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Switzerland 2025
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Wednesday August 6, 2025
Schreckhornhütte

Thursday August 7, 2025
Berghaus Bäregg
Next
Friday August 8, 2025
Martigny


They show you the supply of earplugs during orientation at Schreckhornhütte....
I brought my own.
I wore them since it was still a bit noisy when i went to bed 930ish
Managed to sleep until 2
I could hear the climbers getting ready and depart, by the time i went downstairs to piss they were gone
I probably got back to sleep after that (not sure)
I nearly fell asleep in the sun resting in front of the Schreckhornhütte yesterday afternoon, exhausted.....
I heard people getting up to piss all night once i was awake but no snoring....
I actually slept more or less as well as i normally do

16:31 Europe time 07:31 California time
Paul: I can't do shared rooms with people I don't know
Paul: I only occasionally snore, but when I do it's LOUD
Paul: As such I can never sleep properly for fear of waking everyone else up
Paul: And snoring coincides with drinking, and I always drink when I travel

16:50 Europe time 07:50 California time
Kent: Sounds like an ok night
Kent:  There's usually a loud snorer
Kent:  Once I had the "pleasure"? of sleeping in one with a guy who suffered from night terrors
Kent:  Never heard anything like that before
Kent:  I was already nervous about the climb the next day and getting woken up from dead sleep with sounds like someone is getting tortured is an adrenaline hit
Kent:  He was in another room, so I got to imagine all kinds of stuff

me:
i went out at 630am to use the facilities (must go outdoors to get to attached bathroom) and saw a mama and baby ibex, it appears they've installed a salt lick to attract them.
i did not approach them at all but they were out of sight in 5m....
pretty sure i am the only one who saw them....
pics are not great cause of distance...

21:07 Europe time 12:07 California time
Ray: Real ibex! What a treat.

21:43 Europe time 12:43 California time
Kent: That's a cool animal!  Those and chamois were hunted to the limit in the alps in the 18th/19th century
Kent:  Ibex had to be reintroduced from a different population







06:40 Switzerland time 22:40 California time



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06:44 Switzerland time 22:44 California time

07:57 Europe time 22:57 California time
Ray: It was a good night
Ray: I got wasted (again) tho the errors in the above the text were due to not having reading glasses on
Ray: Hung out for a few hours at a bar with a couple of young Swiss skilift workers and their weird Czech friend who would come and go
Ray: Marco is climbing Weissmies normal route in a couple of days with friends
Ray: He said the route's gotten slushy over the last few days like Allalinhorn
Ray: When I told them about our solo climbs this week they naturally thought that was stupid and remarked on all the fairly recent stories of tourists dying in the mountains
Ray: Marco said one or more people died on Lagginhorn a few days ago - I hadn't even brought up Lagginhorn
Ray: Now on bus to Visp to take train to Milan, where it's scorching hot.

Dusty:
When I planned this trip I realized that best light for pictures would require me to stay at the hut until at least 9 or 10am.
There was no way I could stick around, I had to get down, I had alot of work to do to climb down.
In hindsight I should have spent another night there, it was gorgeous.



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I see the same purple stains on the salt lick that I saw on the trail....



08:12 Switzerland time 00:12 California time

PANO - scroll right



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PANO - scroll right



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13:27 Switzerland time 05:27 California time

11:59 Europe time 02:59 California time
Dusty: Finally back at Berghaus Bäregg, couldn't get cell service all morning...
Dusty: I am whipped, that was awesome and challenging

Dusty:
My iphone came out of my pants front pocket and fell on a steep section of trail this morning while manuvering down an obstacle, i about shit myself....
I zipped it into my backpack until the trail got much less insane....

Berghaus Bäregg is a popular day hike for obvious reasons.
View from here is great, an hour later you can see a much better view including the obers ischmeer .....
Schreckhornhütte is only visible once you are almost there, and the best views are only from nearish that hut

Think i will crash in the Berghaus tonight, then maybe Martigny (one of the few cheap places in Switzerland at the moment) Friday, then perhaps Chamonix as a day trip from Martigny.
99chf half board here, and I can sit in the sun and watch the glaciers melt all afternoon.
Anywhere else will be warmer with fewer glaciers :)
How is the heat in Italy, Ms Loren? 😃

Dusty: Coming down was plenty of work....
Dusty: A few spots i wished there were more chains but it was all pretty well protected.
Dusty: Was fairly whipped by the time i got to this hut, made the decision to spend the night in this hut pretty easy...

12:23 Europe time 03:23 California time
Dusty: Cannot imagine hiking up there with climbing gear, and certainly cannot imagine going uphill from there!

Dusty: Seeing many of the folks having lunch on the way down like I am.
Dusty: Swiss family of 5 was up top, saw the son arrive an hour ago, the daughters arrived 30m ago, the parents just got here....

Dusty: The guide I chatted up last night just arrived at Berghaus Bäregg, awesome seeing everyone again today....

248pm, I am now camped out at the best spot on the corner with an umbrella for shade and cell service, which comes and goes and doesn't appear to work behind the building (where I ate lunch).
Still people filtering up for lunch and a heavenly view....

