Hi all,
Well, after a slightly extended session I have now got a couple of photos on the blog from the mountain biking and the glacier hike.
Yesterday was a lazy morning for the under 14's, which I think was most welcome! The over 14's, along with Tim, Alex & Dave, hiked up to the Uschinen Hut; at 1,849m above sea level this meant climbing about 600 vertical metres, and we arrived in 2 hours. Two of the pics show the approach, with the hut being the spec in the distance, and the view back down the valley.
We waited awhile and ate a snack, then headed down to our climbing workshop. This consisted of some practice bouldering then 2 climbs on 1 face followed by 2 much harder climbs on a second face (all accompanied by our Pinky Gertrud). Needless to say, Luke, Jonny & Rowan all made it look simple, Tim was accomplished too, Alex did OK whereas I struggled. Climbing is just not my thing!
About 2.30pm, while we were climbing, the younger group (along with Roger, Mick B and David M plus Pinky Rachel) started their walk up from Kandersteg to the hut, arriving around 5.30pm.
The hut is small and basic but cosy and with great views. The 23 of us & 2 Pinkies were joined by 7 Portuguese scouts, which was great fun. Unfortunately the novelty of being in the hut meant sleeping suffered! See the pic of the younger scouts all cosy in one room.
At 6.30 this morning, the older group headed out of the hut and up, up, up! We climbed up and over Roter Totz, which was quite some trip (it is about 2,500m, so another 700m up). We were accompanied by lightning, thunder, rain and hail stones, so the view was, errm, not spectacular. Again, everyone did really well, and the weather had cleared by the time we headed down past Schwarenbach Hotel and down the Sunnbuhl cable car, getting back to base at 3pm.
Meanwhile, the younger group again had a slightly later start, but had to clean the hut for us. They then had the same climbing workshop as we had had yesterday. So far, I haven't heard many stories as they returned at 5.30pm rather wet (like us). We had an hour to shower and hang up wet things, then into dinner.
After dinner we were entertained by Mick T's friend Peter, who he met at Kandersteg 50 years ago! They have an old picture, and I believe it will soon appear on www.kisc.ch, so keep your eyes peeled. Peter played his guitar and we had a sing-song, see the picture.
Stop Press! The photo is now online - have a look at http://www.kisc.ch/facts/latest
Tomorrow the younger group are heading out on another hike, to the cheesery. The older ones are hiking up mountains too, this time to the Frundenhutte and our Snow and Ice combo. After today's weather, we may get some of that on the way up! As I shall be with them, you may again not get a post tomorrow unless I can persuade one of the other leaders. Saturday should be fun, though, as we will all meet up in the afternoon for the tobogganing above Oeschinensee.
Dave
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