June 26, 2009

I have been hanging out in the Swiss Alps, with the aim of doing a lot of hiking and seeing a lot of amazing mountains. For the first four days I was there the weather was average at best, with low cloud, patchy rain, and snow above about 1900m. I went for a couple of walks in the rain and fog but spent a lot of time hoping for the weather to clear and watching the clouds move up and down the valley but not disappear.

I stayed in Gimmelwald which is accessible only by walking for 1.5 hours, or by taking a cable car which whisks you up the 500m of cliff to where the village is perched in a mere 5 minutes. There I found the friendly Mountain Hostel, where there is a constant relaxed party atmosphere, beer, pizza, and lots of Americans drawn there by a travel writer called Rick Steves who apparently wrote that Gimmelwald is his favourite place in the world. It is a very nice place indeed, but I have to question the judgement of a guy who writes a book titled “Europe through the back door”. I mean, really.

The Swiss stereotype of precision is entirely justified. The trains, trams, busses, and indeed cablecars run on time with no exceptions. You can happily leave a three minute gap between important train connections and know with confidence that you’ll make it. The cablecars to and from Gimmelwald are synchronised with a bus line to connect to the nearest train station. It is incredible. I really enjoy watching the second hand on the station clocks and feeling the train start moving just as it approaches the 12.

After those days of bad weather I made the decision to leave if the cloud didn’t clear the next morning, and lo and behold I woke to a stunningly clear day — which was nice. The mountains shined in the morning light with their fresh sprinkling of snow, and the Choucas – those high altitude birds who so enjoy gliding around watching tourists at lookouts – clicked their yellow beaks and hung on the thermal eddies in the valley.