Day 8: After a terrible night on a way to soft mattress (switched to my air mattress as well which was a bit better), I had to make the tough decision to not join the group to the summit of Trolltinden, the largest vertical wall in Europe. Looking on a physical level the decision was easy, mentally it was another story. I had been looking forward to it for a long time, so skipping it was hard.

Whilst the group was going up, I spent the day reading and stretching. The group had a superb day on the mountain with fantastic views. They confirmed it wouldn't have been doable for me, so at least I did not leave it our for nothing.

After their return we drove back to Ålesund, where we celebrated a very nice trip with a visit to a good restaurant and some drinks. Tomorrow we just flew back, so the reliving of the tour ends here.

Thanks for joining me 😀.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Day 7: On a true #FensterFriday we woke up with blue skies yet again. We said goodbye to our Norwegian companion for the evening and started our descent.

The route followed multiple lakes and had some tricky parts (especially with larger backpacks). We tried to find a good lunch spot, but the wind picked up big time and there was not much to shelter behind.

In the late afternoon we arrived at our pick-up point and were driven to the hotel in Valldal again. The trip is not over yet however. There is a very nice dessert planned for tomorrow. The question is however, if I can join, as my back problems are making themselves known again.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Day 6: We leave the large hut complex, which we only shared with 3 other people, and start our hike to the next valley, with yet another character. A last view back into the green valley before we hike into a rock and snow valley.

The sun is still shining, but because of the wind over the snow fields, it is becoming cold. Shorts and t-shirts are replaced with long trousers, windjackets and beanies.

We cross lots of snowfields before we arrive at the Danskehytta ("Danish hut"). There is only one other person, who we invite to join us for Dutch pancakes.

The difference in the two valleys so close together was remarkable.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Day 5: A beautiful sunrise marked the start of another day in this amazing environment. Every time we spoke with Norwegians, they told us we were extremely lucky to have this kind of weather, because the summer of 2022 was particularly bad. Our trip in September basically fell in the only two weeks with good weather.

From a tundra-like valley today we would hike into a more green valley. It was an easy and not too long hike. We showered under the waterfall near the Reindalseter hut, the flagship of huts in this area. Because we were out of the normal season, there were not many people there.

Nice impression video:
https://vimeo.com/361012062

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Day 4: After yesterday, we decided we needed to re-plan our route. The rest of the trails would be better maintained, but we wanted to reach certain points, so we needed to focus on those. We would leave out the highest point in our route (Karitinden), but therefore go to the especially rugged valley of the Danskehytta.

We had breakfast outside and that was the firs time we saw the Vakkerstøylen hut in daylight. What a pretty one.

We had to cross the lake by boat. At the pass to Pyttbua hut we came across the most clear lake you can image (nice cold drinking water). The descent to the hut made it a nice afternoon hike, so we could recover.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Day 3: We had a good night sleep and woke up in a very chilly morning. Today we had around 7 hours to hike (at least, according to all documentation). We were warned that those Norwegian estimates are really challenging. We would learn how true that was.

The route we were hiking is not used a lot, so the trail was very difficult to find. We lost track several times. At 3pm we were only halfway. As we had all our gear with us, we could always camp, but that would also mean our planning would be done for.

We kept going and at 11pm we finally reached Vakkerstøylen. We ate pasta till we dropped. Still one of the toughest hikes I ever did.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

After traveling yesterday we started our first day of the actual trip on the water. Instead of hiking to the trailhead over asphalt roads, we kayaked from Valldal over the Unesco Tafjord.

At the end of the afternoon we finally started walking towards Tafjordsætra, nothing more than a few sheds. From the fjord to the first real hut (Vakkerstøylen) would be too long for a dayhike, so therefore we chose to camp out there.

First time we took our camping gear with us on a thruhike. Luckily we did not forget important stuff.

The day has been hot, but it became chilly pretty quickly as soon as the sun started to set.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway #dTdT2022

Since 2003 our group of friends goes on hiking trips every 2 years. More often is difficult to arrange with all the other family plans, but it also keeps it a bit more special. Last year I found our trip especially magic. Exactly one year ago, we went to the region Møre og Romsdal, Norway.

Will post pictures from that trip this week to relive this wonderful week.

We flew to Ålesund and from there we went to Valldal, where we stayed in a beautiful situated hotel.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Norway

Directly opposite of Bäregg is a wall where in 2021 a big rock slide took place. Bäregg (and the trail to Bäregg) were perfect spots to wait for the rocks to fall.

