Europaweg wanderings

Day 4

Easy walking day....
Our nights sleep was punctuated by tossing and turning to get comfortable so we awoke fairly late... but that was ok as today was an easy walk day.

Eventually we set off from the campsite to the start of the paths just to the left of our tent. The signs were to Randa (the town just down the valley) following the river and to our delight Europaweg... the path we had been planning on Day 2 but got told it was shut. Well this bit wasnt shut. Following a confirmatory look from bro, no other discussion needed , we set off ... uphill!

Uphill doesnt really describe it. Right out of the bat the gradient was tough. We worked out that it was an average gradient of 33%. I.e hurt.

As we slowly worked our way up the mountainside... the fallen trees quickly became evident. The first time we came to one that blocked the path... we called it sign number 1. The first sign that the path may not be passable at some point. So we stopped and turned round....

No of course we didnt! We clambered over it.. ignoring sign 1. The gradient didnt let up at all but it was the kind of path that you had to concentrate on... steep slope... slippery rocks... tree branches... roots... the obstacles kept coming. Being the nice people we are... we cleared several of the obstacles from the path... for any future walkers... and more importantly for us... in case we were forced to come back down this way.
The path got narrower as it wound round the mountainside... the drop to the left getting steeper and steeper. The views though got better and better because for every 0.1 of a mile we were gaining a huge amount of feet. The snowpack which we stumbled onto early in places was melting nicely... causing several bits of the rocky path to be stream like. .. one place the path had eroded to the point where it was one foot in front of the other... sign number 2!

And so we continued up... the legs holding up nicely considering the gradient.

Then we reached a precipice... only in switzerland that just meant hammer some steps in with a guide rope anchored. Unfortunately the guide rope was on the mountain side and not the drop side which meant both of us were holding onto it for dear life.

I do not want to come back down that!

We continued up and shortly came to a nice little flat clearing with a big overhanging rock. I made a mental note of it as a place to shelter should the weather turn. At the moment the sun was out and scorching... in the mountains it can turn in an instant... the clouds were starting to drift down from the high peaks and they looked a little rain cloud like.

Slightly further on... the snow blocked the path..
Sign number 3

Its doable and so with one hand firmly wedged in the ice we kicked out snow steps and used the bracken as footholds. The hands froze quickly... becoming fairly numb. We edged our way round that and continued upward. Scrambling over wet rocks... up muddy patches... and around more downed trees... signs 4 5 and 6.

Another snowpack blocking the path... this time easy enough to scramble down.. around the bottom and back up.
. We kept going... in hope that we were close to the top and we would find a sign for Tasch with gentle sloping downhill... anything but go DOWN those steps.

Then came a larger snow pack... followed swiftly by another... the path now gone under the snow...
Paul scrambled over the first 2 to have a look at the onward path... his feet sunk quite a way into the snow and on others the snow came out from underneath him. His hands frozen from digging them into the snow. He stood at the top of the ridge...

Its doable but I dont think the next bend is!
I followed in his footsteps (literally) to see for myself. Essentially we could have got over the next bit and maybe the next bit... but the snow packs blocking the path were becoming more frequent... there was no signpost to Tasch and our agreed turnaround time of 3pm was fast approaching... and the cloud was closing in....

All in all the signs were now coming so thick and fast that the choice was being made for us.

So reluctantly ... with those scary steps in mind we headed downwards... having put grippers on our shoes for the bits that were bad enough uphill but could be terrifying on the downhill.

We took one last look at the spectacular view... noting how far we had climbed up... 1000ft in a very short space of mileage.
Not bad going!

I thought this was our easy day!!

The way down.. aside from the occasional slippy hairy bits was easy enough to negotiate...
In no time at all we were facing the steps... downwards. We stopped to gather the nerves and sat down... feet resting on a tree branch and took in the view. Packs of ice hanging over the edges of the mountains looking as if they were ready to fall .. the sound of the water rushing down the mountainside... and still far below.. like toys the cars on the road.

The wind was picking up and it was getting cold and looking like rain.
Keen to negotiate the steps before the rain fell... we plowed onwards.

In actuality... although it wasnt great teetering on the edge of a precipice... it wasnt as bad as we had thought going down and soon cleared that obstacle. The rest I would say was a stroll compared to what had gone before... apart from the fact that the constant down was playing havoc on knees and ankles! The last bit hurt more than any of it!

We strolled into the campsite just as the rain began to fall...
Good timing we said!

Easy day tomorrow??

Yup!