Day started with no clouds
By the time we finished breakfast and got to the train station it was 10 and clouds were startting to form
This is a very large amount of German beer. Notice the warning signs flammable and the other one. I am not sure what the dead tree and dead fis h on a rock mean, but I am glad I do not drink.
I forgot it took 2 hours to get to Schynigge Platte, the place we start the hike
The signs say it takes 4 hours 10 minutes. It is 12:30. We should be okay
Starting out cheerful in the wind
Dan and Kristin do not seem worried
The view is nice
Look how far we have come. Sadly we have been walking for 2 hours and the sign says we have 3 hours 10 minutes left
We stopped for quick lunch of cheese and bread and food from Sprouts
We still have a ways to go
Are we there yet ?
Beauty at the top of the mountain
It has been 3 hours and we get our first glimpse of the hotel. It is the bump on the right at the top of the peak
A restaurant in the middle of nowhere
Still more climbing And more
Still smiling
A bit
concerned about the clouds and wind
That last bit looks steep. It is
Made it!
The hotel was a bit informal. it was 175 years old. We could not tell where the front door was. There were 2 building joined by a covered passageway. The door in one building said Restaurant the other building had 2 doors. One said toilette and the other said nothing. I went for the door #3 that said nothing. Good choice I bumped into people who said go to the restaurant door. I went back to the restaurant door and asked the first person I met how to register. She said she didn't work there. I was discovering this was a low key resort. I did not hink it was self service though. The checking lady walking in just then and we checked in. The light was to darl for my old tred eyes to read so the checkin lady had to point to the places I needed to fill in the information. I assume it was checkin information and not a life insurance form I was filling out. onc ethe forms were complete she walked us to our rooms. We again crossed the open passageway to door #3. She showed us the indoor toilet room. It contained a toilet a waste basket and a bucket of water in case the frst flush was not enough water. We then removed our shoes before starting back to our rooms and then started to get really cold. We went up a few steps to the hallway and there were 2 10 watt light bulbs down the 50 feet of halway to our rooms. There were doors on one side of the hall. That wall was slanted 20 dregress back from perpendicular. I assume it was intentional and did not happen from the wind that day. At the end of the hall were steps cut into the bedrock that led up to our rooms. At the top of those stairs were 2 candles. 1 for light and 1 for heat. Just kidding. Both were for light.
At this point we are glad we are late as she tells us supper starts at 6pm and it is 5:45. The restaurant has a real heater!!! We quickly unpack and head for the heat where they also serve food.
Not surprisingly there are only 3 groups there that night. Since we are last to arrive we are farthest from the heater. the checkin lady is the waitress. She and here husband stay up there 6 weeks and go home for 1 week during the season from April (May?) to Oct. She is very nice and shows us pictures of the phenomanal sunset and sunrise that we missed the prevoius night and morning. We order hot chocolate and wrap our fingers around the cups to bring feeling back into them.
We start talking to the German group next to us and find out we are in the midst of a storm. One of the Germans in the group clears the path from the First chairlift to the hotel throughout the winter. I did not ask him if he does this for fun or if there was any purpose to clearing a path to a closed hotel on the top of a mountain in the middle of winter. The owner goes outside to strap the tables down and take down the flag so it does not blow away.
Kristin and Dan go to bed and we stay up talking to the Germans. Nice people. Nicer heat in the restaurant. We can hear the wind whipping and moaning outside. We finally ask for the hot water bottle bed warmers and make our way to our room.