Matterhorn Day Off

After three pretty long days full of unexpected climbs, turns, modes of transportation, we decided to see some sights. The campsite in Visp was nice enough, we felt comfortable locking our bikes in front of the train station, and we started the day with cappuccinos and post card writing.

The train from Visp to Zermatt offers pretty stunning views the whole way.

the biggest rockslide ever

Our first order of business when we arrived in Zermatt was to figure out just how to get up to the snow. We walked through the town, saw that there were funicular trains leaving for peaks often and that we could take the ski lift way up to Klein Matterhorn - having no real idea what it all meant. We thought of getting some lunch first, assuming there would be nothing up there, but then we found the ski lift, bought ourselves the most expensive, all-inclusive tickets (birthday money well-spent!), and hopped into our own private pod. Scaaaa-ry!

first glimpse of the Matterhorn

bye Zermatt

Zermatt keeps getting farther away

last stop Italy

sheep! at the base of the ski-lift towers!

different climate and landscape altogether

For most of the ride we were in this one little bubble, but at the Schwartzsee (there's a lake up here?) we had to transfer. Nice photo op.

hoooooly-can't really believe it

That last picture is from the final lift which was a nice big one with an operator. About a hundred people can sardine in there when necessary. On the way up it was almost empty, but at the top there was a line of people - skiers! - waiting to go back down. The upper right dark green valley in the photo is where Zermatt is and directly below us is a glacier.

And that's what it looked like from the top of Klein Matterhorn, looking west-southwest. It was blazingly bright, but cold. People had been skiing but the ski day was just about over. That foggy valley is the Val d'Aosta, where we'd cycle through next week. It really is the border between Switzerland and Italy. I guess building any kind of fortifications was unnecessary.

I have no idea why we look so silly. It was very high up there. But honestly - we were incredibly happy when taking this photo.

we were both a bit dizzy. some people were really dizzy and uncomfortable.

There is a cafeteria up there and they served everything from traditional Swiss rösti (above) to rice and miso soup. Plus they had every kitsch item you've ever wanted imprinted with Zermatt or Matterhorn. It was hard to resist buying a bunch of stuff, but of course all I had to think of was the current weight of my bike and bags. We ate rösti and drank lots of water. First time up above 12,000ft when not actually flying.
We were ready to get in line to head back down when we saw a little elevator that said "Matterhorn Glacier Paradise". We had these tickets that included the "Glacier Paradise" and we had no idea what that meant. We figured it was that glacier outside which you can ski on. We'd seen it. It was slippery and the sun was really bright. But then one of us said, "what if you actually get to go inside a glacier?" Just joking around. We'd paid for the ticket, so we figured we should just see what it was all about.
We went inside a glacier.

the ice shepherd

trippy lighting as well as trippy music

Seriously. It was cold and amazing and there were cracks in the ceiling. Thank goodness we gave that little elevator a try. We didn't wait too long to ride back down and we were kind of light headed - in a good way - the whole way down. At the bottom we made a bee-line for the fondue place on the corner - by this time (5pm) we were pretty hungry. The fondue came with bread and potatoes. Our touring diet is pretty much bread and cheese, and bagged lettuce, so we thought we'd go for something different.
After dipping a few potatoes, an old guy came out from inside the restaurant and taught us the real way to eat the fondue with potatoes. He mashed the potatoes a bit on my plate, then scooped the cheese on top and mashed it in a bit. He was right, it was better that way. As we left he gave us a postcard with a very old image of the same little restaurant from a long time ago.

Day 3 - Over Grimselpass, whatever it takes

We've had our share of unexpected moments already, but nothing that was unpleasantly unexpected. When we came up over the first stretch of climbing toward Brunig pass and encountered a lake at eye level, that was unexpected. That some of the path was loose gravel at a steep grade was unexpected, but it didn't last too long.

Our lack of preparation for Grimselpass should have made us less surprised by the actual experience, but then again - how would we know if we didn't really prepare? There's a bike route. Veloland.ch suggests a bus for part of it (Post Auto!), because there's some traffic and the bike route is on the road, not on a separated path. The pass is at 2164 meters (8000ft).

But it was a beautiful morning and we only had to go 33kms before we were at the top. We knew there was one steep climb to get over to Innertkirchen and that we'd be climbing for 33kms - but that's not too bad, even at 5kms/hr. Go slow, we said to each other, and we'll take lots of breaks.

