Climbing at Baerenfells

The plan was to go climbing somewhere else, but g forgot the gri-gri, causing us to miss the train we wanted, so we went to Baerenfells.

Routes (grades from Plaisir Jura, g lead all of them, A did top rope)

1. Alpha (5a+)
2. Mit Seil und Saege (5b). Crack-climbing Jura-style, including a bit of an off-width at the bottom
3. Oliver Twist (5a). We have definitely climbed this before
4. Chruetlischwur (6a). g only, top rope.
5. Bel Ami (5b). g only.

We're both still remembering how to do this outdoor climbing thing, and A still has a way to go to recover her strength, but things are coming along and it was a fun day. The sun even came out, which was wild!

Trailruning Davos: Davos to Klosters via the Weissfluhjoch

We set off in the morning with the plan of ending in Davos Platz. A has planned three different routes that we can decide upon along the way.

The trail starts directly outside our hotel and leads us up, up, up (no warm-up today!) mostly in forest until we get to Schatzalp. We head through Schatzalp and continue our way up, up to Strelapass, where we start to see other people (mainly mountain bikers on their way down). We fill water bottles, make our first route decision, and continue along the really nice trail (first running of the day!) towards the Weissfluhjoch. The last bit of this is kind of ugly ski area, and that continues for the first part of the descent down the other side. Down, down we go, later on nicely runnable single track, until we hit the Grüensee (we walked past this on a bivac tour a couple years ago). Here we do a food break and enjoy the sun and nice temperatures before continuing on our way down, down. Instead of taking a more direct route to Schifer, we do an extended zig-zag through the woods and moor down to the stream at Moosboden, where we fill our bottles and cool down a bit, before continuing through the woods (sometimes runnable, sometimes not) before emerging onto forest roads at Conterser Schwendi (closed!) and then continuing along to Schifer. A bit of climbing on the forest road under the trees (with a short snack break along the way) takes us to Serneuser Schwendi, and then we start the long, relatively fast (for us) descent to Klosters Platz. In town, we have plenty of time to get food and drink at the Coop and to cool down at the fountain before starting the trip back home.

This was another very nice day of running!

Track to come

Stats: ~26km, 5:15, ~1300m up, ~1700m down

Trailrunning Davos: the Jakobshorn loop

Inspired by a  route in "Flow trails für Geniesser", but we extended it on both ends to make a loop from Davos Platz.

The "warm up" from Davos to Teufi is a really nice and flowy bit of running, then we pick up the route from the book and climb up, up, up to Bramabüel, where we do a sandwich break before continuing along the ridge to the Jakobshorn. We were mostly alone for the first bit (just a couple groups of mountain bikers heading down), but we start seeing more people now. At the Jakobshorn (full-on busy now) we fill the water bottles and then continue along the ridge to the Jatzhorn. The descent along the ridge is nice, but not super runnable, but once we turn off at the Taellifurgga it gets a bit better. We do a second food break before joining the larger panorama trail (with a, thankfully separate, very busy mountain biking trail), which leads us, mostly running, down to Sertig Doerfli. Here we stop at the restaurant and have drinks and cake before finishing the way down to Davos Platz. The first bit of this is very nice and flowy through the woods, then there's an asphalt bit down to Clavadel, then another nice bit through the woods before we arrive in Davos Platz near the Jakobshorn gondola station.

Quick trip the Coop to get drinks and food, then back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. Later we do a stroll through town, dinner, another "walk around the block" and then we hit the bed... there's more running to do tomorrow.

This was quite a good run; the parts we added to make the suggested route a loop were definitely work the extra km. 

