Teacher Trekker

The ski lifts at Fiesch Eggishorn only opened at 9 a.m., so I made sure I was awake with enough time to get ready and grab some breakfast prior to making my way up the mountain. I wasn’t very hungry and had a light breakfast of cereal, ham on toast and a cup of coffee. Afterwards we bought our lift tickets. (My ticket cost 60 Swiss Francs for access to the lifts and trails. It was cheaper for Swiss nationals who were in possession of a special annual train pass.)

The Alps & Altitude Sickness

We left our hotel, the Hotel Jungfrau to make our way to the gondola, so we could reach the summit of the mountain, but it was shut down. There was fear of avalanche, so no one was able to take this lift. Rightfully so, the weather conditions were abysmal. At that point it had already been snowing continually for over a day. The flakes were large, heavy and wet. Many of the trails were not groomed and closed. Visibility was almost zero. You needed to wear goggles because of the snow falling horizontally, but at the same time, no matter what lens you were using, you still could not see. Noticing terrain features and changes in elevation was extremely challenging throughout the day. Ice making its way inside my mask only further complicated the visibility issue. It was definitely one of those days on the mountain.

I really wanted to get to the top of the mountain, but who am I to complain that the gondola lift was closed. I don’t live in the mountains. I am by no means an expert snowboarder or mountaineer. However, if someone in Switzerland is shutting down the lift because of avalanche fears, I am completely secure with their decision. I was disappointed that I was unable to reach the peak and see the Aletsch glacier, but there was always the following day.

Ski Map

Instead we hopped on the closest lift, and it took us close to the mountain peak, but not as high as the gondola would have traveled. After strapping in and beginning our descent down the mountain, I started to feel sick. By the time we made it to the bottom of the trail, I was completely Looney Toons. I was seeing stars spin around my head like I was Sylvester the Cat and just got my head bashed in by one of Tweety Bird’s tricks. My nausea and spaced out feeling did not go away. I decided to make my way back to the hotel room and rest for a brief time. I’ve never had altitude sickness, but I was experiencing some of its effects. I told my friend to not worry about me and continue riding. I didn’t want her to end up wasting money on an unused lift ticket, so she got back on the lift, and I went back to the hotel.

View from the hotel whileI was under the weather

Once back in the room I took some sort of medication that was recommended to me and started consuming a large amount of liquids. I crushed a bottle of water, a bottle of apple juice and a can of Coca Cola before passing out on the floor of our hotel room for almost two hours. When I woke up it was lunch time, but I was still not hungry. I knew I had to eat, so I forced myself to get something down. I actually ordered a kid’s meal of chicken nuggets and French fries. After the rest, liquids and food I felt completely revived and wanted to make up for the lost time.

Afternoon Weather Problems 

We rode aggressively for the remainder of the day. Efforts were made to ride down trails quickly and to get in as many trips down the mountain as possible before it got dark and the lifts were shut down for the evening. The visibility remained horrible, but we made the best of it despite additional setbacks in the afternoon. Our plan to hit as many trails as possible was working well, but we made two silly mistakes along the way that slowed us down.

Our first error wasted almost a half an hour of riding time. At some point we were at an intersection of multiple trails. We wanted to take a particular trail to a different section of the mountain, but did not realize there was a poorly placed “closed sign”. Actually, we briefly debated whether it was even open or not, but after seeing another couple our age make their way towards the trail, we assumed that it was open. Once again assumptions are often problematic. It turns out the trail was closed as a result of it being too difficult to groom. The snow got so deep and thick that we got stuck. What was once powder was beginning to turn into dense wet snow. We noticed the couple that went ahead of us walking down the trail. We did the same and ended up hiking in snow at least knee high to get back to an open trail. I consider myself in good shape, but I was dying. Between the altitude, the temperature, the wet snow, the high winds, the ungroomed trails and my altitude sickness from earlier that day, I was struggling, but I drove on. We eventually hit a point where we were able to strap into our boards and head back down to the bottom of the mountain.

How Many Methods of Transport Can You Take in an Hour? 

Shortly after, the sun came out for only a few minutes, but the continuing snow made it semi-overcast. Then in an instant it went away. We then went back up the mountain using a different lift towards Schönbiel, because of where we ended up after that hellacious trail we should not have taken. On the ride down we needed to connect to another trail to get us back towards our hotel. Due to changing weather conditions, the trail was closed. Essentially we were trapped and couldn’t get back to the Fiescheralp lift area by snowboarding down trails. We needed to get back on the same lift again towards the Bettmeralp summit. We then needed to take a number of different transportation methods to get back to our hotel in the Fiescheralp lift area.

First we needed to get to the gondola. We walked and even rode our boards towords the lift. We took the gondola from Bettmeralp down to Betten Talstation. Then we had to take the train back to Fiesch. Since we had to wait some time for the train, we grabbed a drink before the train’s arrival. Once at the Fiesch train station, we then hopped on a quick bus to take us to the gondola back to Fiescheralp. We waited an additional 20 minutes and again grabbed a drink while we waited. We stopped at the Talstation Bar-Lounge for coffee and Glühwein (hot red wine with sugar and spices). We were cold and wet. The drinks hit the spot during our time waiting for our final lift before getting back to the hotel. What an adventure!

Conclusions

We stopped snowboarding just after 5 p.m. and made it back to our hotel room by 7 p.m. Since it was dark out, and we not missing any boarding time, it was more of an economic burden than anything else. It was quite an unnecessarily long and expensive detour. Each lift and train required a ticket that was not connected to the original lift ticket. I spent almost $40 getting back to the hotel. That’s insanity! Paying $17 for a lift ticket to go one way for a 5-10 minute ride is ridiculous, but Switzerland in general is a very expensive country, so I was not too shocked at the high cost.

If the weather was better, the trail would have been open. We actually thought it was open before we headed up the lift, but conditions can change at any point. The only other problem was the heat from the stations and transportation methods melted the snow and ice that covered our clothing slowly getting us more damp as the trip progressed. By the time we made it back to the hotel, my socks were soaked inside of waterproof snowboard boots. In better conditions we could have boarded right to the edge of the hotel property, eliminating our troubles. However, the weather posed a variety of challenges throughout the day and the resulting detour was the most extreme example.

Despite the setbacks: my altitude sickness, the poor ski conditions, as well as the long and unnecessary ride back to hotel, I had a great day. Life is an adventure. All of these little setbacks made for a more unpredictable time and sillier story. For me, the uncertainty can make traveling fun. As much as I like to plan ahead, the unexpected needs to be welcomed and not avoided. Sometimes the best parts of my trips occur spontaneously. Sure the weather could have been better. Sure we could have not gone down a closed trail, but it wouldn’t have made for a fun little hike down the mountain. We made the best of our time despite the setbacks. There would have been no point in getting worked up and ruining our day because of any of those obstacles. I would love to snowboard at Fiesch Eggishorn again and actually see the terrain around me, rather than fight the elements all day long. Besides, any day I spend snowboarding in the mountains (especially at a ski resort that is new to me) with people I care about is a great day.