Excellent afternoon ski lesson at Grindelwald First. 2.5h = 3 long runs. The first serious skiing of the season. I hope the weather holds so that we can repeat tomorrow morning.
Tag: Outdoors
Sattel ski
Morning mountain: more relaxed skiing at Sattel. This time I made some longer runs.
Sattel ski
Morning mountain: some low-key skiing at Sattel. Practically had the mountain to myself this morning!
Hiking Group: Gottschalkenberg
8 January 2019
5km, 150m ascent, 1h30m, 0°C
The first snowshoe hike of the season (and my first snowshoe hike ever). Snowshoes were one of my Christmas gifts this year. The weather was pretty miserable: foggy, windy, snowing wet snow, and it felt colder than just freezing. Nevertheless it was still a fun hike and a successful first outing on showshoes for me.
We did a simple out and back hike from Raten, past Gottschalkenberg to Bellevue (supposedly the view point but it was fogged in). This hike could have been a loop around Gottschalkenberg, but due to the weather we decided to just retrace our steps to Raten. (Returning was easier because the snow was already tramped down.)
Route:
First time on snowshoes
Today was my first ever outing on snowshoes (at age 49). You’re never too old to learn new things.
Snowshoe hike to Gottschalkenberg
Morning mountain: snowshoe hike to Gottschalkenberg. 5km, 150m ascent, 1h30m. Foggy, windy, cold, and snowy but fun nevertheless.
First ski 2019
Morning mountain: Sattel. First ski runs of the year.
Hiking Group: Week 12 (Canceled)
Weggis to Rigi Kaltbad
4 December 2018
Today we were planning to hike up to Rigi Kaltbad (where there’s a spa) from Weggis, which is a town on Lake Luzern. I’ve taken the cable car down from Rigi Kaltbad to Weggis several times, but I’ve never done the walk in either direction. This hike is supposed to be about 6km long but with 1km ascent, so it’s quite steep. This would make it the second most difficult hike of the season so far after the Stanserhorn. It was canceled due to rain and thunderstorms. We’ll try again next week if the weather improves.
Hiking Group: Week 11
Immensee Hike
27 November 2018
7km, 190m ascent, 1h:30m
This was one of the shortest hikes we’ve done: a double loop hike around a wooded peninsula on Lake Zug. The outer loop was at lake level, and then we ascended to make a smaller inner loop higher up on the hill that occupies the peninsula.
The weather was not good (2°C and rainy), and consequently we had fewer hikers than normal. Still it was a pretty hike, and the distance was right for the weather, especially considering the slippery roots on the trail.
More pics here.
Route map from my watch:
On the drive home my car GPS decided to route me through 20 km of tiny one-lane farmer roads up and over the Zugerberg. Up on the mountains it was snowing and not always plowed. I think I must have accidentally told the GPS to avoid highways. Thank goodness for winter tires and 4wd. It was very pretty though.
Hiking Group: Week 10
Sihl River Loop
20 November 2018
11.3km, 190m ascent, 2h:30m
This was a very pretty, mostly flat hike. We made sort of an elongated figure-eight by walking along both sides of the Sihl River and crossing three different bridges.
The weather was literally freezing (0°C), but I never felt cold during the hike. We only saw a dusting of snow in a few places.
More pics here.
Apple Watch with the hiking workout continues to be a good hiking companion.
Route map from my watch:
