some weeks ago, we visited the stanserhorn, taking up the “cabrio” cable car. up there, the weather was quite bearable compared to in zürich, where it was way above 30 degrees, though it was not as nice – it even rained a little. later, we took the ship form hergiswil back to lucerne.
we spent part of this weekend in zermatt.
on friday, we took the cable cars up to the top of the klein matterhorn, up to 3880 meters above sea level. it’s an amazing trip! unfortunately, we weren’t very lucky with the weather, and from a certain high on we were essentially covered in clouds. there also was kind of a snowstorm going on, which made it quite unconfortable on the outside:
(we didn’t walk up to the summit; without a ski mask it was not that much fun walking through the essentially horizontally flying snow…)
on the other hand, we walked a bit through illuminated glacier:
here are two photos from the trip down:
at least, it was possible to see something from there, even though we couldn’t see the matterhorn at all. but well, on the second day we got a glimpse. there were still some clouds around (and the klein matterhorn was covered by them a lot of the time), but this time we went up the gornergrat to around 3100 meters above sea level. up there, we had some really great views!
later, when travelling back, instead of taking the direct route via visp and zurich, we decided to follow the glacier express trail a bit by taking the matterhorn-gotthard bahn from visp via göschenen to andermatt, and then proceeded home from there. the last photos above are from that trip.
some weeks ago, we went to see ohne rolf in engelberg. unfortunately for us, the weather sucked during our short stay. that’s why there are essentially on photos excep this one taken outside the schaukäserei:
on our way back, we hopped on a boat in lucerne and crossed lake lucerne until we finally arrived in flüelen. from there, we returned home via train. here are some snapshots from the nice boat trip, which was mostly uneventful except the last hop, where a group of drunken turnverein members entered the boat…
(the city you can see is brunnen.)
after visiting tierpark goldau, we hiked to the boat landing in goldau (which is 3 km away from the park) and went on a boat trip to zug.
if you love chocolate, then order a “eisschokolade”. it is not exactly what i would call a “eisschokolade”, but definitely the best chocolate sundae i ever had.
in the tierpark goldau, we also saw wildcat kittens. they were playing. just. so. cute.
yesterday, we visited the natur- and tierpark goldau. the weather was perfect, and we really enjoyed the visit. here are a few impressions:
in these photos, you can see red-crested pochards, whooper swans, syrian brown bears, european wolves, roe deer, wildcats, eurasian lynx and alpine ibexes.
here’s my project 52 shot for the thirtyth week. the topic was
when i read this topic, i had to think of the morteratsch glacier, especially the dark blue grotto which is visible on some of the photos i took there. but when this topic was announced, my trip to the morteratsch glacier was already three days ago, and we are not supposed to take archive photos. besides that, i had no perfect photo from that grotto. so i waited, until i visited the next glacier: the rhône glacier. as opposed to this view of the glacier, the photo for this topic had to be taken inside the glacier, where it is deep blue. but this is not a problem at the rhône glacier, as every year, they dig a grotto into the glacier which you can enter. they also installed lights, usually hidden behind ice, which amplify the bluish tones. this was the perfect place to take a photo for this topic, in my opinion. and here it is! please click the photo to get a larger version:
technical details: 1/100s, f/2.8, 16mm fisheye, iso 400.
here’s my project 52 shot for the twentyeighth week. the topic was
as a motive for this topic, i chose the rhône glacier. please click the photo to get a larger version:
technical details: 1/2500s, f/8, 18mm, iso 400.
here’s my project 52 shot for the twentythird week. the topic was
i took this photo of a peaceful idyll at the furka pass in central switzerland. silence, fresh air, a wonderful view, a few fluffy clouds here and there – just so beautiful, so perfect. please click the photo to get a larger version:
technical details: 1/1000s, f/8, 18mm, iso 200.
today, i did an excursion to the furka pass and the rhône glacier. i started at 05:45 in zürich, took the train to göschenen, and continued by postauto to the hotel belvédère.
from there, one can visit the ice grotto, a grotto hewn into the glacier. this was the first time i was inside a glacier, though not the first time being inside a artifical ice cave. there is a long twisted corridor, ending in a grotto. the walls often have lights inside, yielding spectacular effects. check out some impressions:
after that, i did a hike to the furka passhöhe. supposed to be a nice, easy hike, at least when you start at at the passhöhe. starting from hotel belvédère, the way is very steep in the beginning (instead of going steeply down at the end). here’s what my gps recorded for me.
the hike started at 2291 meters above sea level, climbed up to 2450 meters above sea level in around 700 meters, and peaked at 2486 meters above sea level near the end, and ended at 2427 meters above sea level after 2.97 kilometers. according to qlandkartegt, i climbed up 358 meters and walked down 222 meters during the whole trip. not bad for my training level… almost took me 2 1/2 hours. but it was really beautiful up there!
in case you want to do the trip in the same direction: the trail starts, seen from the glacier, behind the hotel. the sign is pretty easy to miss, and the trailhead is also easy to miss…
