The Hike

This was really the hike of our lives.
It starts from Scynige platte to First and it will take 6 hours. The hike starts from 2km above sea level, peaking at 2680m then coming back down to 2180m.
It's a great hike as it goes along a plateau that enables you to see both sides and enjoy the scenery on both sides of the mountain.
It was also a hike that we did twice (the second time was squeezed during our last day) as the first hike was blurred with a thick fog and we couldn't see much.

The start of the hike was already bustling with bells and 'moos'. We chanced upon a shepard herding his cows with a shepard dog. The cows have this habit of taking up the whole width of the path and we sometimes have to manoveure around them and at the same time avoid their dung.. Quite fun, but because this was out first time encountering cows without a barrier, we don't know whether they'll kick or ram us. But we managed to cross them safely :)

Keeping my safe distance

Like a scene from the movies. Peaceful shepard with his dog, just going about his daily life

The fog didn't quite set in at first and we managed to get some shots like these on the way up the peak.

Then the weather started getting colder as we gained altitude and we started to see ice form on the upper areas. We were so excited that we took shots of the ice.. Maciam never see before.. Actually really never see before this 'half-half' kind of look on the mountain.

Ice forming on the upper half

So we went on and somehow felt colder as we trudged on. Someone seem to say 'You want ice? I'll give it to you guys!!'
There you have it: Ice all around us and to make it better, the fog came to join in..

Ice all over with little visibility

Can only see the sign when you're near it. Otherwise will be lost in the fog. Dear was standing like only 10m away.. We could see no views on the plateau, only ice and the path which fortunately was not covered totally.

Cold was the main theme of the hike and it got to our hair.

We reached First after hours of walking in the ice and fog and wondering what's so good about this hike.. Atop First is a hotel cum restaurant which didn't have much business with this kind of weather. Fortunately they still served hot and good food. We took their Rosti (fried potato) and had some warm drinks to go along. Good for thawing our hair...

There's still something to smile about with this weather. (The owner is smiling at least)

We continued the hike after lunch and it was all descending after we came down from the restaurant. The walk was much easier as the ice eased away and fortunately we could still get snapshots like the one below when the fog lost some of its power.

But when it came back, all we could see was mist and we almost even ran into a moving truck (had it not been its engine noise that got to us first)
Being disappointed the first round. We decided to do it again the second time on our last day (went back here after visiting Lucern) View was much better and again we ate the same Rosti up on the peak. The owner there was so touched that we went there again she rewarded us with a First sticker. Well better than nothing...

Thinking back, it was a dangerous thing to do on the first run since there was actually no proper map. i.e. nothing with contours drawn or little tracks on the map to mark which direction we should follow. So if the tracks got covered with ice totally, we would have had it and been lost.. Dunno how to walk, dunno if got energy to move around to maintain heat. But fortunately the paths were really demarcated well after so long so the chance of them being totally buried is quite slim.

But that aside, the hikes here in Interlaken are really a class above the hike in Singapore. not only the views are spectacular, the weather there is also ideal since it is cool and less humid. You won't get sticky/sweaty/moody after walking 6 hours!