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Published: June 22nd 2011
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The lower glacier on the trail from Pfingstegg
It's hard to imagine that the glacier once used to fill this valley right up to the walking path. Now it is far back from the valley entrance. Yesterday was an easy day - cleaning the house, doing washing, getting groceries down in the village, picking red currants and walking down from Itramen on the other side of the valley. Just a slow idle down the hill after getting the bus up. We then called at the Grindelwald Museum which is well worth a visit. It covers the history and life of the village, the glacier status, mountaineering and guiding, industry in the valley and a wonderful exhibition of black and white photography of the mountains. The clarity was amazing. In the evening the currants were cooked and strained ready to make red currant jelly the next day.
Today was supposed to rain so we got organised for a trip to Thun. Then on checking the weather reports, the rain was going to arrive this evening. So, change of plan. We packed lunch and mountain gear and headed up to Pfingstegg on the cable way instead. It is up on a cliff face above the village overlooking the Ober Glacier. The Mathews and Paynes will remember this trail. It leads up the narrow steep sided glacial valley until it reaches the plateau overlooking the existing glacier. It is
Some goats having a munch by a gate
These very tame goats refused to move from the path as we came through. Basking in the sun is much more important than moving for humans uphill all the way and is right on the edge of the cliff face which did not make me terribly happy. It's one looooonng way to fall if you trip. However, eyes down, watch the path and not the bottom and all is well. We arrived at the new hotel Bareg around midday. The original hotel which we went to a few years back got swept away in a washout and is now buried somewhere below in the glacier. The new one has been moved to higher ground on solid rock with a fantastic view looking straight at the Eismeer Glacier. 150years ago the glacier was at the level of the path we walked up on. On one of our earlier visits the glacier was well down the valley from where it is now. Now, the terminal morain is in the basin well back from where we remember it. I wonder how long until it disappears altogether. We made the most of the magnificent view of the glacier and 4000m peaks surrounding the basin then returned back to Pfingstegg and cable way to the village. You can walk down but it's incredibly steep and not good on the knees after coming down from the glacier.
All in all, a good change of plan. The weather did exactly as forecasted. A few light showers in the middle of the day, warm temperatures (28) then the rain set in in the evening. But, not before we picked the rest of the red currants.
Of the currants from Mariann's garden, I managed to make 3 pots of red currant jelly from yesterdays pickings. I've cooked and strained today's pickings and it can be frozen until some suitable jars can be located. We figure that doing this is the least we can do for Mariann, given her hospitality.
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