Europe with Asmir and Miriam

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It wasn't long after this that we reached the broad dome upon which the Bifertenhutte stood, and soon after that, we were unlatching the main door and peering into the darkness inside. Nope, no one home!

Lower Val Frisal

Approaching Bifertenhutte

No one's home...

There was a chilling wind out at this altitude, and it was still cloudy, so we retreated to the shelter inside for a snack break. It is a tidy little place, with room for perhaps 20 people on two floors. Asmir thoroughly inspected the kitchen and noted that there was a fair amount of food present (although we didn't use any of it). A note tacked to the wall explained that the hut custodian had been called away for some reason or other, but would return at some point.

One extra point of note about the Bifertenhutte: it's washroom facilities. A tidy-looking wooden structure just beside the hut is the outhouse, and closer inspection revealed it to be quite a modern facility. For one, it actually had the capability to host two guests, although one of them had to be interested in numero uno and be male. The way the entrance was constructed allowed one person to access while another was inside. It was very bright and clean, with two large windows providing a view to the alpine scenery facing away from the hut. And, like most modern outhouses, there was virtually no odor.

Bifertenhutte, interior

After our snack and bathroom breaks were over, we headed back out. The weather continued to be gloomy, but fortunately the cloud deck stayed up at roughly 10,000 feet, giving us some drama without obstructing our views. And, it was staying dry.

I had mused about climbing the blocky peak immediately to the north of the hut (called the Kistenstockli), but I wasn't sure how easy or hard of a scramble it was going to be. I wanted to ensure that we got to a decent lookout point, and I wasn't yet sure of Asmir or Miriam's comfort level with potentially exposed-ish 3rd class scrambling. So, I opted for the conservative choice and decided to hike over the relatively gentle ground to the east of the blocky peak. Doing this would, like climbing the blocky peak, bring us to the crest of the nearby divide and probably give us comparable views.

A Dramatic Alpine

The hike over to the ridgecrest was an easy climb up open, gently sloping bedrock that was covered with a bit of loose, weathered rock. Asmir found some old large-caliber shells along the way, and carefully pocketed them. Probably the shells from avalanche-inducing shots?

Soon we arrived at the ridgecrest, and were presented with a fantastic view. From our vantage point, we could see all the way up and down the Limmerental valley; all the way up to the Bifertenstock and the large glaciers beneath it, down to the blue-green Limerensee lake with a hydro dam at it's far end. Dark clouds drifted this way and that, enhancing the harshness of the alpine environment.

Asmir and Limmerental

Cuddling in the Mountains

Glacial Melt-falls

We sat ourselves on an outcrop of rock and took the time to enjoy this view. Directly below us, far far below at the head end of the Limmerensee, a number of impressive cascades of glacial meltwater tumbled down into the lake. You could tell they were quite energetic flows of water, but we could barely hear them - a testament to the drop between us and them.

The Limerensee

Jenn and Limmerensee

Aqueduct in Limmerensee

We then turned our attention to the blue-green Limmerensee. Partway along it's shores, we could see the telltale sign of churning sediment, the result of some large aqueduct dumping many tons of water into the lake from somewhere else. Some massive waterworks had been constructed to divert some meltwater from some other nearby alpine location into this lake.

A and A and Limmerensee

Alpine cross-country

Cool Alpine Pavement

With everyone agreeing that this viewpoint had totally made today's effort totally worthwhile, we continued on. My plan was to take a route down a different valley back to the car, thereby describing a nice loop. First, though, Asmir wanted to continue a little farther along the ridgecrest in order to get a more direct view down into the lower Limmerental valley, and so we did. Well, actually Asmir and I did, with Jenn and Miriam opting to wait at a point along our descent route.

courtesy AArifovic

Asmir and Limmerental

Andrew

Ridgetop junction

Returning back to Jenn and Miriam, we continued on, angling for a small pass between a rocky peak (which I had considered climbing, but it looked a little too tricky plus it was getting a little late). On the other side of the pass, the trail became much less distinct. Still, following the trails I had printed out before me from an online topo map, we continued on.

courtesy AArifovic

Muddy basin

Pass below P. Artgas

A Big Basin to Cross

Alpine Wildlife

Traversing big bowl

Muttenbergen

The overall mood of our hike quickly deteriorated, though, for two reasons: one, the trail was much rougher here, traversing around in a broad arc across the head of a basin. There were many small ravines draining the basin, and our trail had to climb down into and back out of each of them. two, the direction of the trail around the basin meant that we were [temporarily] going on the wrong direction, away from the cars. I could easily sense a substantial drop in hiking morale. In retrospect, it would have been either better to head back down the way we had come up, or, failing that, to go cross-country directly down from the little col, keeping as much as possible to the western side of the valley we were in. Of course, by the time both of these choices had become obvious as being better, we were too far along our current route. So, with mental daggers now pointed my way, on we went.

Approaching Crap Tgietschen

Asmir descends painfully

Back on better trail

After a tiring traverse of the basin, we finally started to head south and downwards, soon re-entering the realm of steep, grassy pastured slopes. The 'trail' on my map had by now turned into an almost un-followable thing. If I strained mightily, I would occasionally see hints of it. Clearly it was an old, basically decommissioned route. But again, we were too far along this route to turn back, and the best thing to do was head on. Asmir's knees were burning from picking his way down the very steep, grassy slope, and he was not happy!

We ran out of water partway down this slope. Fortunately, I had brought along my water filter, and we re-filled a bottle or two from a convenient nearby stream. It was getting near dusk now, so I urged us to continue on quickly to a point where we were on a maintained trail. we did so, and soon arrived at a wide, roadlike trail that would traverse us around and back to the car.

The next hour and a half were spent walking along what was, for the most part, an old farm road. The grade was now mostly horizontal, so any aching knees finally had a break.

Smooth watercourse

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