me:
At 1030am Zermatt time Ray is out on the Schweifinen
via ferrata.
I had breakfast and am relaxing waiting for the Swiss National Day
party to restart soon.
Many/most activities today are taking place at Leisee at the top of the
Sunegga lift - Michael and I went up there in 2012 while Kent was
finding transportation for his pig...
11:43 Switzerland time 03:43 California time
Eventually I wandered town to see the Swiss National Day activities,
and found.... nothing!
All of today's activities prior to 4pm where up at Liesee at the top of
the Sunnegga lift.
Ray:
Starting route C. Will be another couple hours
me:
have fun! i will have second breakfast without you..
I've been to Switzerland several times and have zero souvenirs -
nothing to wear that says "Switzerland".
I typically buy a hoodie or a t-shirt.
However I've got too many hoodies, and I live where it's chilly and
you can rarely see what's on my t-shirt since it is under a hoodie.
I decided to buy a hat or two, since I can always wear a different hat.
I searched every sports store and souvenir shop along Banhoffstrass for
anything that looked like Switzerland but not too touristy.
I didn't want anything that said "Zermatt" since this is not my
favorite town, it is a tourism nightmare surrounded by lovely mountains
and lifts.
I didn't want anything that said "Matterhorn" since I haven't climbed
it and never will.
Ideally I'd buy a hat that said "Breithorn", but I never found one.
Finally I found a simple red cap with a white cross for 15 chf and
settled for it.
During my exhaustive baseball cap search I heard a song on the
store's stereo with an f bomb in it, and I was hooked.
I can't say for sure I would have noticed it without the f-bomb.
A quirky amazing song.
Maybe 5 or 10 minutes later in another store I heard it again.
I don't listen to new music other than what Kathy puts on when she's
driving, and I had never heard this song.
A month later I still hadn't heard the sing again when I read a Guardian
article about Lola Young and
decided that must be her just from the description
I finally watched the video on youtube and heard the song - and read
all the lyrics - in its entirely for the first time.
Yup that was her.
Perhaps best new artist I'd heard since Gaga.
From the comments on the youtube video I'm not the only one who feels
that way.
This trip now had a second theme song.
Fortunately my only Messy relationship is with myself.
13:36 Switzerland time 05:36 California time
11:46 Switzerland time 03:46 California time
Ray's pic
20:45 Switzerland time 12:45 California time
Alain's pic of Ray
20:45 Switzerland time 12:45 California time
Alain's pic of Ray
Ray:
I am starving and need beer desperately.
Done with via ferrata - total time on route was 3.5 hours.
Did A, B, and C routes of course!
Met a guy and we exchanged pix.
Had a prob finding the route this morn - a chick at Zermatters gave me
directions but she didn't know or care there was a trail closure that
caused me to do an unfortunate "warm up" nearly to Restaurant Edelweis
then back down.
On trail back to Zermatt - it will take at least 30 mins to get down.
Will text ya when I'm back on terra firma.
Ray:
I am back on Banhoffstrass, walking to hotel. Or I will meet you if
you're out and about. Lemme know yoir 10-20
me:
212pm in Zermatt, after a trek to find out what is going on in town
(absolutely nothing, pretty dead!) and find a red swiss baseball cap I
am
still recovering and or lounging.
Ray has finished the vf and is on his way back into town. mew.
17:26 Switzerland time 09:26 California time
19:18 Switzerland time 11:18 California time
Ray made a wrong turn and almost made it up to the Restaurant Edelweiss
(left. above the crane) before turning around
19:18 Switzerland time 11:18 California time
Schweifinen via ferrata
Ray:
The Schweifinen
via ferrata over Zermatt was 3.5 hours of via
ferrataing with over 2,000 feet of elevation gain including the hike up
to the start.
I
added a few hundred feet to that due to a wrong turn that took me
nearly to the Restaurant Edelweiss
Backtracked all the way back down, then back up the right trail.
Did routes A, B and C, the last two considered k4 with B having a touch
of K5 due to a slightly inverted ladder.
There was nothing as spicy or alien as Breithorn and everything felt
well-protected.
I'd give it an outdoor climbing rating of 5.1, maybe 5.3 in spots, and
gym rating up to 5.9 or 5.10.
The walkdown was a bit long and hellishly steep.
In the photo if you zoom you can see a sign and ladder at the top of
that part, which is a false summit and nowhere near the top.
19:26 Switzerland time 11:26 California time
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Thursday July 31, 2025
Breithorn and Straßenfest
