Along the Rigi

It's been much, much too long since we were in the mountains. The conditions yesterday were not ideal, but we pretty much had to go. :-)

We took the train to Arth-Goldau, then the Rigi Bahn up to Klösterli. From there we hiked up, mostly alone, past Oberschwändi to the Kulm. Up top we encountered piles of tourists (a train had just arrived). Down a bit to Staffelhöhe where we stopped for a warm drink (mmm, Kaffi-pflümli) and then on, past First, around the Dossen, to Burggeist. Somewhere along the way we stopped at had lunch in a wind-sheltered spot. From Burggeist onward along the ridge towards Gätterli. This stretch was unbelievably windy, there were times when the wind got so strong that we had to stop moving and crouch down a bit to avoid being blown around. It was loud. In the woods down to Gätterli we were mostly wind sheltered. From the saddle it was down through the woods, along a really nice (though covered with the fall's leaves) path that took us down to the outskirts of Goldau and our train back to Basel.

Additional notes:

• Memo to ourselves: it's ok to head out even when the conditions aren't perfect.
• Greg's new softshell withstood the wind quite nicely.