Aletsch Glacier

Moving to Brig

Once again I was on the train at Wengen around 0700 for Lauterbrunnen, but this time with my luggage.  Today I have four rides totalling about 2h, changing at Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken Ost and also Spiez, where I had been only yesterday.

The last part of my ride to my destination Brig was through a very long tunnel, which I later found was the 74km long Lötschberg tunnel.

Arriving at Brig around 0915 I dropped my bag at the Europe Hotel just in front of the station.  I just  missed the train to Betten Talstation, which departed 10 mins after my arrival.  The next train was an hour later but there was a bus in between, allowing me to buy lunch to bring along.

Getting to Aletsch Glacier

At Betten Talstation, I took a big intermittent cable car up to Bettmeralp, a ride of about 7 mins.  Up there at 1030, I needed my lunch already.  I was making good progress with time, having got here about 1h30 earlier than had anticipated with my early start back in Wengen.

Having refuelled my body, I continued by taking a 10 min walk to the small continuous cable car up to Bettmerhorn.  Here there was a view platform which looked down to the Aletsch Glacier, a restaurant and a hike to the actual peak of Bettmerhorn.  I decided against a hike to the peak as I knew I had a decent hike ahead of me already.

My hike along Aletsch Glacier

After enjoying the view at the platform I began my hike at 1140.  The signs suggested a hike to Fiescheralp had a 1h option and a 3h option. The 1h option seemed to face away from the glacier and that would defeat the purpose of being here, so I took the 3h option.  My reading had suggested that a hike would be 2h to 2h30, so this was going to be longer than anticipated.

The hike began with 1h downhill to reach a shoulder along which I hike for a second hour.  Having started with my sandals, it didn’t take long for me to change into shoes.  I sacrificed my comfort for my safety.

I also realised that I had left my first aid kit back at the hotel where it would be completely useless if I had an injury.  Today is my first hike on the “red and white” marked trails meaning it wasn’t sealed and flat (eg. suitable for prams) but were rocky and stepped.

On this shoulder, I was closer to the glacier and as the trail curved around, I got a view of one of the larger snowfields which fed the glacier.

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Some 2h20 after starting, the trail turned to the right, away from the glacier.  Soon after that there was a short 10 min detour that would take me to the edge of the glacier but with concerns about time and energy, I opted to continue along the main trail.

About 3h after starting, I reached the pub at Gletschertube.  It’s funny to see people drinking on hikes when focus and decision-making would probably be quite important.

Here I confirmed that the shortest way back to Fieshcheralp ws through the Gletschertube tunnel.  It would be another hour to go, with 15 mins in the dimly lit tunnel with some water on the ground and then 40 mins downhill on the other side.

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It was one of my “Alhamdulillah” moments when I reached Fiescheralp cable car station 4h after starting.  It had been a very hot hike lasting nearly twice as long as I had anticipated.  I had been worried about missing the last cable car down; back at Bettmerhorn it was 1630 but fortunately here it was 1730 (after which there were limited services till later).  I was also running low on water despite bringing about 2.25 litre.

Back down at Fiesch at 1600, I had just missed the train back to Brig.  It was a half hour wait for the bus that filled in between trains.  I got back to my hotel around 1715.

Heatwave in Brig

Brig was hot by now.  Officially the temperature was in the mid 20 degC but with heat from the pavement, it was probably around 30 degC.  I had to keep the windows closed in my hotel room to keep in the cool.

At night, it was cool enough to open the windows but there was noise from the railway station across the road.  But it didn’t stop me from falling asleep for the night.