Monday 25th June 2001

I left the Hotel Hirschen (old, quite cheap & very atmospheric, which we also used in 1973) at 0741. I followed the road to Willigen & turned off & up the old pack-horse track just past the Hotel Tourist. This goes fairly steeply up, crossing the road in places & co-inciding ar Schwendi for a few hundred metres. Warning! This path is not clearly marked on LK50 5004 but is on LK25 1210 Innertkirchen. There is no way of avoiding cooking in the Sun on a nice day, because of the angle it strikes. However, one is then rewarded by much shadow after Zwirgi as the path goes through the gorge of the Reichenbach. The first view of the Wetterhorn is quite dramatic & the path avoids the road by going above it. I stopped at the quaint old Rosenlaui Hotel for a beer, as although I was carrying 2 litres of water, this is a long stage.

The Reichenbachtal (Rosenlaui Valley) from above Alpiglen

The Eiger, end-on & with the Monch to its left, from below Grosse Scheidegg

After & above Rosenlaui, the path is marked off on a jeep track which more or less peters out in a field of cows. Keep going to the wire fence, cross it as soon as convenient & contour round until the 'new' footpath appears. This is a splendid alternative to the road. I assume this new path was laid out after the construction of the road. It comes out at Alpiglen & then goes straight up to Grosse Scheidegg, criss-crossing the road & largely but not entirely following the old jeep track. (Note that this path is marked on the latest edition of map 5004 but not on my 1966 version). There are two false summits. Lunch at Grosse Scheidegg & then, the path goes clearly down towards Grindelwald, again largely criss-crossing the road. I had an apfelsaft at Ischboden, a last pit stop if one then follows the road until a sign off onto a footpath through Moos to the Terassenweg 1400. This leads down to the village without so much road walking as just carrying on past the Hotel Wetterhorn involves. Including stops for food & chats, it took me 9 hours, 40 minutes. I stayed at the Grindelwald Hotel Hirschen, much posher & more expensive (94 sfr per night in 2001) than the Meiringen one but you will need (deserve) a little luxury after a walk like this.