Chamois in the Swiss Alps

After spending a few days checking out Geneva and Bern, it was time to head into the hills for some hiking in the Swiss Alps. We decided to base ourselves out of Interlaken, and to our surprise, realised we had timed it well for the Swiss national day fireworks and celebrations.

Before we could celebrate, first we had some hills to climb. With the camera and binoculars ready, I was on the look out for Chamois - which I've hunted back home in New Zealand, and Ibex - something I wish we had back in New Zealand!
Day one we spent hiking up the faces opposite Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg. While everyone else was catching the train up and walking down, we elected to do the opposite. All in all, after travelling around and living a pretty easy life style, hill fitness was something we were lacking, but nether the less, we knocked off the 5 mile hike up to 2100 meters at a decent clip, still ahead of the recommended time.

Training hike complete. In two days, the real fun would begin, as we took on the Schynige Platte trail.

We cheated a little, and took the toy train to Schynige Platte (1967m) - this allowed us to do the hike we wanted in a day, plus it was an amazing train ride. The hike through to Faulhorn (2681m), the oldest mountain hut of Europe, was just amazing, with panoramic views all the way, including towards Interlaken, Jungfrau, Mönch, Eiger and Fisteraarhorn, and the surrounding lakes. The hut has beer, which is bloody convenient after busting your guts up the last section to the hut.

Dropping down to the amazing lakes of Bach (Bachalpsee or Bachsee) at 2260m, was when I got really excited. With plenty of grass around and sun on the slopes, the binos were out. My first indication of chamois happened by accident. I was looking at my first sighting of a Marmott, and happened to look up. Right there, steering straight at me, was the first Chamois I've ever seen outside of New Zealand, and it wasn't alone. After careful glassing, I picked up two more, then it was the simple task of stalking in to within camera range...easier said than done, but Bailie and I got there in the end, and the photos were worth the effort.

Arriving down at the lake, we learnt from a local fisherman that we had missed the last train and gondola from First, to Grindelwald thanks to some poor inform. We had a decision to make. I had an emergency bag, and enough supplies to safely see us through the night, staying  at the hut by the lake, or, we could really hustle, and try to walk all the way out to Grindelwald by dark. Feeling confident, I left it up to Bailie as she would be setting our pace. She looked at me and said "lets do this" and took off. That set the tone, tired legs and all. We made it into Grindelwald, after only a couple of two minute breaks to fill water bottles, covering the final hour and a bit by phone light, just in time for the 11pm bus to Interlaken - the final one for the day.

Bailie did an amazing job.We covered well over 15km's in tough terrain, most of that was on the clock, and some of that was by torch light. We had limited water, tired legs and sore feet. We walked an extra 3 hours than we had planned. I've never been so proud of her- what a trooper.

I never doubted us for a second.