoff......

We reach the over night hut and were bedraggled beyond belief. The clouds had come back in during the last " steep spiraling ascent to the hut" and opened to pelt us with first a mist then a sprinkle and finally sleet. Even in those conditions though we were in our t shirts steaming away...

The hut was definitely more rustic then the previous ones id stayed at. It was fairly small, probably slept 40 people. the beds were essentially one big bed, ie single mattresses all lined up side by side in one big frame. very cosy. at least we all got our own blankets!

After we warmed up and changed into some dry clothes, dinner was served. It was three courses, 4 if you include the fruity custard we had for dessert, and ever so delightful. We started with a simple herb and scallion broth and then a mixed green salad. With all the boys at our table I think they felt bad that maybe we weren't getting enough food so they brought us seconds a couple of times. The main courses was a delicious curried chicken that we put over rice. perfect for after a full day of hiking.

We played cards for a little while that evening but it became frustrating when everyone wanted to play with a different set of rules. apparently some things are the same in europe....






As the sun was setting we went outside to enjoy the view. These were taken directly to the left of our hut. I think that this enormous panorama is the closest thing to earthly heaven that I have yet to see. The colors were vibrant, and though the wind nipped at your exposed bits, the clouds rolling snugly in the distance lent a sense of warmth.

We were the last ones into bed that night.


The next morning we were the last ones up. Breakfast was phenomenal. It was just bread with jam and ham and cheese, coffee, fruit tea and ovaltine(which is actually called Ovalmaltine over here) but they also had some muesli in yogurt with bananas peaches and apples, and that was the most delicious part...

We got a little lost on the second day and ended up taking the slightly harder route but it got us to the same place and we only did a little extra elevation.

Robyn, Bianca and Brit indulging me as I snap away.






We ended in the town of Crans- Montana where we took the cable car down to the train. Monday definitely proved that the glutes got a good workout on the weekend, I avoided stairs at all costs.

Zermatt

This is my first IAESTE trip! IAESTE is the organization that set up my Swiss Visa for me. All the interns here can then add themselves to the mailing list and get periodic updates about the trips being planned. It's great particularly for the non-Calgarians since they did not come with their own entourage like we did....... Anyway they organizers take turns planning these weekend trips, to Bern, or Basel, or Gruyere and this one was to Zermatt.

First things first, we were given a very brief packing outline that very specifically mentioned warm clothes. This was very exciting since the last time i tried do be fashionable and wear a toque i just starting sweating profusely and was not at all fashionable. On a side note, something in the air here in Switzerland seems to make people sweat more.....
Anyway, back to the point, I was told to bring my woolies! Hat, mittens and socks were immediately stuffed into the place of honor in my bag.

As far as Canadian attendees, the turn out was fairly small. Rachel Wong, Bruce, Chris, Steve Paige and I were the team. Kalid was also there but he is technically Moroccan, he just hangs out with us.... We met with the whole group on the train platform in Visp. There were 54 of us, not exactly a cosy gathering but all good people, and very international. In that first train ride I met Rosie from England, Victoria from China, Luke from Toronto, Nathaniel from the States, Daniel from Malaga and probably some others whose names I should remember.

We took the train to the winter get-away town of Zermatt. It was absolutely adorable. The quintessential Swiss mountain town complete with chalets and a plethora of beautiful flowers ( the chalets balconies always seem to be ringed with surprisingly lush planters. Purple and red seem to be one of the more popular color schemes...) It was less touristy than Banff and cuter than canmore so really the best of all worlds.

We first walked up to the HI hostel where we would be staying to divy up into rooms and leave anything that we didn't think we'd need. The hostel was really great, nice clean rooms with their own showers and bathrooms....

We then headed to the ski gondola that heads straight up the mountain from the heart of the town. We then proceeded up to the 3820m lookout point situated right across from the famous Matterhorn. The first thing we were told getting off the lift was take things slooow, you may be a little dizzy. It's true, you get tired quickly and your breathing picks up. One particularly unlucky fellow was severely affected and had to be taken back down the mountain because he couldn't even stand...

