Glacier – Morteratsch

It’s really cool. (I’m not even sorry for saying that.)

What an opportunity. What a moment. This turned from a good idea on a whim, to a lifelong dream being realised. Glaciers have always fascinated me. I mean the complexity of pace vs strength. One of the mightiest ancient and natural phenomena, with the speed of a disinterested slug and an ultimately unstoppable power; yet delicately fragile in the summer environment. Glaciers have a voice, a groan, a crack, the ability to shape an entire valley, provide life and nutrients, but can take these away in just a moment.

The Morteratsch Glacier.

The length of the trail didn’t appear very arduous. Being only 3Km on a well formed trail, we started our trek with an easy swagger. Many walkers passed, some with snow shoes strapped to their packs, others with helmets, skis, ropes and camping gear. I did start to think, hmmmmm where is this track taking us and do we have enough gear?

Nah … We are fully prepared, with a muesli bar each and a small water bottle. No worries.

Trails marked with the Swiss flag

A few kilometres down the trail, we arrived at an official sign stating,…

“You are in mortal Danger”.
Melting of the snow and ice makes boulders unstable.
Boulders can crack and roll down the slopes at high speed, at any time, without any warning!!!

….and they did. We heard many a crack and experienced boulders rolling down the wildly curved, steep slopes.

Right’t’o then.
Things just got interesting.
Obviously we ignored this sign and kept going.

Closer to the glacier is a conveniently built timber foot bridge, spanning across the freezing waters of a small stream. The actual glacial melt waters. I did think that this would be a great place to chill a six pack for the walk/climb ahead. Soon the trail started to change it’s mind. It is now, no longer an easy access path, but a hands and feet climb, loose rocks, steep cliffs and drop offs. Add to this ice, snow and slippery rock faces to keep you on your toes. Mandy and I are way out of our depths in this refrigerated environment. Vibram soles on our Teva walking boots helped so much, offering tremendous grip on both smooth boulders and razor sharp rock faces. Oh how we wish we had our trekking poles.

Vertical Snow bits.

Mandy and I, working together, managed to scale the trail most of the way. The snow and steepness of the climb is now getting a little scary. We are literally kicking and digging in foot steps to the snow wall in order to aid our assent. My stomach said, “Hang on a moment big fella, what ya doin?” My heart said, “I’ve always wanted to see, let alone actually touch, a glacier. Those two fought it out for a while, whilst my feet kept moving forward.

A little later, I passed two groups of people roped together, incase someone breaks through into an opening or crevice in the ice or snow. I did pay due diligence and asked the guide from the second group if it was safe enough for me to walk to the Glacial Face.

“Walk in the footprints that are already there, stay on the path, don’t go near the crack. You should be okay,” he spoke in fluent, broken, German/English/something else. At least that is what I think he said. So off I went.

I took a breath, one step, then another. Carefully retracing the steps already imprinted in the snow. Beneath the snow is a mixture of rock, ice, water, slush so slippery it should be used as new super lubricant. Needless to say it didn’t take long until I was upside down in the snow laughing hysterically. Ok Les pull this together, this is serious. With the last tethered mountaineering group scouring in my general direction, I righted my verticality and pressed on. There was much discussion, I’m sure about me, in another language. Oh Well. Ten or so metres later, my right foot hold decided to disappear underneath me. My entire leg fell directly toward the centre of the earth. With reflexes like a cat (LOL), I threw my body forward onto the snow/ice preventing a premature decent southward towards Australia.

That was fun. 🙂

Strong emotions overcame me when I was at the face of the Glacier. I’m not too proud to admit I had a tear in my eye, as I touched the Ancient Giant. This is something that I had always wanted to see, let alone be standing on. This is a moment that I didn’t actually think would be possible in my lifetime. I had watched documentaries about Glaciers. I have camped in the carved valley of extinct glaciers in Australia. The ability of actually seeing one, hiking and scrambling towards it will stay with me forever.

It wasn’t easy to get here, but I’m glad I did.

At this time I looked down and noticed a massive crack in the ice. Hmmmm, was this where the guide had told me not to be? OK, time to move.

…another day…

Suspension Bridge

Getting to the trail head.

Driving along it was time for a coffee. Grabbed a brochure from the counter and discovered this suspension bridge, accessible via a gondola ride and a hike. Sounds good to us! Another spontaneous adventure within our adventure begins.

This was an awfully massive call for Mandy. She is terrified of heights, I have fingernail marks in my arm from the flight over to prove it (Just Joking). Extreme admiration is given here, as she knew that each element of this trip was going to be a challenge; and it was, and she overcame her fears. Albeit, whilst tightly gripping, handles, poles, rocks, me, or cables.

Ekka ride

The exhibition chairlift was fairly exciting, I thought as a child. Views around the fairground as far as you could see. This was indeed a little different. Carved valleys, Alpine vegetation, endless Christmas trees, Swiss alps, log cabins, trails on ridiculous slopes, waterfalls… the visual photo bomb just didn’t stop.

Walking on the trail

We didn’t actually fully know where we were going. The trail was well marked until it wasn’t. Forks appeared without labels, direction makers or even hints. This is very unlike the Swiss, as everything is normally meticulously arranged and organised. Time to grab the phone, use Mapout, find the walking trails and plot our course. Ahhh… that makes more sense.

Once on tougher part of the trail, the ‘trail fairies’ had marked the path with sprayed paint every now and then. The symbol being the Swiss flag, a nice touch. It wasn’t easy, but again the views were worth every bead of perspiration. Snow drifts and water falls also cross the path, whilst the earth inclines to around 45deg. A nice touch to heighten anxiety. Here is the ying yang moment, the tormented emotive cyclone encapsulating the elements of ‘enormous natural beauty’ vs ‘having your pants scared off you’.

Da Bridge

We made it! The suspension bridge lay in front of our eyes. Triftbrucke (Trift bridge). Time to take a moment and time to catch our breath, prior to starting the next massive event. Spanning some 170m the bridge with 100m drop, offers views and a relatively steadyish godly route. I felt like a bird looking over the edge. The height, the colours, the adrenaline pumping through my veins. Time to hold the phone, really really tightly. This is another one of ‘those’ moments.

Mandy walked over the bridge by herself. She even did some pushups at one end. I can’t explain how difficult this was for her, the walk, not the pushups. But she did it.

Good on YOU hon. 🙂

A list of the stand out aspects of each country

• Germany… cycle paths and driver respect, locally brewed beer
• Austria…grandeur of the buildings … Sound of Music, locally brewed beer
• Slovakia… duck in a red wine sauce and Napoleon’s cannonball stuck in a church wall, bad aim, locally brewed beer
• Czech… Prague wow, locally brewed beer
• Netherlands… tulips , locally brewed beer
• Belgium… sleet, squirrels, awesome park riding paths
• France… military history of Dunkirk, locally brewed beer
• Spain… the vibe, buen camino, medieval castles, aqueduct, affordability, beach life, chilled atmosphere, tapas, funiculars, Banksy museum, Gaudy, Montserrat, locally brewed beer
• Portugal… city sights of Porto, street music, locally brewed port
• Switzerland…the Alps, Alpine views, glacier, environment, ski towns, hiking, locally brewed beer
• Italy… lakes, coffee, locally brewed beer
• Liechtenstein…orderly, locally brewed beer
• Andorra…mountain views at Maccas, wifi for Mandy’s Spanish lesson.