Niderbauen Chulm (1923m)

My sister Saša visited us in Zürich for a few days and I promised her a Swiss alpine experience... the weather was unpredictable so we didn't aim very high in case we had to make a swift retreat in the face of impending thunderstorms. We picked the route from a guidebook we bought earlier in the day... our limited knowledge of German led us to believe it would be a pretty hike and based on the map it would be very scenic.... it was amazing! The route went up to some cliffs and *through* the rock onto some beautiful alpine meadows. Amazing.

Here's the map - the route is Wald-Weid (gondola) then on the trail past p. 1524 upwards over the scree to the via ferrata through the rock face and onto the Niderbaum Chulm ridge. You can continue south onto a super scenic ridge to Oberbauenstock, but not when thunderstorms are expected.... we descended from Stn. Niederbauen (Saša wanted the full Swiss alpine experience with gondolas on both ends) - this route uses all forms of Swiss public transportation - tram, train, boat, funicular, bus, gondola.

planning & safety meeting

 

On the ferry from Brunnen - I believe the craggy peak in the background is our destination...

The Mythen behind the town of Brunnen

Ok, in case you can't tell what's going on here - this is a vending-machine-style gondola... no operator, you just push a button and go

not a bad place to be a farmer

kitsch #1

this little momma cow on the left charged at us while her little calves frolicked in the grass

the trail eventually got pretty steep

and even a bit exposed

until we ended up in a tunnel

through the rock face

our point of approach from above: Brunnen, Seelisberg and Seelisee - the little gondola was off to the right

kitsch #2 - looking south toward the main alpine ridge

the storm brew

Wildspitz (1580m) Mountain Bike Tour

A little creative navigating early on from Sattel (past a lama and nepalese yak farm) led to a pleasant asphalt road that brought us all the way to the summit. Brief stop at the hut for some Rosti and espresso, then down a super fun trail to the north side toward Baar. We did a second steep climb where bike carrying was necessary to ride the Hagegg ridge trail - fantastic!

Curious lamas

Some hot bike ass

Jesus is the Lord (on the cross) and a pretty spectacular view of the Alps...

Downhill time

Albishorn Mountainbike tour

Our first bonafide mountain bike tour! Riding straight from our doorstep up Uetliberg, then along Albiskette to Albishorn then down some really fun singletrack to Silhbrugg. Molly stomped the landings good. She only almost cried once. Incredible views of the mountains whenever the forest opened up... The way back along the Sihl was amazingly pleasant, we even stopped and dipped our feet in the river for a while.

Some fuel after the long grind up Uetliberg

 

Views of Zürichsee from Albishorn

Looking south toward the Alps

The track... and Zürich in the distance

Pleasant...

woop woop!

Bouldering in Chironico

The original plan for the last bit of Nick's stay here was to ski some 3000+ meter peaks for a few days... but the temps were high enough that wet slides were likely even relatively early in the am. So we got a crashpad and a guidebook and headed to Chironico - what a fantastic forest, littered with perfect granite boulders! The photos are an experiment in high-contrast split-toning... may change without notice...

 

big mountains as a backdrop

fun traverse

flapper #1

chironico is a cute little village

nick just woke up...

... but he's still crushing the granite

how the f$?@?!@##$???

a heel hook would have made for a good photo... 

finishing off the trip on a beautiful problem in a beautiful meadow