Saturday 9th: long walk up mountain toward Jungfrau

[ pictures from today (148): https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110409?authkey=Gv1sRgCPLr-43Yy-DfpgE#   ]

I think that this morning I must have had to check out of my room. When I got the three extra nights at this hostel, they unfortunately were not able to keep me in the same room since some other people had booked it. I had to move out of the room for one night, to a room they said does not really have a view, and then I could go back to the first room again for the next two nights.

I checked myself out without any difficulty. I think I left my large bag in the laundry room for the day. Then I decided to spend the day walking.

I'd done a fairly extensive walk up one side of the valley so I decided I would do the other side. A guy at the tourist office had pointed out that there was a nice walk that I could probably do. It seemed like a very long one, so I wasn't sure if I could do it all, but I decided to try. I started by walking up the side of the valley to the town Wengen. The first part of the walk up is the same as that I did on the first day I arrived. So I didn't take very many pictures of that part.

I got to Wengen. It looks quite nice.

I really like how the houses are constructed here. They are all made of wood and they seem to be built to a really good standard, like they take a lot of pride in doing it well.

I continued walking past Wengen.

It was a little hot out in the sun and so far I think I had climbed a significant height so I was a bit tired. I took a break underneath a nice shady tree and ate some lunch.

I think that somewhere near here I refilled my drinking bottle from waterfall water. It was good.

This sign is saying that the track is closed for some reason. I thought it wouldn't be too bad. I can handle it, surely. At this point I should have reminded myself that my shoes are not waterproof in any way (they have holes in them, in fact). I should have then imagined what it would be like to walk through lots of snow with these kind of shoes!

Past the 'path closed' indication, the path turned entirely to snow.

The snow was fairly deep. I sank up to my knees sometimes. It feels more tiring having to climb up the hill like this because each step takes more effort.

I had to cross this big section too.

Taking a break. Still in reasonable spirits.

Wow I made it to the next train station!

At this point I was feeling very tired and had a huge headache. I really need to get sunglasses. I think they might be an essential item when going travelling. I think the sun reflecting on the snow made it extra bad for headache.

I made it a little further up and then took a break sitting underneath some trees for shade. I started to feel like I should turn back at this point. I was feeling exhausted. Also I was conscious that I also needed to have some energy to get back down and I was concerned about that. Walking through deep snow is really tiring. After getting up from resting I decided that I would at least go to the next corner that was just a short way ahead. I could hear some loud music coming from over there and it seemed that I might be close to the next train station where I could ask how much it would cost to reach the top of Jungfrau from there by train. So I walked a little further.

I rounded the next corner and there was a concert going on. They were playing very cheesy european style pop music. Very strange atmosphere.

I asked how much it would cost to get to Jungfrau. 100 Euros... I thought the cost might be lowered to something reasonable given that I had walked a significant portion of the distance. 100 euros is too much for me, so I didn't go up. I asked how much it would cost to catch a train back to Lauterbrunnen. 30 euros! This is also lots. I decided I would have to walk back.

This place I reached, with the concert and train station, is Kleine Scheidegg.  It is 2061m above sea level. Since Lauterbrunnen is at 795m, I climbed a little under 1300m today. A new record for me! And partially in deep snow.

Happy that I am heading back toward a place where I can stop walking.

My shoes are soaked.

I headed to a path that is a bit lower in height so that maybe I can avoid the thick snow from the path I came up on.

Really wet shoes.

No energy left, a bad headache, and still a long way to walk.

I didn't take too many pictures after this. It was difficult to make it back, but I eventually did. When I got back I was very tired. However I think I got some energy to make some pasta and spoke with some other nice people from the hostel. There are lots of nice people at this hostel.

Even though I became very exhausted this day, I saw some really great views and it feels good that I was able to walk up that far.