We spent some time here, went down and walked in the snow. Looked longingly at the hordes of skiers coming in off the mountain and then headed into the bowels of the glaciers where they'd carved out an ice cave. The caves weren't particularly spectacular, definitely not what I would have expected from the swiss but nevertheless, it was a cool concept.

We descended the mountain ( I swear we spent half the weekend in cable cars) and promptly got lost from the head of the group.... The funny thing about this was we were still a group of 30. I'm fairly certain it's their fault that we got lost. ha. Apparently we were supposed to have payed 2 francs to walk through a gorge at some point but we obviously missed that turn and bought beer instead. We all met back at the hostel though so not to worry!

Dinner was three courses with chocolate mousse for dessert and then we went out on the town to see what the Zermatt nightlife was like. We were a little early but ended up finding this gem of a place that had smoke machines AND a foam machine AND an acceptable DJ.

We were up bright and early the next morning to hop on a train bound for where we would start our days hike. We took another cable car up a mountain had some lunch and then got to walk along a beautiful glacier. They look just like roads for the mountain giants. This one even had strange dirty tracks in the appropriate spots.

The hike was beautiful, definitely worth the walk, especially since there was no elevation gain to speak of.



After the hike we re-descended and then were pretty much left to our own devices. We ended up taking five hours to get home but this was primarily due to one of our trains being 40 minutes late to leave. completely unheard of in swissland.....

SPAIN spain SPAIN can't get enough of SpAiN

We flew into to Valencia LATE on a Tuesday night and promptly got ripped off by a cab driver who charged us 30 euro for a 20 euro drive. I was assured that that's what happened at airports but i kept my eyes peeled for the rest of the trip.

As you would expect, the weather was balmy, even at 1:00 am when we arrived at our FOUR STAR HOTEL. 4 star hotel? you ask . Why yes say I, it was cheaper than the remaining hostels at less than 20 euros a night and when they say 4 star they aren't kidding. It was a suite. five of us stayed in it. Two people shared the master bed bedroom, one of us on the single bed in the "office" and two people shared the pullout couch. I was seriously considering the floor plan as potential apartment material it was that good. And a kitchen to boot! We didn't get the TV working but it had one and i also used the phone to place an important call (sorta, it was to the airline..).

The Wednesday morning after a refreshing 3.5 hours of sleep the crew prepared for a full day of fun in the sun and tomatoes. we're talking several layers of waterproof sunscreen, garbage clothes and what seemed like an infinite number of hopefully tomato proof plastic baggies courtesy of Iberia air.

We were headed to Tomatina. This festival happens once a year in the town of Bunol. Don't worry, the point of this whole day, if not currently clear, will be profoundly so after this explanation.

First thing to note is the shear number of people that seemed drawn to the idea of tomatina. I would say that the great majority are tourists but there are several distinct often more mature figures in the thick of things that have the aura of past experience about them. Local tomato pros, no doubt.

The morning begins with the trek from the Bunol train station down to the main street where the festivities are to be held. This I felt a little bit bad about. I'm not sure how long the clean up turn around is but it must be interesting for the locals to have this happen directly in the middle of their town...They do take precautions though. The majority of the first story shops are boarded up and about the first three floors have tarps around balconies and windows.

A couple of the braver shops, or perhaps the ones with the most maneuverable security walls were open and keeping the crowd happy with liter glasses of beer and delicious sangria. A note on the glasses...complete structural failures and require at least two hands on them at all times otherwise they collapse and you are left with crumpled plastic, and early stain on your shitty shirt and no more sangria. Likely supremely disheartening.

We spent the early hours enjoying our sangria and watching the organisers grease up a 30ft pole. I'm not sure what the significance of this portion of the event is, feel free to do some research, but before the fight can start, this greased pole is fixed vertically and topped with a ham. yes ham. a huge leg of ham. if this were to fall on you head, say, it would certainly break your neck and possibly cause some collateral damage as well... The idea (apparently) at this point is to get to the ham. The crowd must work together, or more often take advantage of "the other guy" to try to reach this delectable prize. When the ham is recovered, the fight can start.