The below video shows the enormous powers in play.

https://youtu.be/1gH_S3JiJwI?feature=shared&t=779

If you watch the earlier part of the video, you see what a spectacle it has been. A real attraction.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Eiger #RockSlide #Schlossplatte

It was a long time, since I hiked in Grindelwald for the last time. Although not as early as last hike, I will still the first on the trail to Bergrestaurant Bäregg. The cablecar was not running yet, so most of the people were not on the mountain yet.

Reason for this hike was the news article of last week about the first hut of the Swiss Alpine Club and that triggered my curiosity. Had to see for myself where it stood. Will spend another post on that later.

The hike brought me to beautiful vistas on the Fiescherhorn and the west wall of the Eiger. A nice train ride brought me home again.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Bäregg #Fiescherhorn #Eiger #Grindelwald #MountainHuts

Hotel Grimsel Hospiz is situated near the Grimselpass at an elevation of 1'980 meters. It has a long history going back to hundreds of years.

https://www.grimselwelt.ch/en/hotels/grimsel-hospiz/history-of-hotel-grimsel-hospiz/

As a luxury hotel it does not come close to a mountain hut, but the atmosphere was nice and cozy nevertheless.

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?lang=en&topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege,ch.astra.wanderland-sperrungen_umleitungen&layers_opacity=1,1,1,0.8,0.8&layers_visibility=false,false,false,false,false&layers_timestamp=18641231,,,,&E=2668422.63&N=1158223.37&zoom=10

#FensterFriday #FensterFreitag #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #GrimselHospiz

One more picture of the sunrise from the summit of the Dreispitze, Switzerland.

#SilentSunday #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture

The Matterhorn seen from the summit of the Walliser Breithorn (4'164m / 13'661ft). The original plan was to climb Castor (4'226m), but because of a fresh 50 cm dump of snow overnight, we had to change the objective.

August 2005

#Mountaineering #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #ThrowbackThursday #Breithorn #Matterhorn

Today we partnered up and climbed the Dreispitze (2'520m / 8'267ft) to see the sunrise. I picked my partner up in Interlaken and we drove to the Suld Valley. From there we started at 02:00 and reached the summit a bit early at 05:00. It was chilly, but with good company I was able to bite through. Some pushups were made (not by me), to stay warm.

The sunrise was very nice. The sun hesitated a bit before coming out quickly in full force. After we enjoyed the sunrise we descended and were glad we made the trip during the night. It became already pretty hot.

Thanks for my partner in crime for coming along. Had a great time.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Sunrise #Dreispitz

@olson Yes, almost to this day 20 years ago, back in 2003.

I can still remember the dash that the various seilschaften did, in order to be the first to ascend via the coulour to the Mittelkarjoch. This is a very steep couloir with a high risk of rockfall, so normally only one seilschaft would be in the couloir at any given time. The first one to arrive has a significant advantage, as the other will have longer wait times.

This was the first tour that I organised for/with friends. We have been done that every 2 years ever since.

#Mountaineering #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Wildspitze

The Breslauerhütte (2'844m / 9'330ft) is a hut in the Ötztaler Alpen, Austria. The hut was built in 1882 making it an impressive 141 years old.

The primary summit which can be climbed from the hut, is the Wildspitze (3'768m / 12,362ft). After the Großglockner (which is only 30 meters higher), this is the second highest mountain of Austria.

From the village of Vent you can go up partially by cablecar, making the hut also a popular goal for dayhikes.

#MountainHuts #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Breslauerhütte #Wildspitze

Drone photo from our hike looking back to the Caumasee, our pool of yesterday.

#Caumasee #Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Drone

Today, with a group of friends, we made a nice hike through the Rhone Gorge. We walked from Flims down to the trainstation Versam-Safien at river level.

It was very hot, especially during the final descent, where there was no wind and all around were just cooking rocks. A quick dip in the Rhine cooled us off.

Have never been here before and it exceeded my expectations.

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Rhine #Gorge

View from the Skiheim in car-free Rossberg (Wallis) over the Rhone Valley.

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday #Hiking #Rossberg #WeeklyHikingPicture

As promised, the "after renovation" pictures of the Geltenhütte. I have tried to reproduce the two pictures in the previous post, so you can compare easily.

They have added a part on the terrace side, but tried to keep the look as it was. New there is now a door to the terrace directly. They kept approx. the same size for the terrace, which they basically moved it a bit to the left. You can use the rocks at the back of the terrace as reference.

The inside has been modernized, which has been done nice. I could have done without the modernization, except for the comfy chairs (a lot of the time there are only stools).

#Hiking #WeeklyHikingPicture #Geltenhütte #MountainHuts