Snowshoeing in the Jura: Passwang -> Bachmaettli

Got to take advantage of sunny Sundays when there's snow in the Jura.

We start at the bus stop just before the Passwang tunnel (we started a trip here last year too). The first priority is to get moving and get to the sun: we're starting in the shade, the wind is blowing, and it's cold (<-10 C). We walk pretty quickly up to the ridge to find the sun and then head west towards Hohe Winde (last year we went east). At Hinter Beibelberg we put on the snowshoes and head off the road.  From here out it's a nice path along the ridge, sometimes under the snow-covered trees, sometime in the open, along to Vorder Erzberg where we stop to warm up and have lunch (too cold for lunch outside!). After lunch we climb the last bit up to the Hohe Winde. The day is a bit hazy, so the views aren't what they could be, but luckily it's not living up to its name: the wind isn't too bad.

 Still, it's not a place to linger, so we follow the path down the other side. After a bit of descending we hit a meadow and have two choices for direction. We take the "SAC Jubilaumsweg" and head into the woods. It pretty quickly becomes clear that this is not a good winter path (it's a direttisima, the path is might steep, and it's going to be difficult to follow), so we switch back and head back the other way. Now it's a nice path through the woods, always gently descending. Past Mittlere Rotmatt we go, then down, past Neuhof, and down the last bit to the Joggenhus. We've still got 25 minutes until the bus comes and the restaurant is unfortunately closed, so to stay warm (we're in the shadow), we head off down the road to the next bus stop at Bachmaettli. Now it's too far to make the next bus stop (and walking along the road isn't super pleasant), so we find a spot in the sun, drink our tea, and wait for the bus to arrive.

The track: