Statistics: 16.8 miles ascent: 3967′ descent: 3376′ Pass #10: Bunderchrinde
Our host, Margaret, bid us farewell as we walked off into the heavy mist. The lovely weather of previous days had disappeared. We walked along the River Kander and then headed off uphill through the forest. The climb removed the chill, warming us considerably, but the cloud was so heavy that at times we could barely see each other.
At one point we were unable to locate the trail markers. We climbed a very slippery, rocky bit, and then looked down; far below us, the markers were barely visible. We had left the trail and now had a tricky descent back down to the path. Eventually we arrived at Alpschele (where alpine cheesemakers live during the summer).
The last part of the ascent to the pass was entirely shale. We were still deep in the cloud, everything was ominously silent and the only life we saw were black newts and a small group of chamois.
The final trail up to the pass was slippery and steep.
Once at the pass we were not able to revel in the view as there was none, but we were happy to be at the top, just the same!
After a pause at the pass, we continued on and descended through a zig zag trail of scree and rough pasture down to the mountain village of Adelboden. Since the cloud cover had finally lifted, we were able look back for a view of the Bunderchrinde pass we had just crossed (center left in the photograph below).
One thought