Sarah had a nice post about our recent trip to the Jungfraujoch, but she has left the bulk of the weekend’s activities to me. You see, we took the train back from the Jungfraujoch to Kleine Scheidegg where we had lunch. There is a 10km hike from Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen (at the base of the valley) that was supposed to be very scenic. I had wanted to take one or two of the older kids on the walk, but Sarah felt that she would be a sure lock for the “Best Wife Ever” award if she let me enjoy the hike back in the peace and serenity of being by myself. So she offered me the “once-in-a-lifetime” deal of taking the kids back to our village while I walked back down the mountain. How could I say no?
The vertical distance from Kleine Scheidegg (2061m) to Lauterbrunnen (795m) is around 1.3km covered over a 10km walk. This is about a 13% grade averaged over the length of the walk, but for those of us who are not used to walking down that grade, your quads can begin to burn pretty quick (and that fire usually smolders for a few days).
Regardless, it was a beautiful walk through grassy fields, snow, forest, and meandering streets in mountain villages. The sky was perfectly blue and cloudless all day. It took about 2 hours to get back to Lauterbrunnen, and a short bus ride and cable car later I was back in Gimmelwald.
The next morning we awoke to another beautiful morning with plans to take the kids on another hike. Emily and James told me that they had decided yesterday that they were such good mountain kids, that they had started “Team Alps.” This team currently consisted of them, Mom, and Henry. They were interested in seeing if I wanted to join, but they needed to make sure I was ready to carry on the spirit of the team (whatever that was). I felt ready.
Around 11am we took the kids by cable car up to Mürren, and set out along the Northface Trail. This trail starts with a reasonable climb up paved village roads, but quickly turns to grassy passes, wooded trails, and muddy paths dotted with cow manure. Suffice it to say, the kids loved it. We followed the trail about 2.5km in (and 300m up) where we came upon a small farmhouse on the edge of a cliff that led down to a rushing creek.
Our host, Olle, told us that campfires can be set along the trail anywhere if you want to stop and cook sausages. He further demonstrated this point to us by giving us frozen sausages, matches, and paraffin paper to start a fire. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Look. Your children will not be impressed that you are a doctor, but what will impress them,” he holds up the matches, “is if you can start a fire.” The smile afterwards sold it.
So here we sat, in a field spotted with cow manure, overlooking a rushing mountain stream, in front of a small Swiss farmhouse, roasting sausages over an open fire. The sky was clear, the sun was warm and inviting, the air was crisp, and the sausages were delicious. Team Alps enjoyed a “moment of Zen,” and then headed back home.
If only my damned quads weren’t still burning from the day before, the walk back (and down) would have been that much better. But hey, I can’t let my team members down.
Not when I’m the newest member of the group.
We feel so blessed to be living just a couple of hours from such a paradise. The weekend was so clear and beautiful, we never saw a cloud in the sky. One of my favorite moments was sitting outside in Gimmelwald after putting the kids to bed and looking up at the stars. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that many stars in the sky. It was just one of the many memorable moments in a magical weekend.But I’ll let him tell you about that himself…