Switzerland 5 - Schilthorn & Cows

This morning, Adam and Dani headed out early to hike 6 miles and 2800 vertical feet (equivalent to 259 flights of stairs, according to his fitness watch), which left me to carry Sage all the way up the Schilthorn.  But I'm not as hardcores as they are, so I carried her her down the stairs, down the driveway, and down-town to the cable car... 

The first cable-car run took us to Birg, a few thousand <3,333> feet above Mürren, and mid-way to the Schilthorn. Allegedly, there was an ibex hanging out on the left side, but we were packed into the cable-car like steerage, so we had zero chance of crossing the car to see it.  In Birg, we toured the observation platforms, looking out across mountain ranges and up to the Schilthorn, searching for the elusive ibex, and enjoying the (admittedly tamer than yesterday's) thrills of a grated lookout platform that offered views 100 feet straight down and miles over the valley. And just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Mama and Dada arrived! What a party!  They pointed out the trails they took this morning, and then we all headed up to Piz Gloria, the outpost at the peak of the Schilthorn. 

Via cable-car, obvs. Apparently Adam and Dani considered hiking it, but the snow was getting deep and they didn't have their crampons. They're basically hiking sadists, but I guess living in the white mountains will do that to you. Once there, I passed off the worlds cutest pillion to my brother, and we headed up stairs to the viewing platform. The views from the Schilthorn were expansive and breath-taking. Just like the Schynige Platte had changed our perspective from "cool mountain" to "on top of the world", the Shilthorn changed "The Alps" from "a few peaks" to "wtf these mountains go on forever." Not only could we see the mountains beyond the handful that have become our daily landmarks, we could see the mountains behind those, and beyond those, out to Mont Blanc - the border of Italy and France.  And unlike those unfortunate souls we saw when we checked the webcam yesterday, we had perfectly clear skies!

After the obligatory panorama shots and photos in front of the 2970M (9744') sign, we headed inside and upstairs to the rotating restaurant. This was cleverly done, as only a donut of floor actually rotated, which means they didn't need to worry about plumbing or electrical connections, nor the size of bearings that would be required to actually move a building.  And it was timed perfectly so that our lunch took us around nearly the circle, with great views in every direction, while being charmingly awkward for our waiter.  (Maybe mention James Bond here, they're really proud of that). After lunch, I smashed a penny! <technically a 20 rappen*>, but I've spent days fighting with my bank (who apparently has no record of the atm-card I've used across 4 continents and 4 decades) and then intentionally breaking bills so I had a stash of coins. So it was nice to cross that off. Then, we headed out for one last round of the viewing platform before heading back down.  As we walked out, an aerobatic prop plane blasted up the side of our mountain, and crossed over us and the summit in a perfect barrel-roll so he could look straight up (down) at us. Such a badass move, and so casually done it looked effortless. Respect.

The rides down were crowded and uneventful, and we made our way back to the chalet to regroup. It was naptime for Sagie, but my parents and I decided to hike the north-face trail, essentially the other side of the first trail we did in Mürren. We prepped (basically, shed most the layers we'd piled on for the summit) and headed up the funicular to Allmendhubel. Unlike last time, we no longer had the entire mountain to ourselves - the fair weather and clear skies meant everyone wanted to be out hiking.... but still, a crowded cablecar spread over a quarter-mile of trail is not bad, and it only improved from there. We headed down the opposite side of Allmendhubel and into a cluster of farms. Almost immediately, we had to pop off our jackets - it was short sleeves xor shorts weather, which was great for hiking and a welcome change. We passed some cows and a handful of farms, and then we came to the up-hill, where we hiked almost back to our starting elevation. It was slow going, and I'll be sore tonight, but nothing terrible. 

Photogenic AF

Once we reached the top we had a beautiful alpine meadows, gently rolling off into thousand-foot valleys. Mountains are the cheat-code for great photos... put anything in front of some snow-capped peaks, and Bam. Photogenic AF. Then we wrapped around the hillside and headed down through a bunch of farms, full of highly photogenic cows. I think mostly because Sage loves moos, but also, you know, mountains.  Thrice we found our way impeded by cows. The first we talked our way past, to make sure we didn't surprise her. The second was a calf who surprised us, running over to lick salt from our exposed skin. The third was another calf we just had to step over, as it was asleep in front of the gate. A short (but brutal) downhill brought us down to a brutally chilly mountain stream, for a bit of skipping-across-rocks fun. Finally, we were on the home stretch into Muren, a nice easy stretch... interrupted by paragliders! Our trail deposited us right on the hill used for paraglider takeoffs, so we obviously had to grab a seat on the shed wall (right next to the emergency crash pads :/  )  and watch them swoop past us about 20' away. 

Mathematically, this photo is near-perfect....

Hike complete, we headed back to the house to clean up / recover before dinner. Adam got reservations for us at a restaurant on the literal edge of town <It was on the edge of the cliff.... I know, weak pun>, and we enjoyed traditional swiss food while watching evening take the valley. I had the traditional älplermagronen (Alpine-macaroni), which was much like regular mac and cheese, only with swiss cheese, potatos, and onions. 8/10 - very good but not exceptional. And as we finished up dinner, the clear skies of the valley suddenly had bands of fog. I looked away to figure out the bill, and when I looked back the entire valley was fogged, and as I watched the last sections of mountain faded away. Nature is wild. 

Then I played blocks with Sage!! For the first time, she considers me part of the family!!! Played cards once she was asleep, and then made our ways to bed. Tomorrow we head over to Bern, just a travel-day, so hopefully my legs can recover a bit.  Or, you know, we get there and suddenly make ill-considered choices to walk halfway across the city purely because we can. Wouldn't surprise me.