Tag: Outdoors

Ägerital Panoramaweg

13 November 2018
13.7 km, 320m ascent, 2h:50m
This was my first hike in over a month, so I was glad that it was close to home and that it was relatively easy (compared to say, the Stanserhorn). I walked to and from the meeting point for the hike, which added another 2.6 km of walking to my day, although I must admit that at the end I half-regretted my decision not to drive.

There was not a lot of ascending, but there was more than enough to make me sweat. The day was gray and chilly, around 9°C, but I was soon down to shorts and a t-shirt regardless. It was a pretty hike despite the gray skies: farm fields then up the hill and along part of the Panorama trail with views of the lake before descending to the lake and heading back along the shore.

I think this was the longest hike we’ve done thus far (even before adding in the extra walking to/from the start point). My legs were definitely tired and my feet were sore by the end of it.

Route map from my watch:

My hiking group took two weeks off in October for Fall break, but since the hikes resumed I have missed two weeks. I missed the first hike because I was busy with work coming back after vacation (and to be honest, I was not getting enough sleep and was just too tired), and I missed the second hike because I needed to be home to let a serviceperson into our apartment.

Now it’s been a month since the last time I hiked, and I’m feeling out of shape again. But on the bright side, I went on this morning’s hike, so yay! (More on that in a separate post…)

Stanserhorn

8.5 km, 1,385m ascent, 3h:35m
This hike was by far the toughest group hike to-date. In fact it was probably tougher by a factor of 2 or more. It will probably be the toughest hike we do all season aside from our end-of-season goal of ascending Mt Pilatus from the bottom. Prior to this hike the most we had ascended was 650m. It was also the longest hike by an hour.

This hike was very difficult for me. I got dehydrated and low on salts and bonked near the end. I think I was also feeling the altitude. The last 10% was technically the easiest (not nearly as steep as the first 90%), but it was very difficult for me to finish. I was last out of our group of about 30 hikers, but I am proud that I finished. Also, despite my slow finish, I still did it well below the sign-posted Swiss time of 4h15m. If I ever did this again, I think I would like to take a good 5 hours and enjoy the route.

I set numerous records on my watch: most Move calories ever (out of > 500 days of meeting my Move goal), most Exercise minutes ever, 400% Move goal, most calories burned in a Hiking workout, etc. (I was disappointed to see there is not an award for 5x or 6x Move goal, which I also achieved.)

The hike began by following the funicular track up the mountain to the bottom cable car station. From there the trail became a series of switchbacks mostly through woods up until the intermediate cable car station. Past that it was switchbacks up a very steep alpine meadow but staying near the cable car line. The last section was a traverse across the mountain away from the cable car then switchbacks up onto the ridge and finally we followed the ridge up to the cable car station at the top. We ate lunch and enjoyed the views up top before taking the cable car and funicular back down to our cars. I would hate to have to hike back down.

More pics here.

Route map from my watch:

Auw via Horben Loop

11 km, 370m ascent, 2h:30m
This was the longest hike since Week 1. Ascending-wise it was not difficult, but I was feeling the distance in my legs by the time we finished. To truly whip myself into shape I will need to train on both long hikes and steep hikes.

This morning’s hike was more rolling hills and farm land (with the occasional forest) rather than actual mountains. The weather was cool but not cold (maybe 7°C at the start).

More pics here.

Route map from my watch: