Vrenelisgärtli

The Last Trip. This was a bookend trip.

I made arrangements to meet Marianne, my host-mom of sorts, and her husband Daniel in Schwanden on Saturday afternoon because they’d been hiking the previous week. I took the train there via the Zürich HB, where there was some crazy festival with people wearing crazy costumes (or not wearing much of a crazy costume, if you know what I mean). We met as planned and drove to the trailhead. They loaded me up with a bunch of gear that I would need and we set off about 6pm.

We hiked for about two hours and reached a saddle maybe 800 meters above our start. Usually this summer, I was the map holder and guide. This time, for most of the way, I had only a basic idea of where we were and where we were going. For this reason, I don’t really know how far we went. But once we got there, we spent the night at the Guppenalp. This was a summer farm house for the Senn. The Senn are more prestigious than farmers (that’s what I was told Grandpa, I didn’t say it!) because they are the ones responsible for the cows. This is a big job because they have to move the cows up the mountains in the summer; they do this because the valleys don’t have enough grass for the whole year. There are three grass “tiers” and this hut was on the third tier. Huts like this are called “alps” – so we stayed at an alp in the Alps. Here is a picture of the alp and the myth, the legend, the wonderful Marianne.



From the alp there was a beautiful view of the sunset. I’m afraid that this may have been the worst weekend for the pictures though. Later that night I woke up and walked outside to the outhouse. On my way back inside I was a bit cold but I had to stop in my tracks. The sky was crystal clear. My stuttering fingers cannot begin to describe how the stars overwhelmed me. The sky was blanketed with every star that was ever created. It was marvelous. This was just one time of many this summer that I have been blown away by the Creator.

The next morning we awoke before the sun. At breakfast I was served a saucer of fresh milk – like a cat – and enjoyed it. We set off at 5:45 because we had a big day ahead of us. On the way up we did a lot of “scrambling” which is somewhere in between hiking and rock climbing. There were a few difficult, steep spots where I was a little nervous.



Near the peak we got to a small snowfield. I put on the cramp-ons (spikes for my boots – yes I wore boots this weekend) and the harness. I was instructed how to use the ice axe. Then we uneventfully hiked up a snow trail. A bit closer to the summit we tied the rope between us and did something that more closely resembled climbing than scrambling.

Finally (maybe 10am) we reached the Vrenelisgärtli. The summit was 2900 meters, about 2200 above where we had started the afternoon before and 1400 or so above where we started that morning. The beauty of this peak is that we could see it for much of the summer. It is visible from our room on a clear day and it was visible on a number of our other hikes. We had lunch at the top and Marianne supplied me with some Pistachio nuts and yet another Schoci Stanli. Unfortunately, there were many clouds at the summit, but much of the day was clear, so I cannot complain.

Almost immediately after starting our descent down towards the glacier, I promptly slipped and cut my hand. Ugh. I never did feel comfortable in the rigid boots and had a hard time feeling the ground. But I was being a bit careless too. It was just a wide scratch but it bled for a while.

Not far from the top we reached the Glärnisch Glacier. We walked about 30 feet apart with the rope tight, in case one of us would fall into a crevice. I saw one or two crevices but this was thankfully an uneventful stroll through the snow field. After we walked about a mile we reached the end of the glacier. We sat down to remove the cramp-ons and heard the whirring of a helicopter. Dani got out his binoculars and we watched as a rescue crew was unloaded. Later we found out that a man, hiking alone, had fallen 30-40 meters. He was airlifted out to safety.



A little farther down the trail we arrived at the Glärnischhütte. In my mind I had been thinking of this moment for a few hours. This was my intermediate goal. I knew once I got to the hut, my feet would sing for joy because it was time to take off my boa constrictor boots and put on Icarus’ shoes. We took a much-needed extended break at the hut, because we had only taken a few short ones up to that point. Then we hiked down the valley.

I won’t describe the rest of the trip to the Klöntalersee because you’ve heard it before. What I mean to say is that we wrote about it on our first weekend hike. This weekend was a bookend trip because the first hike Bryan and I did was to go up this valley to the Glärnisch hut and then to the glacier. This time, thanks to my guides Daniel and Marianne, we reached the hut from the other side, after summiting the highest peak in the Glarnerland. I also had the opportunity to use the cramp-ons, ice axe, and rope for the first time. It was a fun trip.

As I sit overlooking Winterthur on this cool, peaceful evening, I realize that there will be a lot to miss about this place. But I am also looking forward to going home as well. I hope to do a little more summarizing yet this week, but we’ll see how that goes.