In 2019 i was able to book 4 star hotels in Austria and Italy I found on booking.com in person and get the same rate plus free dinner, which was freaking awesome.
Now I am unable to find any hotel that will beat their booking.com price, and now I know why...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/07/thousands-of-hotels-in-europe-to-sue-booking-com-over-abusive-practices




14:33 Europe time 05:33 California time
Kent: Looks awesome Dusty!  Those huts are rough when full up and most are ass kicking hikes up
Kent:  At least you didn't start in grindelwald
Kent:  Geneve really eats my cash!  Last year I lost a 50chf note somehow
Kent:  This year, pulled my phone out and a 5chf coin came out with it and rolled into train station drain right when my train pulled up
Kent:  I had enough time to photograph it anyway

14:37 Europe time 05:37 California time
Dusty: at least it is eating less cash this year



16:13 Switzerland time 08:13 California time



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16:20 Switzerland time 08:20 California time
view from my room



16:20 Switzerland time 08:20 California time

me:
Just got my bed
Apparently 3 other singles in my room tonight are not here yet so i got first pick ....
Eiger is visible from my bed 😃

 

16:20 Switzerland time 08:20 California time



16:59 Switzerland time 08:59 California time

14:57 Europe time 05:57 California time



Dusty: heard / saw a murmuration w a few dozens starlings(?) earlier...
Dusty: just heard / saw another with a few 100 now, pure heaven....

Dusty:
I am on my 2nd hef so far this afternoon (440pm)
The chef here is also the warden....
Very different vibe since they have a real lunch menu and kitchen and dozens of day hikers for lunch, unlike the very few other huts i have seen (Mönchsjochhütte was similar I guess).
last night dinner was tomato soup, salad, beef stew and polenta - the polenta was awesome, the rest was fine.
nothing like my lunch rosti, though.
i checked before ordering lunch today to make sure we weren't having rosti for dinner, once per day is plenty

16:57 Europe time 07:57 California time
Dusty: my murmation just flew by again, i enjoy those as much as the glaciers, perhaps even moreso since they are so fleeting....

Dusty: today gorgeous t shirt weather all afternoon, just now getting slightly brisk (5pm), perfect bluebird weather.

17:14 Europe time 08:14 California time
Dusty: where you at Kent?
Dusty: do you have a room Ray?

17:18 Europe time 08:18 California time
Dusty: The only place i have been in Milan other than the train station, airport, and a forgettable dinner somewhere was the Monkey Bar...
Dusty: I enjoyed it so much in 2017 I bought the t-shirt :)

17:52 Europe time 08:52 California time
Paul: You can get to Lake Como by train from Milan in like an hour if I recall
Paul: Would hopefully be less warm and would certainly be nicer
Paul: My memory of Milan was the duomo was great but the city was a lot of boring post-war construction

17:52 Europe time 08:52 California time
Paul: Varenna on Lake Como is pretty and a convenient train stop
Paul: If I recall, Kents parents had a connection with some folks that own a hotel there

18:04 Europe time 09:04 California time
Kent: That's true!  Wonderful place
Kent:  My parents went back many times to be with them
Kent:  I loved swimming in the lake
Kent:  My girl was just there a few weeks ago as well

20:26 Europe time 11:26 California time
Paul: Did you get onto the roof of the duomo?

20:30 Europe time 11:30 California time
Paul: Where you riding to?

20:42 Europe time 11:42 California time
Paul: Dang
Paul: Close to 100 in Verona? Dolomites? Even steamy there it seems

12:49 Europe time 03:49 California time
Ray: I am not reminded of home! It's a gorgeous 81 here in Milan and since I was starving I went straight to Bar Luce, Wes Anderson's bar
Ray: Good food and mellow ambiance
Ray: He didn't overdo it

14:08 Europe time 05:08 California time
Ray: About to tour Fondazione Prada, which is connected to Bar Luce, then heading to Duomo and museums.

Ray:
Awesome day touring half the city by Lime e-bike and checking out a whole bunch of Milano's best shite.
It got spooky around 6:30 w/o a hotel room lined up because my iphone and charger were almost dead.
But I landed a cheap one a block away from Sforza Castle.
Now finishing up my pizza and beer.
The temp dropped nicely around 7 and it's beautiful out.
No, tix were sold out when I got there.
If I stay tomorrow I will tour the Duomo and a few other things but also hankering to rent a moto and get on the road.

20:47 Europe time 11:47 California time
Ray: Amy wants me to check out Trieste 'cuz she wants to go
Ray: But I'd rather go to Ravenna
Ray: Both are on the coast but I'd still stop at Verona or Bologna despite the heat
Ray: Not a big deal
Ray: And nothing beats the inferno we experienced in 2017!
Ray: Amy said she would never go to Europe in the summer again after our 2018 Italy trip
Ray: Dusty, your Swiss hut hiking sounds amazing

Ray: Just back from dinner and a walk
Ray: Gorgeous out - high 70s with a breeze
Ray: No need for parka, long underwear, mittens and other Swiss vacation attire




12:30 Switzerland time 04:30 California time
Ray's pic



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Ray's pic



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Ray's pic



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Ray's pic



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Ray's pic



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Ray's pic



20:00 Switzerland time 12:00 California time
Ray's pic

Dinner at Berghaus Bäregg was salad, soup (yummy and flavorful, I should have asked about it) and spaghetti.
Nowhere near as exciting as the rosti I had for lunch.
They made a point of telling everyone there's plenty of spaghetti.
Someone at our table appearred to have rosti, I assume for a vegan meal.

I ate with three other singles.
One person never spoke a word
The other two were from Norway, one of them had gone up to Schreckhornhütte today as a day trip.
That is brutal and to be honest, nuts.

Earlier on this trip Ray and I had discussed a saying to the effect that "there's no such thing as bad weather, there's only being underdressed"
I first heard this saying from my German boss in 2014, he told me it is German saying.
Ray insisted it is a Norwegian saying.
My dinner companions assured me it is a Norwegian saying as well.
I determined they would only say this in Germany since the mountains in Germany aren't generally high enough to kill you, that saying is utter nonsense.

Since there are no climbers departing at 2am from this hut, there was a bit more nightlife, people playing games at tables etc.
I may have been the first to turn in, that was ok...

Previous
Wednesday August 6, 2025
Schreckhornhütte

Thursday August 7, 2025
Berghaus Bäregg
Next
Friday August 8, 2025
Martigny