Matterhorn Day Off

After three pretty long days full of unexpected climbs, turns, modes of transportation, we decided to see some sights. The campsite in Visp was nice enough, we felt comfortable locking our bikes in front of the train station, and we started the day with cappuccinos and post card writing.

The train from Visp to Zermatt offers pretty stunning views the whole way.

the biggest rockslide ever

Our first order of business when we arrived in Zermatt was to figure out just how to get up to the snow. We walked through the town, saw that there were funicular trains leaving for peaks often and that we could take the ski lift way up to Klein Matterhorn - having no real idea what it all meant. We thought of getting some lunch first, assuming there would be nothing up there, but then we found the ski lift, bought ourselves the most expensive, all-inclusive tickets (birthday money well-spent!), and hopped into our own private pod. Scaaaa-ry!

first glimpse of the Matterhorn

bye Zermatt

Zermatt keeps getting farther away

last stop Italy

sheep! at the base of the ski-lift towers!

different climate and landscape altogether

For most of the ride we were in this one little bubble, but at the Schwartzsee (there's a lake up here?) we had to transfer. Nice photo op.

hoooooly-can't really believe it

That last picture is from the final lift which was a nice big one with an operator. About a hundred people can sardine in there when necessary. On the way up it was almost empty, but at the top there was a line of people - skiers! - waiting to go back down. The upper right dark green valley in the photo is where Zermatt is and directly below us is a glacier.

And that's what it looked like from the top of Klein Matterhorn, looking west-southwest. It was blazingly bright, but cold. People had been skiing but the ski day was just about over. That foggy valley is the Val d'Aosta, where we'd cycle through next week. It really is the border between Switzerland and Italy. I guess building any kind of fortifications was unnecessary.

I have no idea why we look so silly. It was very high up there. But honestly - we were incredibly happy when taking this photo.

we were both a bit dizzy. some people were really dizzy and uncomfortable.

There is a cafeteria up there and they served everything from traditional Swiss rösti (above) to rice and miso soup. Plus they had every kitsch item you've ever wanted imprinted with Zermatt or Matterhorn. It was hard to resist buying a bunch of stuff, but of course all I had to think of was the current weight of my bike and bags. We ate rösti and drank lots of water. First time up above 12,000ft when not actually flying.
We were ready to get in line to head back down when we saw a little elevator that said "Matterhorn Glacier Paradise". We had these tickets that included the "Glacier Paradise" and we had no idea what that meant. We figured it was that glacier outside which you can ski on. We'd seen it. It was slippery and the sun was really bright. But then one of us said, "what if you actually get to go inside a glacier?" Just joking around. We'd paid for the ticket, so we figured we should just see what it was all about.
We went inside a glacier.

the ice shepherd

trippy lighting as well as trippy music

Seriously. It was cold and amazing and there were cracks in the ceiling. Thank goodness we gave that little elevator a try. We didn't wait too long to ride back down and we were kind of light headed - in a good way - the whole way down. At the bottom we made a bee-line for the fondue place on the corner - by this time (5pm) we were pretty hungry. The fondue came with bread and potatoes. Our touring diet is pretty much bread and cheese, and bagged lettuce, so we thought we'd go for something different.
After dipping a few potatoes, an old guy came out from inside the restaurant and taught us the real way to eat the fondue with potatoes. He mashed the potatoes a bit on my plate, then scooped the cheese on top and mashed it in a bit. He was right, it was better that way. As we left he gave us a postcard with a very old image of the same little restaurant from a long time ago.

Day 3 - Over Grimselpass, whatever it takes

We've had our share of unexpected moments already, but nothing that was unpleasantly unexpected. When we came up over the first stretch of climbing toward Brunig pass and encountered a lake at eye level, that was unexpected. That some of the path was loose gravel at a steep grade was unexpected, but it didn't last too long.

Our lack of preparation for Grimselpass should have made us less surprised by the actual experience, but then again - how would we know if we didn't really prepare? There's a bike route. Veloland.ch suggests a bus for part of it (Post Auto!), because there's some traffic and the bike route is on the road, not on a separated path. The pass is at 2164 meters (8000ft).

But it was a beautiful morning and we only had to go 33kms before we were at the top. We knew there was one steep climb to get over to Innertkirchen and that we'd be climbing for 33kms - but that's not too bad, even at 5kms/hr. Go slow, we said to each other, and we'll take lots of breaks.

The unexpected information from the night before was that there would be mo-peds - not just driving through town starting at 10am - but they'd be accompanying us up over Grimsel. Mo-peds smell incredibly bad. They use a combination of oils that is just disgusting when burned, creating thick blue-ish smoke. Plus they are very loud. We decided to get out of there earlier, but knew they'd catch us eventually, even though they are much slower than anything else on the road. Besides us. We also knew that they would come in waves. And that there were almost 800 of them.

Our first few kms were not confidence inspiring. There was already a lot of traffic on the road, probably cars trying to get through before the mo-peds got on the road. Between the cars, though, it was gorgeous. When it was quiet and we could appreciate the scenery, we were quite happy. We made it up over the first hill without trouble and had a beautiful little descent on the other side down to Innertkirchen. The road was lined with people who were waiting for the mo-peds, and they gaped at us a bit. At one hairpin turn, a large group cheered and did the wave as we went around in front of them - that was grin-inspiring.

