We rose late, and again admired the views from our windows (above).
Our hotel in Kandersteg - Seiler's Vintage Hotel
Given that afternoon rain was forecast, we decided to delay sorting out cross country skiing, and after a buffet breakfast we headed up to Oeschinensee via a steep zigzag path that bypasses Port.
There were good views from the ascent.
Coltsfoot, Hepatica and Butterbur were sprouting freely, together with Heather (Ling), being unconstrained from their usual snow cover.
Eventually the path contoured round to a cabin/barn, where we enjoyed elevenses in the sunshine on the calm day.
Just a handful of other walkers were seen. We ignored a 'Path Closed due avalanche risk' and we saw no sign of such a risk.
Coltsfoot, Hepatica and Butterbur were sprouting freely, together with Heather (Ling), being unconstrained from their usual snow cover.
Eventually the path contoured round to a cabin/barn, where we enjoyed elevenses in the sunshine on the calm day.
Just a handful of other walkers were seen. We ignored a 'Path Closed due avalanche risk' and we saw no sign of such a risk.
After a while we found some snow and some deserted pistes. At our highest point, before descending to Oeschinensee, we encountered an official looking chap who informed us that everything was closed today due to high winds. So that's why the pistes were deserted. We had got this far in blissful ignorance of either the closures or the winds, though we had wondered why the cablecars weren't working.
What could we do? Well, perhaps go down. Our official wasn't sure about that as the rescue service wasn't operating and we might fall on the ice...
Eventually we just set off, closely observed by a hovering eagle, and admired the views over Oeschinensee.
Then we returned easily down a snowshoe trail (no snowshoes needed today, and Sue only fell over once on the ice) and back to base for some R&R after our 11 km walk with 650 metres ascent, taking 4¼ hours.
Oeschinensee
Coltsfoot
A view from near Oeschinensee
Descent (not on the pistes but on separate footpaths intended for snowshoeing)
Hepatica
As you can see, I've been unable to insert the pictures in the correct places. I'll have to revert to just a few 'header' pictures and some text for the rest of this trip, adding more images when I get home and our computer is mended.
A Kandersteg meadow on which there should be snow and a cross country skiing route marked out
1 comment:
Have a great time. It looks wonderful.
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