I’m in the mood for blogging, can you tell? Three new posts in two days. I often feel held back because I think I need to write about things in chronological order, but that’s rubbish. If anyone cares at all about what I write, then it can hardly matter whether I keep to a strict schedule or not.
Hence, today’s post leading on from yesterday’s tale from Scotland is about a winter walk at Sunnbüel (“sunny hill”), a high valley above Kandersteg which we visited by cable-car three weeks ago. I’d visited for the first time in autumn 2022 after thinking that it was a comparatively dull valley leading ever-upwards to the mountain pass at Gemmi, but boy, was I wrong. Having enjoyed hiking there three times in summer and autumn since my first visit, I wanted to see what the valley was like in winter, so we wrapped up in thermal gear and returned in February.
The valley is much more interesting than I’d thought before my first visit and seeing it covered in snow was a great experience. The now familiar paths between the top cable-car station and the various hiking destinations were replaced by alternative routes through the snow, which are ploughed and firmed-up daily and which lead across slightly different parts of the landscape than in summer. The main peaks of Altels, Wyssi Flue and Chli (Klein) Rinderhorn stood massively frozen above the flat plain of the valley floor, shining white with snow and providing a monumental backdrop to the pleasant walk.
The going was easy along the secondary winter path (after puffing a little to the top of the first small hill, due to the thin winter air at altitude) and the sun soon warmed us enough to make the winter-proof outer layers unnecessary. By the time we approached the small Arvenwald woods, we actually had to take a break in the shade of some trees to cool down!
A second break next to the main path leading between the cable-car allowed us to sit on a bench to enjoy the scenery and some chocolate, watching roped climbers make their way up a frozen waterfall whilst a series of groups of walkers passed by on their way between the Hotel Schwarenbach and the cable-car station.
We then started the forty minute walk back ourselves, taking it slowly on the gradual but deceptive ascent back to our ride home: stopping to play at rolling some frozen lumps of snow down a steep incline next to the path—like big kids—before having some herbal tea on the terrace of the cable-car station and then heading home.
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