The unexpected information from the night before was that there would be mo-peds - not just driving through town starting at 10am - but they'd be accompanying us up over Grimsel. Mo-peds smell incredibly bad. They use a combination of oils that is just disgusting when burned, creating thick blue-ish smoke. Plus they are very loud. We decided to get out of there earlier, but knew they'd catch us eventually, even though they are much slower than anything else on the road. Besides us. We also knew that they would come in waves. And that there were almost 800 of them.

Our first few kms were not confidence inspiring. There was already a lot of traffic on the road, probably cars trying to get through before the mo-peds got on the road. Between the cars, though, it was gorgeous. When it was quiet and we could appreciate the scenery, we were quite happy. We made it up over the first hill without trouble and had a beautiful little descent on the other side down to Innertkirchen. The road was lined with people who were waiting for the mo-peds, and they gaped at us a bit. At one hairpin turn, a large group cheered and did the wave as we went around in front of them - that was grin-inspiring.

Once the mo-peds came, we started taking breaks. Just past Innertkirchen.

Going up there

Mo-peds

After the first 6kms or so, I (Ramona) started having trouble. The fact is, I was not strong enough. Day three of a tour, day two was a 1k pass, and we're climbing, fully-loaded, up, up, up. I had to stop every few turns because I was working so hard. I have a mountain bike cassette, but my chain rings are not small enough - especially not on the third day of the tour.

We stopped at a pull-out and let the roar-buzz of mo-peds go past for a while. Joshua was making his best disgusted face and spit often, finding the flavor of mo-ped fumes not to his liking. We were both somewhat stunned into decision-lessness by the noise. We watched mo-peds go by.

It was pretty fun, in some ways. There was a couple, two men in suits, one that was bright pink, and they had signs that said "Just Married" on their backs. Many people were wearing costumes, including full-body bunny suits as well as outfits with capes and decorated helmets. It was so loud that we couldn't really talk to each other. I kind of wanted to wait for them to be gone. Joshua didn't want to sit still there, breathing fumes, a minute longer.

Somehow, we decided to cruise back down to Innertkirchen and take the Post Auto up and over the pass. The bus comes once an hour, but we knew it might not be on schedule, due to mo-peds. But within about 5 minutes of getting to the bus stop, a bus showed up. The driver helped us get the bikes onto the back of the bus and we put all the bags underneath. He was very nice and everyone was patient. Then we got on and realized that we did not have enough cash to pay for both ourselves and the bikes. Over 80CHF. The driver allowed us to pay for ourselves and gave us a break for the bikes and we were on our way. I thought we'd try to get cash at a stop, but he waved it away and wished us luck.

And as we climbed, we realized that we really had no idea what we were getting into. This was no Passwang. This was no Brunigpass. This was the real deal. And it was terrifying. At first there were some mellow climbs and then small valleys where we really could have ridden. Might have made it a few more bus stops without too much trouble, perhaps on a different, non-mo-ped-rally day.

But then the switchbacks started in ernest. The entire way was slow, there were constant mo-peds, and the only cyclists we saw were pure roadies. Killing it.

Looking back

Still going up

Lakes and snow

Mo-peds

Looking back at the road below

Once on the other side, we got a view of the road up to Furkapass.

Dropped at Gletsch

Maybe we could have done it. We certainly would have had a better chance if we'd been touring for longer than two days. After one week of touring, we are in much, much better shape. After two weeks we might have been strong enough to power through 33kms of climbing, even if we had to crawl. If there was a separate bike path, at least I would have been comfortable walking the steepest bits where I had to labor against the pedals instead of spin it out. Walk a little, bike a little. But not on a road without a shoulder. We had the cold-weather gear.

Maybe if we could have enjoyed the fresh mountain air, the quiet, and the views, we would have been more interested in pushing through.

And as if to prove that fully loaded touring cyclists certainly can conquer Grimselpass, a couple carrying way more gear than us rolled up as we were loading our bikes again where the bus dropped us. They had started in Norway. Many months on the road. They were not that thrilled about the mo-peds, but they were thrilled to know they were heading over Furka and not down into the Wallis - which is what they (and we) were going to do. Yay! It's possible! People do it! Maybe... one day...

Cruising down from Gletsch to Oberwald was incredibly beautiful, too. A long descent is not satisfying in the same was if you haven't made the climb yourself, but I certainly didn't feel bad. Oh no. Quite the opposite.

