The 1st of August is officially the Swiss National Day, on which they celebrate being Swiss. I was slightly surprised at how low-key it all was, until finding out that it has only really been an official holiday since the early 1990s!
Thankfully, this meant a day off, which happened to coincide with the nicest weather we've had in 3 weeks. Georgie (my flatmate) and I decided that nothing could be more Swiss than to spend the day hiking in the mountains. I have been eye-ing the 7-Gipfeltour hike and was quite glad to have a companion.
I find the name of the hike quite amusing. Gipfel means peak, and Gipfeli are what they call croissants that you eat for breakfast. Given the nature of the hike, you actually might want to eat 7 Gipfeli before starting out...
We started out quite early in the morning, and we had the longest gondola rides I've been on: two 15-minute stints! The mountains were flirting with us in the morning; the clouds were quite thick, but suddenly they would open up and you'd see a little bit of mountain. You could just get bits and pieces, but you knew that there was something beautiful just behind the cloud curtain.
As you might expect, a 7-Gipfeltour entails climbing seven peaks. The trail was mostly along a ridge line, but there was definitely quite a bit of climbing. I rather liked the pace, though; a hard climb, then a view and some downhill, then another climb, a view, etc. I find hikes with a 2 or 3 hours only uphill and then 2 or 3 hours only downhill to be much less enjoyable. Although by the last Gipfel I felt as though we had climbed about a million Gipfel.
The clouds started clearing as we stopped for lunch on the top of the second Gipfel. The view was quite lovely, and we even took the time to lay for a bit in the sun at the top. We were above the tree line, and there was plush, cushion-y moss all over that was quite inviting.
Most of the afternoon hike was in the sun. I have the nice burn today to prove it, despite multiple applications of a copious amount of sunscreen. One of the fantastic things about hiking with Georgie is that she knows quite a bit about geology and rocks, so she could tell me all about the interesting terrain and rocks and formations in that area. I really appreciate understanding what I am seeing (plus I heart science, of course)! I have now gone for three different hikes around this lake this summer, and I feel like the mountains have been different each time.
When I go hiking in the mountains I feel like I must be one of the luckiest girls in the world. I love the sweet smell of the grass, the jolly sounds of cowbells, the roar of distant rivers and waterfalls, the sound of wind in the trees, the pungent smell of evergreens, the clear turquoise of the lakes and rivers, the caress of the warm sun, the vibrant only-in-Switzerland green of the grass, the sound of bees flying lazily around to the wildflowers. And of course the mountains are pretty good-looking.
Thankfully, this meant a day off, which happened to coincide with the nicest weather we've had in 3 weeks. Georgie (my flatmate) and I decided that nothing could be more Swiss than to spend the day hiking in the mountains. I have been eye-ing the 7-Gipfeltour hike and was quite glad to have a companion.
I find the name of the hike quite amusing. Gipfel means peak, and Gipfeli are what they call croissants that you eat for breakfast. Given the nature of the hike, you actually might want to eat 7 Gipfeli before starting out...
We started out quite early in the morning, and we had the longest gondola rides I've been on: two 15-minute stints! The mountains were flirting with us in the morning; the clouds were quite thick, but suddenly they would open up and you'd see a little bit of mountain. You could just get bits and pieces, but you knew that there was something beautiful just behind the cloud curtain.
As you might expect, a 7-Gipfeltour entails climbing seven peaks. The trail was mostly along a ridge line, but there was definitely quite a bit of climbing. I rather liked the pace, though; a hard climb, then a view and some downhill, then another climb, a view, etc. I find hikes with a 2 or 3 hours only uphill and then 2 or 3 hours only downhill to be much less enjoyable. Although by the last Gipfel I felt as though we had climbed about a million Gipfel.
The clouds started clearing as we stopped for lunch on the top of the second Gipfel. The view was quite lovely, and we even took the time to lay for a bit in the sun at the top. We were above the tree line, and there was plush, cushion-y moss all over that was quite inviting.
Most of the afternoon hike was in the sun. I have the nice burn today to prove it, despite multiple applications of a copious amount of sunscreen. One of the fantastic things about hiking with Georgie is that she knows quite a bit about geology and rocks, so she could tell me all about the interesting terrain and rocks and formations in that area. I really appreciate understanding what I am seeing (plus I heart science, of course)! I have now gone for three different hikes around this lake this summer, and I feel like the mountains have been different each time.
When I go hiking in the mountains I feel like I must be one of the luckiest girls in the world. I love the sweet smell of the grass, the jolly sounds of cowbells, the roar of distant rivers and waterfalls, the sound of wind in the trees, the pungent smell of evergreens, the clear turquoise of the lakes and rivers, the caress of the warm sun, the vibrant only-in-Switzerland green of the grass, the sound of bees flying lazily around to the wildflowers. And of course the mountains are pretty good-looking.
