The map above shows my first explorations in the Zürich Alps. Red pinpoints show (from west to east):
- Gastlosen,
- White mountains
- Mönch,
- Haslital,
- Sidelhorn (Grimselpass)
- Salbitschijen,
- Grosse Schijen (Oberalpseepass),
- Walensee/Murgtal,
- Alpstein
- Äscher and Ebenalp,
- Fälensee and Hundstein
Poster of Zürich.
ΔCaptain Salbit (last autumn)
To the Salbit hut, looking straight at the ridge that we'll go for tomorrow.
ΔGastlosen tour (last early spring)
Dactylorhiza fuchsii or maculata
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Offenspitzen
ΔAlpstein skies (last spring)
Seven pitches above the Fälensee, sailing Alpstein skies.
A girl who was yodeling came to talk to us about their cows, goat, donkey, horses, dog, cat, pigs, and her 8 brothers and sisters (she's the youngest), and how she and her father just walked up the hill with heaps of gear and groceries after a necessary once-in-a-month visit to the city.
The realm of Sankt Gallen
Alpstein, the island in the sky, is besieged by many cable cars. But goatie browses the plants far from the maddening crowds of shopping mallers.
ΔWhite mountains
Eiger Mordwand and its bully clouds (click for infographic)
Mönch's steep south face shows a mean bergschrund (aka rimaye).
Gärstengrat, guard of the Rhône glacier. Nearby we must've crossed the footsteps of 19-year old Tolkien, wandering off by foot on his travel by horse and cart.
ΔGross Schijen
Super saiyan today... you have to be for what's coming: a direct ascent through weird granite sawblade flakes. After six lengths you have to escape onto a labyrinthine ridge with unexpected abysses, requiring full self-reliance to find a way out.
