Switzerland, 9.6.16 - 9.17.16, Part 6 of 13: Shynigge Platte
After spending an incredible night at The Faulhorn, I set my alarm for around 6:15AM to make sure I didn’t miss the sunrise. I gathered all my camera gear and headed to the spot I’d found to be the best for getting shots of the full range. It wasn’t very cold at all and I just sat there watching the sky as it slowly changed from night to dawn. Gina came out and joined me and we just gazed towards the Jungfrau Massif as the night morphed from black to grey to pink to orange to yellow as the sun bathed the peaks in daylight.
I have used the iPhone a lot these past few years for getting panorama shots on trips and it is a very good compliment to my Canon DSLR. I also have a clip on zoom lens for the equivalent of a 200mm optical zoom which really comes in handy. For this sunrise, I added the zoom, set up the phone carefully propped up by a couple of rocks and shortly before the sun came up I started a time-lapse video aimed at a portion of the Jungfrau Massif. I let it run until after the sun had risen over the horizon which took about forty-five minutes of filming but the end result turned out great as clouds flowed in and out of the low saddles and suddenly the sun kissed the very tops of the peaks and just lit up the range. The whole thing only takes about 20 seconds to watch and I think it’s the best time-lapse I’ve tried so far. I would have added it to this report but it’s about forty-nine megabytes. The clouds were thicker than I had hoped, but actually added drama to the photos and I got some nice shots as the sun broke the horizon.
I love the phenomenon of rivers of clouds pouring like liquid through the gaps in the mountains.
Panorama of the moment the sun kissed the peaks. This barely captures how incredible the light was.
I think we all may have crawled out of bed in time for the sunrise show and we stood around staring in hushed silence.
A new day in Switzerland. Jon and Bridgit at The Faulhorn.
Once we finished a quick breakfast we were packed and ready for a new adventure. As you can see on the map, from the Faulhorn (2), the trail continued in the opposite direction from where we came up all the way to a station called Schynigge Platte (3). The section from the Faulhorn to Schynigge Platte was 6.5 miles long for a total excursion of ten miles and drops around 2,600’ of vertical along the way. From the initial planning stages we knew that this distance would be too far for everyone so Gina, Bridgit and Dana planned to head back down the way we had come up while Bob and I followed the trail to Schynigge Platte. There we would catch a couple of different trains back to Grindelwald and meet up at the Gletschergarten.
Map showing our entire route. First day: Grindelwald to First (1) and then up to the Faulhorn (2). Second day: Faulhorn to Schynigge Platte (3), train to Wilderswil (4), different train back to Grindelwald via Zweilutschinen (5).
The morning was shaping up nicely and we hoped to have good, warm, clear weather for the hike back down.
The mountain ridges were very different than Colorado or Washington. They reminded me more of the peaks in Montana around Glacier National Park.
Just below the Faulhorn, the trail split and there we said goodbye to the girls and headed off towards Schynigge Platte.
Gina, Bridgit and Dana ready to trek back down to First.
Meanwhile, Bob and I traversed underneath the Faulhorn and began to follow a wonderful ridgeline. Lots of rock mixed with brilliant green grass and mosses. The lovely ridge combined with early morning sunlight made for an incredibly enjoyable stroll. Of course the entire length of this ridge we had views to both the Jungfrau Massif and the opposite direction down towards Interlaken with the two big lakes as bookends.
Bob on the ridge
Looking back up at The Faulhorn. You can see just how precarious our perch was for a thrilling overnight stay.
This first part of our journey truly ambled along this beautiful ridge. It was very easy hiking and we were in great spirits. I’ve seen photos of the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the ridge itself reminded me of places I’ve heard of like Franconia Notch but the Whites don’t have jagged peaks poking up all around the place like we did.
Further down the ridge. The Faulhorn is the point just right of the center of the photo.
One of the coolest things about the Alps is that instead of people backpacking and tent camping all over the place, there are all kinds of huts and mountain berghotels seemingly everywhere. You can hike almost anywhere and rely on going from hut to hut all over the Alps. We were amazed at some of the places we saw huts, even way way up high at the edges of the glaciers hanging off cliffs. Such was the case as Bob and I wandered through this stunning landscape, seeing almost no one and feeling like we were out there in the wilderness. Then we turned a corner and there below us was a berghotel, which really means mountain inn. Our trail dropped down right to it and it seemed like a perfect place to take a break and order up a coffee. By the way, we never got a bad coffee anywhere. It was nice to not have a timetable and it was a great break to just sit on the patio, soak up the sun and relax.
The Berghaus Männdlenen
Despite a substantial drop of 2,600’, the trail had long sections of fairly level hiking interspersed with sections that dropped down to lower levels. It really was a pleasure to hike on this trail. As we left the berghaus, the trail headed away from our destination to wind around the end of a ridge and then come back down the opposite side of the ridge. This section was very rocky. Lots of the rock on the side of the trail looked like sand on the bottom of the ocean. Much of the flat rock had wavy surfaces which made for unusual terrain to hike through.
As we rounded the end of this ridge, we hiked high over the tarn we had seen the previous afternoon from the top of the Faulhorn. Bob spotted something moving on the hillside and it turned out to be a pair of Chamois which are goat-antelope found throughout the mountainous areas of Europe (not to be confused with Shamwows which are found more in the United States).
Lovely alpine tarn perched on a plateau above the Brienzersee
Another really cool feature of the area we were in was how much folded geology was around us. I’m no expert on rock (unless you are referring to music) but this terrain really looked like it had been buckled over time from tectonic plate movement. Is there a geologist in the house?
Twisted rock of the Alps
Another beautiful feature along the trail
As we followed the back side of the ridge, we eventually came to where it opened up and the trail lay out before us the remainder of the way to Schynigge Platte. Little rock pinnacles stuck up all over the place and the trail dropped and then traversed around to the ridge directly above Interlaken and the Brienzersee. We also came back into view of the Jungfrau massif but the light was tough for photos in that direction. Right about the time my feet were ready to call it a day we pulled into Shynigge Platte station. If you look at the map, we basically hiked all the way past the end of the Männlichen ridge so from Shynigge Platte we could see straight up into the Lauterbrunnen valley.
Hopping on the two car cog railway, we descended some 4,600’ back down to the valley floor in Wilderswil. There we switched trains and headed back up into Grindelwald to complete a sensational two day trip to just an amazing place. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that we had seen so much beauty and the trip was only half over.
The trail wrapping around the ridges. Shynigge Platte can be seen in the distance.
A large basin we traversed on the way to Schynigge Platte. Along this traverse the trail reaches the far ridgecrest where we could look straight down into the Brienzersee and Interlaken.
Interlaken and The Brienzeersee
This ends Part 6. Stay tuned for Part 7: Return to Grindelwald