Looking back up at the road we came down on with the bus

little Joshua in red

little Rhone River beginnings

we dressed for the descent - it smelled like sun-warmed pine trees

At the bottom we were in the Wallis or Valais (depending on your language preference), the long Rhone Valley that cuts east-west across south-west Switzerland, Alps on either side. And it looked to be as advertised: flat, beautiful, warm. The bus ride had been unexpected, the mo-peds - unexpected. The heat in the Wallis was also a bit unexpected. We dried out all the gear while we had a lovely lunch by the beginnings of the Rhone River.

there are more mountains in our future

Galenstock behind us. We knew it was a big mountain because it kept getting bigger the farther away we got.

Not all flat

But all beautiful

Swiss Alpine Village, couple of cows

Crossing an airport

Some hills, some pushing

We were expecting flat from a route that followed the Rhone - river paths are typically mellow and easy. But of course this is Switzerland and we had some unexpected climbs, some single-track riding, and some really lovely gorges. It was an up-and-down afternoon with plenty to appreciate and plenty to tire us out.

At Ernen, the bike route had warning signs. 1.8kms of 12%+ that had to be walked. There were 6kms that did some serious climbing. Despite the bus ride, we'd already done a lot of climbing over the course of the day. We'd also managed to cover around 60kms total. The signs recommended the train. Not even for Grimselpass were there signs recommending an alternative - although there were signs about the steepness and distance.

So we took the train - and we decided we'd take the train all the way to Visp (said "fishp") so we could take the next day off and go up to Zermatt and the Matterhorn by train. When in the Alps, see some Alps. It took us a long time to find the campsite, which was hidden, and we did some riding back and forth - perhaps just to make sure we did a good 70-75kms for the day. Hilarious, really.

But throughout we managed to stay content with each surprise or change of plans. We really are turning into experienced touring cyclists - not a case of the grumpies all day, no matter how many unexpected things happened.

Countdown to Alpine Passes

Yes! Finally on the road again. We had a one day rain delay, because who wants to start a tour on the only day of the week it's supposed to pour? Plus, one more day in Zurich is never a bad idea. But, Yes! On the road. And our first objective was to retrace our steps from the first touring summer, two years ago, when we went from Zurich to Brunnen, except that we'd stay west this time and go straight to Luzern after Zug. With that in mind, we headed downtown to the exact spot where we'd made our first wrong turn two years before and proceeded to go in approximately the right direction, but without being able to find the actual signs for the bike route we wanted to take.

Of course, two years ago we started with just the national map of Swiss bike routes - not helpful in the center of Zurich - and this year we did the same...

However, unlike two years ago, we went up and over the first ridge west of Lake Zurich and found ourselves in exactly the place we wanted to be - route 32! And it was lovely. Of course it was. This is Switzerland, and it's a bike route that is well marked and probably was planned by an actual cyclist.

We had one umleitung (detour) but the Swiss are conscientious even in unusual circumstances, so the detour had helpful signs.

Early in the afternoon we reached Luzern, and joined the path just where we had turned, coming in the other direction, two years ago. Things started to look familiar again. This time I got a photo of the tunnel tower.

But that's about it. Luzern is a beautiful little city and it was lovely to ride through again. We only stopped to buy some groceries (same Coop as 2 yrs ago) and then proceeded to our campsite, further down the road at Horw. The bike route goes around the long way, and we'd intended not to do that. We wanted to go directly and get to the campsite early, as well as not ruin our legs on the first day. 60 rather than 75kms for our first day back on the road. Alas, following the signs is so easy. The route is beautiful, with only a couple of tiring climbs, and we made it to our gorgeous campsite with plenty of time to settle in, eat dinner, and gape at Pilatus, the dragon-like peak above Horw.

The next morning we were greeted by Pilatus and a sunny and marvelous day. Bit of wind, but nothing dramatic. We packed up early and in record time. This year we decided we wouldn't have hot tea with breakfast, hoping to kick out lots of kms in the mornings. It seemed to have worked, although on average I think we tend to cycle the same number of kms no matter when we start or end our days.

We could see Pilatus for the first couple of hours, because the route goes around the lake to the south, and then along a valley. We're in Alp country, but this was just a taster. The snow on Pilatus was from two days earlier - when all the passes were closed due to snow down to 1500m. Good thing we took that extra day in Zurich, I suppose.

Coming around the bend and into a new valley, we get our first glimpse of Alps

Gonna be a lot of this

Lunchtime by a stream - time to dry everything out

The morning involved a lot of flat, lovely riding through a beautiful valley with mountains on either side. At one point, the bike path went right across an airport runway. We managed to stay with the path and we saw a very large pond dotted by very large swans. We did start to climb a bit through a very sweet and quiet town, after which we went through a forest, where we found a perfect lunch spot where we could dry our dew soaked tent.

