5th September 2010

Not a good idea to land at a new place on the week-end. None of the tourist offices are open so we can't check out options for hiking. Our host left a message to say we have discount fares on a mountain lift up the valley from our apartment, so off we went to check it out. The town at the head of the valley is called Leukerbad and you can't go any further unless you hike because of the mountains blocking the way. We took the lift, called the Gemmibahn, up to Gemmi Pass and hiked for about 2 hours around a lake at the top called Daubensee. It was a fairly barren location due to it being above the tree line, but quite spectacular none the less.

                                          Alpine Horn blower outside closed tourist office.

Mountains in the background

From the chair lift on the way up.

Hmm. Which way is the lake?

If you are energetic enough, you can hike up to the pass. This is part of the trail that you can see at the centre of the photo.