16th September 2010

The weather was forecast to be overcast today so it is off to one of the valleys near our apartment for a valley hike. We caught a small private bus from Kandersteg to Selden which is a collection of 2 restaurants and 2 houses. You have no idea how much they cater to the hikers. This valley is only about 10km long, has half a dozen houses at most, but has 4 restaurants that operate mainly in the summer.

The bus ride up to Selden was pretty amazing. The road was gravel, one lane only, and twisted and turned up the valley on a road that had been tunneled out of the rock mountain. On sections of the road, the rock wall of the mountain overhung the road and on other sections went through small tunnels. The road was not made for a bus and I have no idea how the driver got it around some of the corners, but we arrived safely. The road has a one-way time system. Between e.g. 12 -6 on the hour clock is for ups and from 6-12 is for downs.

We hiked a bit further up the valley to look at a glacier near Heimrich, then back to Selden for the hike down, following the Kander River the whole way, past Kander Falls and through the Kander Gorge. The hike was roughly 14km long and took us 4 hours. The only disappointing thing for the day was that the weather was perfect and we would have been better doing a high altitude hike instead. But we had a great day with some outstanding scenery.

Near Heimrich and Kanderfirn.

The glacier in the far top left

Path to Heimrich

Trail back to Selden and Kandersteg

 

The roadway can be seen on the left of the photo as it goes through a short tunnel.

Church in Kandersteg with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Good to see we are helping out local business and the economy.

I think he wants to move over here to continue helping the economy.