Once the mo-peds came, we started taking breaks. Just past Innertkirchen.

Going up there

Mo-peds

After the first 6kms or so, I (Ramona) started having trouble. The fact is, I was not strong enough. Day three of a tour, day two was a 1k pass, and we're climbing, fully-loaded, up, up, up. I had to stop every few turns because I was working so hard. I have a mountain bike cassette, but my chain rings are not small enough - especially not on the third day of the tour.

We stopped at a pull-out and let the roar-buzz of mo-peds go past for a while. Joshua was making his best disgusted face and spit often, finding the flavor of mo-ped fumes not to his liking. We were both somewhat stunned into decision-lessness by the noise. We watched mo-peds go by.

It was pretty fun, in some ways. There was a couple, two men in suits, one that was bright pink, and they had signs that said "Just Married" on their backs. Many people were wearing costumes, including full-body bunny suits as well as outfits with capes and decorated helmets. It was so loud that we couldn't really talk to each other. I kind of wanted to wait for them to be gone. Joshua didn't want to sit still there, breathing fumes, a minute longer.

Somehow, we decided to cruise back down to Innertkirchen and take the Post Auto up and over the pass. The bus comes once an hour, but we knew it might not be on schedule, due to mo-peds. But within about 5 minutes of getting to the bus stop, a bus showed up. The driver helped us get the bikes onto the back of the bus and we put all the bags underneath. He was very nice and everyone was patient. Then we got on and realized that we did not have enough cash to pay for both ourselves and the bikes. Over 80CHF. The driver allowed us to pay for ourselves and gave us a break for the bikes and we were on our way. I thought we'd try to get cash at a stop, but he waved it away and wished us luck.

And as we climbed, we realized that we really had no idea what we were getting into. This was no Passwang. This was no Brunigpass. This was the real deal. And it was terrifying. At first there were some mellow climbs and then small valleys where we really could have ridden. Might have made it a few more bus stops without too much trouble, perhaps on a different, non-mo-ped-rally day.

But then the switchbacks started in ernest. The entire way was slow, there were constant mo-peds, and the only cyclists we saw were pure roadies. Killing it.

Looking back

Still going up

Lakes and snow

Mo-peds

Looking back at the road below

Once on the other side, we got a view of the road up to Furkapass.

Dropped at Gletsch

Maybe we could have done it. We certainly would have had a better chance if we'd been touring for longer than two days. After one week of touring, we are in much, much better shape. After two weeks we might have been strong enough to power through 33kms of climbing, even if we had to crawl. If there was a separate bike path, at least I would have been comfortable walking the steepest bits where I had to labor against the pedals instead of spin it out. Walk a little, bike a little. But not on a road without a shoulder. We had the cold-weather gear.

Maybe if we could have enjoyed the fresh mountain air, the quiet, and the views, we would have been more interested in pushing through.

And as if to prove that fully loaded touring cyclists certainly can conquer Grimselpass, a couple carrying way more gear than us rolled up as we were loading our bikes again where the bus dropped us. They had started in Norway. Many months on the road. They were not that thrilled about the mo-peds, but they were thrilled to know they were heading over Furka and not down into the Wallis - which is what they (and we) were going to do. Yay! It's possible! People do it! Maybe... one day...

Cruising down from Gletsch to Oberwald was incredibly beautiful, too. A long descent is not satisfying in the same was if you haven't made the climb yourself, but I certainly didn't feel bad. Oh no. Quite the opposite.

Looking back up at the road we came down on with the bus

little Joshua in red

little Rhone River beginnings

we dressed for the descent - it smelled like sun-warmed pine trees

At the bottom we were in the Wallis or Valais (depending on your language preference), the long Rhone Valley that cuts east-west across south-west Switzerland, Alps on either side. And it looked to be as advertised: flat, beautiful, warm. The bus ride had been unexpected, the mo-peds - unexpected. The heat in the Wallis was also a bit unexpected. We dried out all the gear while we had a lovely lunch by the beginnings of the Rhone River.

there are more mountains in our future

Galenstock behind us. We knew it was a big mountain because it kept getting bigger the farther away we got.

Not all flat

But all beautiful

Swiss Alpine Village, couple of cows

Crossing an airport

Some hills, some pushing

We were expecting flat from a route that followed the Rhone - river paths are typically mellow and easy. But of course this is Switzerland and we had some unexpected climbs, some single-track riding, and some really lovely gorges. It was an up-and-down afternoon with plenty to appreciate and plenty to tire us out.

At Ernen, the bike route had warning signs. 1.8kms of 12%+ that had to be walked. There were 6kms that did some serious climbing. Despite the bus ride, we'd already done a lot of climbing over the course of the day. We'd also managed to cover around 60kms total. The signs recommended the train. Not even for Grimselpass were there signs recommending an alternative - although there were signs about the steepness and distance.

So we took the train - and we decided we'd take the train all the way to Visp (said "fishp") so we could take the next day off and go up to Zermatt and the Matterhorn by train. When in the Alps, see some Alps. It took us a long time to find the campsite, which was hidden, and we did some riding back and forth - perhaps just to make sure we did a good 70-75kms for the day. Hilarious, really.

But throughout we managed to stay content with each surprise or change of plans. We really are turning into experienced touring cyclists - not a case of the grumpies all day, no matter how many unexpected things happened.