My First Summit

Spending the night in a cheesemaker's hut. Hiking to the top of a mountain to watch a sunrise. Sounds amazing right? And it was. But there was definite work involved.

We started our hike at 7pm. Both Sidsel and I had been on guest services all day, so we were a little pooped. But with the penguin song in our head we were in high spirits, much to the dismay of the others. They had hiked up another mountain that day, and were a bit more worn out than we were. Or at least they acted like it.

So we walked, and walked, and walked some more. And as the sun got lower, we got higher. And it was grueling, as most hikes here are. In fact I haven't met a hike yet that didn't take a lot work. But finally we saw the cheesemaker's hut on the horizon. Or rather on the side of a very steep incline. And in true Swiss fashion, we zigzagged up this steep incline. So what looked like a short 10-15 minute walk turned into a 25-30 minute walk, but we finally made it.

We were greeted by your typical Swiss elderly couple, with lines on their face reflecting the harsh climbing and cold winds they had weathered their whole life. And bless their hearts, they had hot chocolate waiting for us - made with raw milk. As in they had just pulled some cow's tit, got milk in a bucket, and used it to make our drinks with. And it was delicious. So with the warmth of the chocolate in our bellies we headed upstairs to sleep.

By upstairs I mean the attic of a barn. And it smelled like one. And we were crammed side by side. And although I've done some pretty amazing things with these people, it's still hard to sleep between two "practical" strangers in a stinky barn knowing you need to get up at 3am. That's right, we got to the cheesemaker's hut at 9pm, and were to get up at 3am. Fun huh?

So I didn't sleep much, but at least I was resting in some capacity before the big hike up Bunderspitz. Bunderspitz is over 2500 m tall - and thanks to my mom - I can now say that's approximately over 7500 ft. That's a big ass Alp.

So the next morning bright and early we headed off. And again, Sidsel and I started in high spirits. But it didn't last long. The climbing was STEEP, and it was in the dark. So you had no references to judge how far you were going or how far you'd been. And I was with a group of experienced hikers, so they were moving a little faster than I was used to. But I did keep up as well as possible and I'm mighty proud of my performance. So from 3:30am to 6:30am we hiked up this big ass Alp. And finally we arrived at the top. And I have to admit, I was pretty sure before I reached the top that I hated hiking and was cussing every positive thought I had ever had about it. But then I got to the top, and although we were greeted with a very cold wind and lots of clouds, I couldn't help but be amazingly proud of myself and completely excited about my first summit.We sat up on the mountain top, ate some breakfast, took lots of photos, and watched what sunrise we could. And I'd catch myself just staring at the landscape around me and being completely overwhelmed.

Then the rain came, and we put on more and more layers, and decided it was time to go. We had another full day hike ahead of us. We were headed down the other side of the mountain to Kandersteg - the Scout center in the next valley over from Our Chalet.

So with tired eyes and legs, I started my descent, but leaving my thoughts over 2500 meters in the air.