Track to come

Stats: ~31km, 6:30, ~1530 up and down

Leukerbad to Kandersteg

Today starts (fairly late, the hotel didn't start breakfast until 7:45) under a cloudless blue sky. We head out of town the same way we came in yesterday and then start heading up, up the trail to the Gemmi pass. This is a nicely maintained and surprisingly popular route. It also gets morning sun, which was a bit surprising. Fortunately it's not super hot yet and there is occasional shade from trees. Up, up we go, passing hikers, getting passed by one trail runner, until we get to the pass itself. Into the madness towards the gondola station to enjoy the views (oh the views!), and then we say goodbye to the Walliser mountains and turn towards the Berner Oberland. Down the trail through the crowd, a very very nice flowy bit of running along the lake, on the improvised trail around the end of the lake (the water is super high and the normal trail is under water), our first food break with views back towards the lake, and then onwards. Pretty shortly thereafter we opt to stop for coffee and tea (and to refill our water bottles) at the Hotel Schwarenbach before starting up, up on the trail to the Schwarzgraetli (we've were here more than 10 years ago). 

We're mostly alone on this piece of trail, but at the ridge we start seeing people again. After enjoying the views down to the Innere Ueschene and then continue along the trail towards Engstligenalp. Nice bit of trail under a big cliff. At a crossing point we run into a Swiss guy coming the other way who says something about a cave that neither of us understands, but that sounds interesting, so we decide to continue along to see what that looks like. Here the marked path is between the snow and the cliff. The snow gets higher and higher and the space gets narrower and narrower, but there are still markings, so we keep going. There's a bit of scrambling and some squeezing and then we hit a dead end (well, not a dead end, we probably could do some scrambling and continue, but it would be really tricky to come back), so we turn around and head back to spot G had noticed where the snow wall was low enough to scramble over and there's a use trail. This shortly joins the marked trail, which we continue to follow, contouring under the snow field this time, across a bit more snow and then then up a bit to a trail junction (from here it's obvious that there was no good way out if we had continued between the snow and the cliff), where we turn and start heading down into the valley. This is steep at first, but steadily more and more runnable as we continue. Once things flatten out we stop to fill a water bottle (with the filters), continue a bit farther, do another food break, and then finish the last stretch down, down to Kandersteg

Track:

Stats: 23.7km, 5:57, 1490m up, 1690m down

Crans-Montana to Leukerbad

 We finally got a weekend with two good weather forecasts, so we decided to try something new: a multi-day trail run. The route for this first day is from Flowtrails fuer Geniesser. 

We get an early start from Basel and do train, train, funicular to get to Crans Montana. We start running in a cloud, so it's nice and cool as we head up and out of town.

The route mainly follows a stream/suone (the Bisse de Tsiittoret) and is a nice mix of open and forest. We would have fantastic views of the Walliser 4000ers if it weren't for the clouds, but the running/hiking is still really good. We stop and do our first food break at Le Relais de Columbire after about an hour of running (those sandwiches aren't getting any better in the trail-running pack!) Continuing on, we start to encounter more people who are out enjoying the nice day, including a fair number of trail runners who, of course, pass us. We're generally among the fastest hikers, but we are also the slowest runners. ;-)

Onwards and around the corner at the Cave du Sex. We miss a planned diversion to follow the suone into the valley and instead follow the main trail and do a bit of extra up and down (ah well...). Onward and upward, along the nice trail. Another food break at Nueschelet, past the hut at Varneralp (our high point for the day), and then down, down and around the corner. Leukerbad is now in view. Instead of continuing along the marked path for Leukerbad, we continue with the recommendation from the book and stay up high for a bit longer, climbing a bit more and following a clear, but unmarked path that leads to the back of the valley. This bit would probably be pretty good running if it were dry, but it required some care after all the rain we've had in the past weeks. At the end we come out onto the trail that leads up to the Gemmi pass (that's for tomorrow) and follow that down into town.

In town we grab snacks and protein drinks at the Migros, check into our hotel, brief nap, a very relaxing visit to the spa, dinner at a pizzeria (lucky to get a table... town is quite busy!), then some stretching and bed.

This was a really good day. It would have been super nice to actually have the amazing views, but the running was still good and the peeks we got of the peaks were fun. 

Track:

Stats: 24km, 4:50, 1140m up, 1220m down