This year, the ham was not successfully rescued. Unfortunately, due to extreme bladder discomfort, Rachel, Steph and I had relocated to a small square ( after dodging the wet t-shirt fight, i guess they couldn't wait for the tomatoes, and making use of a most questionable porta potty) where we proceeded to indulge in one of the best water fights I've experienced. We were completely water proof so no rules apply and we had that hot Spanish sun to warm our sopping backs.

The actual tomato fight last one hour. The crush of bodies was enormous. So much so that were we found ourselves, we could only get hit in the head because all other body parts were protected by someone elses head....

We weren't right in the main street but tales of tomatoes up to their knees reached our ears. By the looks of them afterward i believe it. unfortunately I have no photographic evidence due to said waterproofing problem But I'm sure you can all imagine it. If you are still having trouble trying Googling Tomatina images....

We headed back to our hotel and promptly clogged up both showers( did I mention there were TWO bathrooms!). Once clean we headed to the pristine Valencia Main beach and indulged in a little swimming and sample some traditional Valencian cuisine, paella. unfortunately the kindest description we could come up for our waiter that night was "a complete hack" but the food was marvelous.

Day two we hit up the city of the arts and sciences. i'm not really sure what the history is but i think there was a decision to build architecturally amazing white buildings and use them for museums and parks in a possible efforts to inspire more tourists... i'm not sure that just the feeling i got. nevertheless worth it though.

we got the pass that gained us entrance to both the oceanographic park and the science museum. The oceanographic park was like sea world but a little more European, less ostentatious and very cool. not many specifics to say about that except that we saw a pretty cool dolphin show and then everyone wanted to know how to become a trainer after that.....

the science museum was wicked cool. kinda like a the science center mixed with an x-men / spider man exhibit and the one whole floor dedicate to everything. i couldn't discern a pattern at all. music theory, history, genetics you name it and it was the there. very interesting though. i'll admit that i was lagging at the end. between the 35 degree heat ( though they use there air conditioning liberally) and the severe lack of sleep i definitely was slowing down....

MADRID!

we took the bus in the evening and got to watch the sun set over the Spanish countryside. absolutely stunning. I had a very distinct image of Tuscany Italy in my mind and that drive was the closest thing i have found thus far........

in Madrid we stayed in this very cool, newly renovated hostel. as we arrived a pub call was leaving but we hurried and caught up to them. my favorite bar was a place called Tupperware. i laughed. i'm not sure if it's a mistranslation or intentional but either way.

the first day in Madrid we went to the palace and took all sorts of beautiful pictures. I don't care how much the Spanish royalty had in the bank. there is no call for that much room. we toured the main floor and the area was pretty much just gridded off and then rooms of all the same sizes were built. each ones has it's own ornate theme. doors seemed to lead off in each direction from each room which doesn't makes sense from a traffic flow point of view or any other one for that matter..... but very cool. just a lot more than any person would ever need.

WE went to a giant art museum and saw works by dahli and Picasso. inspiring. i also learned that i only have a medium tolerance for the amount of art i can appreciate in a continuous period....

I got to do some shopping! unfortunately i was limited by the fact that i had only brought a carry on on the plane so i wouldn't have to check any luggage. but i still came home with two pairs of super cool gypsy pants, one gold and one patchwork. a couple scarfs, a couple dresses. not bad all things considered...

we had tapas that night and enjoyed a big plate of octopus, chorizo sausage and many other traditional Spanish dishes. for lunch one day i also had a tortilla sandwich. tortilla is that Spanish omelet made with potatoes and onions. also excellent.

That night we went to a flamenco show. our hostel called ahead for us so we got a bit of a deal and front row seats. the table even had a reserved sign on it for us. during the whole performance i was having an internal struggle because i really wanted to just reach out and touch the dancers. rachel actually got hit by the guys jacket when he took it off.....

