A few years ago Barbara and I were on top of a peak or ridge somewhere when she pointed out the Grosser Mythen to me. Since then, we’ve often talked about climbing this impressive free-standing peak. Its name apparently deriving from the latin word ‘meta’ for pyramid or cone, the Grosser Mythen, rises almost 500 …
A Sunday stroll
Trying to find the best weather, we discovered that the Engelberg region would be dry, even if not exactly sunny. We thought we’d take a look at Titlis from the other side of the valley for our Sunday stroll. We set off somewhat earlier than the day before and from Engelberg station we make our …
Klettersteig Pinut
Friday evening. We’ve both had a busy week at work, so we agree not to start too early the next day. Plus the weather’s not looking great. We find a via ferrata in the Flims-Laax region – Klettersteig Pinut – where the weather looks as if it will treat us gently, and we can start …
Kröntenhütte
The weather outlook for the Saturday wasn’t all that good. So we pored over the weather map looking for the brightest spot. My eye falls on Krönten and the Kröntenhütte in the Urner Alps and after some discussion we agree we’d be spending the Friday evening in Kröntenhütte, with a view to climbing Krönten on …
The Elusive Butterfly
On our return from Fridolins hut, Barbara and I stopped to brew a cup of coffee and eat our sandwiches. While we were brewing up this gorgeous little creature came and perched on top of the balancing rock ‘sculpture’ next to us. For the next few weeks this little creature became the elusive butterfly. I …
Short cuts cause Erosion!
One of my pet peeves is people taking short cuts when there is a perfectly good path to be followed. The distance saved is seldom more than a few metres. The time, given that the short cut is often steeper and less stable terrain, may be even longer than the original path… the end result …
Monte Tamaro to Monte Lema
Let me start by saying that this title is misleading! This hike neither starts at Monte Tamaro nor finishes at Monte Lema. But that’s what it’s called in the ticino.ch website where we got the idea from sometime last year, so we’ll call it the same… We catch a lift in gondolas from Rivera-Bironico to …
Gerschnialp
After our marathon hike from Vättis to Sardonahütte and return the previous two days we decided a simple day out will be more than enough. We headed off to Engelberg and made our way through a forest and then onto open pastures to Gerschnialp. After a relaxed couple of drinks we set off back home. …