Blüemlisalphütte (from Kandersteg)

7:00am. Day 4.

Back in Belgium, the sun would already be coating the earth with a bright, soft promising radiance. Instead, the Alps around Kandersteg, Switzerland kept everything in shadow, still caught between night and day. The lower mountains in their bluish haze slept in while the tallest snowcapped peaks looked down like grey-haired grandparents who always wake at the crack of dawn. I left my hotel and headed for the trail; my brain high on anticipation, euphoric that today was the day. The Gspaltenhornhütte hike had its challenges, but this… THIS was the hike during Bernese Oberland Season 7 that would test my limits. This was the hike that would define the week in the perpetuity of my soul.

How do you prepare yourself for a 22km hike with 1600m of elevation change? Do you have to be a workout freak or an athlete? Absolutely not. Of course you have to be healthy with at least some positive level of fitness. But I consider myself a pretty average joe. I think a big part of it is the mental aspect. What drives you to the top? What do you think about step after step, minute by minute, as you are ascending a long steady climb? Naturally, there is the positive feedback of success. That I did it feeling. But there is a collection of thoughts that my heart and mind return to over and over which give me focus. These are the things that prick me, like a needle, that make me feel alive; that bring out the rawest of emotions. Reflection, memories, hopes, butterflies, wildflowers; and sometimes it is just the thought of sinking my teeth into a pizza right before washing it down with an ice cold beer. Nothing brings me face-to-face with my soul or humbles me like these hikes. This is the main reason I often prefer to hike alone; to be able to get lost in these thoughts in their most primal form. No distraction. When I pass by other hikers, I often wonder what it is they think about. This hike offered plenty of time for my soul to disperse into the parallel universes of the heart like a scattering array of sparks from a campfire or a forest full of fireflies. And it was worth every step.

The Hike

The first half of this is a long slow uphill trudge of astounding beauty. I created part of the hike as a loop by following the Oeschinensee on the way up and then taking the high path on the way back. There is an opportunity to cut out the first and last 3km if you decide to take the Oeschinensee cable car up and down. The fear of heights factor for me was pretty low. There were no problem spots on this hike. No special equipment is needed.

Starting/Ending Point	Kandersteg (Chalet Hotel Adler)
Distance	22.4 km
My Moving Time	6h 8m
Elevation Change	1650m

The Journey

Elevation

1200-1600m

The first part of the hike follows a trail through the forest heading up to the Oeschinensee. There was some construction on part of the trail which required me to detour to a slightly longer route.

Pictures could never do justice to the beauty of the Oeschinensee. In the early morning, the water was near a perfect reflection.

Elevation

1600-2000m

This was one of my favorite parts of the hike. The trail past the lake ascends up to Underbärgli and then follows a zig zag up to Oberbärgli. Both have a chalet with food and drink. You could already feel that this was going to be something special.

Elevation

2000-2500m

Oberbärgli separates the casual hikers from the serious hikers. The casual hiker will reach this point and loop back towards the cable car station. But this hike was heading to Blüemlisalphütte. The sun was high in the sky and beckoning me onward. By this point, the ascent was already 800m; more than the previous two days. There was still 800m elevation change to go, and this was going to be the real test. These are the glamour shots, but this was some slow, steep uphill hiking.

Elevation

2500-2800m

By 2500m, I was exhausted. I was reaching within for voices and visions to soothe the tiredness. My hamstrings briefly twitched but they thankfully held out. The view of the final stretch was impressive. There is something both exhilarating and fascinating about seeing the way a trail etches across the landscape, almost completely swallowed up by the immense surroundings and to know that at some point you will be standing there. From this point on, it was about keeping the heartrate under control and pacing myself. The hut came into view at this point. It looks so close but from here, you are still looking at 2km distance and a 3 football field elevation change of uphill hiking.

As usual on these hikes, just when you think you have reached the top, there is always one more section. Switzerland makes you earn it.

Blüemlisalphütte

At 2800m, there is snow, so it is good to have something warm to wear while grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the house beer. This was the only time on the whole hike that I needed any extra clothing.

This view shows Kandersteg in the distance. One of those little tiny squares is the hotel where I started from.

Heading Back Down

If you follow my blog, you know that I hate downhill; that relentless pounding and feeling like driving with the breaks on. But this hike offered some of the best downhill views I have ever experienced.

There were plenty of butterflies on this hike, especially the Small Tortoiseshell; the only place I saw this species during the entire week, but I didn’t want to get distracted and spend energy chasing them on the way up. On the way down, however, I indulged a little bit, but I still only managed a partial wingspan. Nevertheless, it was still beautiful.

Reaching Oberbärgli, I could see that by early afternoon it was mobbed with tourists. I wasn’t interested to break my momentum so I kept going.

The High Path

The high path back to the cable car was easily one of the most pleasant, rewarding segments that I have hiked in Switzerland. It was more or less easygoing rolling elevation changes with several spectacular views of the gorgeously blue Oeschinensee, even more blue with the sun high over head. This was the most enjoyment I have had at the end of a long hike. Each view absorbed more and more of my attention so that I was forgetting I was eclipsing 17-18-19km almost without thinking about the exhaustion. These views were spectacular.

I skipped the cable car and chose to do the entire hike by foot. In this shot, Kandersteg comes back into view. My hotel, a delicious pizza, and a few beers were within reach.

Final Words

How can your soul not be laid bare during a hike like that? The cinema of the heart should always rival the natural beauty on display before your eyes. Meaningful moments in life, dreams, aches, passions… they should spring out of you as 3-D and colorful as the crags and turquoise pools and carpets of green. That is what makes these hikes so intoxicating and therapeutic for me. Without suffering from recency bias, I can confidently put this hike among my top experiences in the Bernese Oberland, and that includes my beloved Jungfrau Region. This was the 4th hike in a row and I could feel at the end of it that mentally and emotionally, I was drained. I had never done five in a row. As I sat on my terrace reflecting on the day and scrolling thru my photos, my legs were convincing me to go for a 5th, but my mind was struggling to find the spark. Maybe it was the beer or maybe it was the sudden feeling of absence and longing as I watched the sun sink behind the mountains, but the internal conflict within me headed towards a resolution. And when I woke up the next morning, my legs won.