The band was made up of five Spanish gentlemen. two flourishing Spanish guitarists, i learned later that these guys mostly make it up as they go along. two singers and feet stompers. and one multi instrument extraordinaire. this last guy, he looked like he was about 18, played the alto sax, the flute and the harmonica. all with more than average skill.

flamenco is fierce. i don't think i could be a dancer simply because of the confidence, poise and speaking eyes that you need to tell your story to the audience.

Next day we took a two hour train out to a small town that has bullfights on the weekends. it turns out that they kill more than one bull per evening. six in fact was the number we saw.

the process is terrible. first the bull is let out and teased a little bit by a half dozen matadors to prove the "ferocity" of the bull. pretty much these men in tight fluorescent suits jump in and out of the ring as the bull runs from one to the other. then a set of two horses and riders enter the ring. the horses are wearing what i suppose would be the equivalent of horse armour and are blindfolded for obvious reasons. long plates that circle the horse like a shower curtain around the bath. The bull is taunted in the direction of the horse and when is charges the horse ( note that the horses didn't wear armor originally so they often killed more horses than bulls in an evening) the rider on the horse severs some of the muscles in the back of the bulls neck with a long spear. this is done to reduce the damage done by the bull if it does manage to gore someone.

now one-three matadors are selected to stab a set of barbed mini-spears into the back of the bulls neck to further weaken it. These are the fuzzy looking sticks that you always see in the pictures.
Now the "big" matador comes out and plays with the bull. the idea is to prove their dominance and control by pulling moves that would, in any normal situation be completely irrational. I'm not sure how good these guys are but they did manage to turn their backs on the bull several times without lasting consequences. one guy did get covered in blood because he got a little to close....

then they stab it in the heart. or try. one stab, nice and clean is what the crowd likes to see. the first matador to go this evening did not get a nice clean hit and had to stab twice. the bull then proceeded to waterfall blood from it's mouth, more than you would think possible, all the while flailing, eventually twitching and keels over. i was and am disgusted. it's not worth going to see. i couldn't believe the crowd who immediately all stand and wave their white handkerchiefs, "praise the matador, he is so handsome" while they scrap up the blood from the area and the matador chops off the bulls ears as a trophy which he will apparently sometimes throw into the crowd. i forgot to mention how cocky and dramatic the matadors act. this must be part of the whole thing but they can flick there hair better than most people I've met, of either sex......

the next day we took the train back to Valencia since that's where our flight departed from. that whole situation was kinda some bad planning on our part but whatever. then we slept in a park fro a few hours until we had to get on the plain. back to cold cold Switzerland. i love you Spain....

Grueling hike

The plan for this one was to hike a little over 20 km, stop for the night at a nice campsite beside a lake and then hang out at the lake all day on sunday. As these things always go there was a bit of a wrench in that a detour had been installed because a portion of the hike was mysteriously impassable.

We figure we hike about 30km on saturday. We were in fact climbing down the mountain in the dark with our trusty headlamps. That is certainly one experience i'll never forget. we arrived at the destination train station a bedraggled group of youths. most of us collapsed immediately on the ground to nap until our train arrived. I sure the locals were intrigued. I was and i was part of the group. There was a collective decision not to head for the campsite as we'd missed the check in time by a fairly substantial margin. In short i was a very intense burst of excersise followed by a lovely lazy sunday at the schwimmbad. all in all it felt a little bit like two completely seperate weekends. I don't have a whole lot of photos but here are a few just so you have an idea.

On a side note, this experience told me two important things. First it is not ideal to play badminton for two hours the day before particularly if it is the first time you've played in a while. Not only do you feel like you can't walk before you've even started the hike, the compounded effect on sunday is something to behold.

Secondly, if it feels like the tops of your toes are rubbing raw, they probably are. They skipped the blistering stage all toghether in my case which may or may not be a good thing. One way to avoid this circumstance is to not walk 30 km in a ten hour period.
Please don't read into the sign, We were as confused then and now as you probably are looking at this picture. First of all, moderately ludicrous, second it's in english not german which is wierd, third we just stumbled across it....