Schweiz

This time last week, I was relaxing after decending 3,200 m down Mt Blanc in a day. But before we got to Mt Blanc, there was a boys' trip across Germany, Switzerland and a corner of Austria to get to Chamonix, France!



We travelled in style in Lindsay and Kerstin's Wohnmobile (campervan)

This photo was posed - actually there was complete harmony in the campervan, and definitely no finger pointing. Except, perhaps, when we supported a team other than Holland in the Euro Cup! As it turned out, taking pity on Matthijn and supporting his team turned out to be a good move as they've ended up top of their "pool of death", beating two recent champions in the process. So there you go.


I had heard that Switzerland was beautiful, but wasn't quite ready for just how green and mountainous it was in the South. Waterfalls galore!






They like to paint marks on rocks in these parts, or even directions! We climbed a mountain called Grassen, nearly 3,000 m.





Grassen is a bit further around to the left. In the saddle ahead, we met several groups, all roped (and presumably guided?) I think they were laughing at us for climbing without ropes, and in t-shirts, shorts and not the latest seasons' gear. We thought they were funny for using ropes.






The peak with the sun on it is called Titlis. It has a cable car going all the way to the top - like lots of European mountains. There is often an easy way but we always seemed to be walking...






On the way down.




We also based ourselves in Grindelwald (near the Jungfrau) for a couple of days and did two half-day walks. The scenery was stunning and we got our first close-up views of glaciers. Unfortunately we were quite early in the season and there had been lots of snowfall in the spring/early summer, so the mountain huts and routes weren't really open. This put the kibosh on our loose plans of climbing the Jungfrau.

The north face of the Eiger, a climbing route of tragedy and legend! Not really in condition when we were there.

Yes, the cows really do have bells. More amusingly, so do the sheep.

The next post will move on to France - in the mean time, Lindsay has done a post on our trip as well, check it out at this link (or by clicking on his blog on the right)