Switzerland: First

Our first visit to Switzerland in eleven years featured the familiar and fantastic.  Distant cowbells and the rush of alpine streams filled our ears as we gazed upon the breathtaking mountains and astonishing prices of Grindelwald.  Today's post covers our first day there.

Grindelwald is part of the "Bernese Oberland," an area of particular beauty high above Bern.  The region attracts many thrill-seekers and extreme adventurers, but there is still much to enjoy for those inexperienced in mountain ways and toting young children.  One of our favorites- and the first thing we did- was ride a cable car up the mountains.  In Grindelwald, there are normally two: the Grindelwald-First (heading north), and the Grindelwald-Mannlichen (heading west).  The latter- one we had done before- is down for renovation, so we headed north.

We decided to ride the Grindelwald-Bort-Schreckfeld-First cable car to the last stop (confusingly named 'First'), hike down to Bort, and take the cable car back down to Grindelwald.  This was for cost (the gondolas are expensive; hiking between stations would save some coin) and experience (hiking the Alps!!).  The ride up was amazing, though the photos of the experience suffer the typical gondola problem of taking pictures through scratched and dirty windows.

Once at First, we did the Cliff Walk, which is a 'thrill' experience increasingly common in the mountains.  It's a grated walkway bolted into the mountainside, perfectly safe but terrifying nonetheless.  We enjoyed it, though with young kids, the attention is divided between the sights and making sure the children didn't do anything stupid.

What came next gives me nightmares several days later.  Most of the paths at First were closed (due to lingering snow and danger of avalanche), but the path down to Bort (estimated hiking time: 2 hrs 40 min) was open.  We asked the employees at the cable car station, who said it was a trail suitable for kids, so down we went.  "Never trust people from the mountains to gauge suitability for non-natives" is my new travel motto.  In his defense, I should have questioned the trail name: "The Eiger Ultra Trail."  Yippee.  The initial descent was the worst; there were some places where a stumble could result in tumbling down the mountain for several hundred yards (or further), over rock-strewn landscapes that would have left our kids bloody, bruised and broken.  I tried to keep that thought out of my mind as we went down.  The first picture outlines the path in red.

 After the initial, things leveled out a bit and got much more enjoyable.

The final portion had us going through forest to Bort.  By this point, the long descent had starting wearing on our knees, and our minds were set on lunch.

Arrival!  At Bort, we enjoyed an excellent meal (of Rosti, a local specialty); afterwards, the kids played at the best-situated playground I've ever seen.  A cable car ride back to Grindelwald concluded the day.  The weather was excellent, nobody died, and we experienced the beauty of the region; it was a success.