Though not as white as they might have been, which gave me the chance to add one more weekend of hiking to my January programme before coming back to the relative flatlands of home. This time: the Alps, specifically Seebodenalp and Rigi Kulm, not far from Luzern.
Once again, I was really lucky with the weather: forecast was for dry and "meh, greyish, cloudyish, don't-get-your-hopes-upish" - but I'd finished my contract and decided to chance it. I was rewarded with one whole Saturday of sunny spells and no cloud on the peak; and then on Sunday - like the previous week - the clouds wrapped themselves around every peak in the vicinity.
So this was my objective: starting at 476m in Immensee, Rigi Kulm, 1797m, by the easier western path
As it turned out, the first 500m were really tough, as the snowy path had been well compacted into a smooth icy staircase. My Lowa Camino boots had no grip on the ice at all, but did allow me to go "off piste" when the trees and the rocks permitted it. An Italian making the same trek told me that it had been much easier the previous week, when the snow was fresh.
In any case, the climb was worth it, and I made good time, arriving at Seebodenalp in time for a quick picnic in the midday sun:
I wasn't entirely sure that the path to the higher points would be open, so asked a "lifeguard" on duty on a ski-slope if it was safe to carry on. "Ja, ja," sez he, "no problem - sure there's no snow up there at the moment" Funny how we can have different perspectives ...
Farmhouse 1 in "no snow" (with a nod to Ncdjd2 for the farming and Kadman for the woodworking in action! )
... and Farmhouse 2, where you can see that the snow is, indeed, quite sparse.
The original plan was to do a 10km hike to the summit and back to Seebodenalp where I'd catch a cable car to return to Küssnacht on the valley floor, but I realised that the summit was about half an hour too far to be back in time for the last ride; besides, I hate coming down the way I went up, so I went the longer way around, which was rewarded with some stunning views ... until I ran out of light.
I did make it to the summit, but didn't hang around: the wind-chill was fierce, and gale-force gusts plus black-ice are not a great combination!
If I'm going to do these kinds of walks more often, I think I'll need to get some kind of crampon/ice-spikes to fit over the boots, as both ascent and descent included some stretches that would have been more enjoyable - and faster - if I'd had better grip. All-in-all, though, it was a good 20km work-out ... and I slept very well that night!
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Faraway hills are white.
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