This is the day we were to climb up and over Brunigpass. The pass itself is at just over 1000 meters. Zurich is at about 400+ meters. We'd been going steadily up, but not fast enough to make this particular pass easy and quick. Quite the opposite. The route we took is National Route 9, which is called the Lakes Route, and we'd been meandering alongside lakes since Zug on this route. But for Brunigpass, we had to climb about 500 meters in just over 10kms. One stretch was a 200m climb in just 2kms. The grade averaged 12%. Joshua rode. Ramona walked.

See little Joshua? See how steep the grass part is?

First top!

We were very pleased with ourselves to have made it that far. It was hot and the path was unforgiving. We came from the far end of that little lake you can barely see in the background. We wished each other a happy birthday. Here the path seemed to be done going up, and we could tell that we were at the top, at least the top of that stretch. We were expecting a downhill on the other side. What we got was almost more spectacular. First, a view of some ... well... mountains.

Impressively, we didn't go down at all on the other side, besides the little road you see here. In the valley was a lake. We had climbed up to this notch in the scenery and on the other side was a big lake, way up high. A little stunned, but pleasantly so, we continued on. The path follows the quiet side of the lake and there were other people enjoying a lake-side ride here and there. Once in town on the far end of the lake we had a choice to make. Either we continue on and up and through the next stage of Brunig pass, or we camp there for the night. It was still pretty early. We only had a few, steep kilometers to go. Our next campsite would be in Meiringen, definitely on the other side. We found the local water fountain, refilled our bottles, and continued on up the hill.

I think the Swiss bike route website Veloland.ch recommends that this portion be done by train. Not far up the steep path, it turns to dirt and rock and is almost impossible to ride. Of course, if we had mountain bike tires or perhaps if we were carrying no weight, we might have been doing more pedaling and less pushing. As we were, it was a walk. But beautiful. We wished each other happy birthday again.

At the next "top" we were greeted by a small snack station. There is a special train that goes up to this spot and you can approach it by car from the other side. We decided to have some lunch and catch our breath. Then we continued on. Up, as it turned out. And at a really steep slope again, but this time paved. We emerged onto the main road as it curved around the seemingly final bend, and a sign told us we were at 1007m. Brunig pass. The direction we needed to go was along a road that did go a bit higher, at a really gentle slope, and brought us to an incredible view over the next valley and the town of Meiringen.

We stopped at a really nice little store for supplies, then made our way down the bike path, which is not paved most of the way, similarly steep to the climb on the other side, and gave us our first real hand work-out as we squeezed our brakes for all they were worth.

It was gorgeous. Once in town we toyed with the idea of a hotel, but places were expensive and we found out that there was a mo-ped rally going on so anything reasonable would have been booked anyway. We aimed for the campsite, which was stunning.

Our little tent

We bought a bottle of prosecco, ate a delicious camping dinner, and watched the mo-peds roll in. One friendly guy came by to find out just what we were up to. He also told us about the mo-ped rally. Their plan was to leave at 10am and climb Grimselpass, then go over Furka and loop back around to Gotthard and eventually end up in Meiringen again. Our plan for tomorrow? Grimselpass. Better get up early.

Happy Birthday.

The Plan: Summer 2012

Our plans have changed many times this summer. In many ways we've benefitted from being even more flexible than usual. Joshua now has a shiny residence visa card for Germany (official home = Hamburg), we have a rocking great house sit to look forward to in October, we spent an incredible month east of Dresden, our German is improving, we got to visit our Zurich buddies again, and we're now finally doing a trip that I planned back in May and thought would never happen.

Tomorrow morning we'll hop on the bikes (early) and re-visit the bike routes between Zurich and Zug, which was our day 1 two years ago when this particular adventure started. Then we'll diverge and head toward Lucerne a new way, then south and up and over two passes in the Alps, the second being Grimselpass - kind of a big one. Then west along the Valais and the Rhone River until Martigny. From there we'll go up and over to Chamonix in the French Alps, where we'll take a bus through the Mont Blanc Tunnel so we can bike south through the Val d'Aosta.

By Sept 25th we'll be just outside of Genoa, and on the 26th we take a ferry to Olbia, Sardegna. Then we have a leisurely trip across Sardegna to Porto Torres, where another ferry will take us all the way to Barcelona. After a bit of time with my mom (yay!) in Barcelona, we'll ferry one more time out to Menorca where we'll spend two months house sitting and working again.

Please wish us strength and good weather - or friendly bus and train drivers in the event that we don't get our first two choices.

This map is somewhat accurate, and includes some other routes that will not be explored this summer... another time, we hope.



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