Alright I know I have already said it before but Swityerland is really beautiful. After about a 6 hour journey using 3 train connections from Zurich and 2 buses that followed a long and winding and treacherous route in the Swiss Alps, I finally made it to Grimety, a small little summer town. I met up with a friend, Thomas, and his friend Anne where we are sharing a cute little chalet of Hotel du Moiry. After a dinner of soup, I headed to bed.

Didnt sleep much because either got to hot or too cold during the night. At most Swiss hotels, they dont believe in top sheets here only a comforter wrapped in a duvet cover. So I get awfully warm at nights. Not having a good night sleep may be a prob hiking up the steep slopes.

In the morning the buses stopped going up to Barrage du Moiry (the dam) for the start of the winter season 15km up. So we tried to be creative by either, hitching, asking for rides from townsfolk or getting a taxi. In the end we decided to take the alternate and shorter route around the base of the mountain before heading up. So off we went.

It was a pleasant trip in the begining with a gradual ascent through the fur and pine forest. Then we really went up and up and up and up. There was a segment of the route that a rope handle was needed. You know its a steep climb went you can touch the slope just by holding your arm in front of you. We climbed up for about 4-5 hours straight. Thank God I had trekking poles.

The view, well, how can I say, was truly amazing. Check out the photos which by the way does not do justice to what you can actually see with the naked eye. We finally reached the top of that one mountain range where a ski lift is on. Also, in the spring, summer and fall they herd the cattle and livestock to these mountains so there is dung everywhere. and I do mean everywhere. I think there was a much cow s*** as they were trees. It was like walking thru a mine field of crap. Funny i slipped once on my butt and when I looked to my left I missed a heaping pile by about 2 inches. eeek.

The way down was also just as bad. Lots of switchbacks and it was rather steep heading down. A slip in the wrong place and you will be tumbling down a ways. We finallz got down to town were we met up with another friend of Thomas, Kevin. He pursuaded us to continue to Zinal were we had reservations for the night. But it was late in the afternoon and the hike was about 4 hours plus. I was afriad we get there near or at night fall and you dont want to hike in a mountain after dark. But off we went. After about 6 hours of hiking we did another 6 hours. Up another mountain we go. uugh.

It was beautiful but after a while we were all tried and in some pain. It got cold and around 7pm as the sun was about to hide behind the mountain top we got to our hotel near the top of the mountain. It was an old hotel built at 1833...bathrooms and showers were separate. After a meal and shower I went to bed.

The next day the weather went from bad to worse. The cloud ceiling dropped and it started to heavy drizzle. We met a 30 yr old Indian who just moved to Paris from SanFran and he accompanied us on the hike. I tell you it was harsh. There was little visibility beyond 75feet and the higher we went the colder, windier, and wetter it became. Then it started to snow. I layered up pretty well and had a thick plastic poncho on. that helped. I used socks as gloves. Climbing up the mountain almost seemed to go without end. The path up even disappeared into the clouds at most places. Many of the path went along the mountain edge. One slip and you can tumble off the mountiain. Coming down was also difficult becuase the rain made the rocks slippery and the ground muddy. I was a mess by the time I got down. Throughout the trek I was front of the group, often times leaving them behind by about 5-10 minutes. My competitive streak hit me then... it didnt have to. We all got to our next cabin safe.

The next morning, parts of the cloud opened up to reveal what lays ahead if we decided to climb again... snow and more cold. At that time we abandoned the climb to Zermatt. It was just too dangerous without the propert winter gear such as crampons and ice picks. Since there wasnt a bus that led from the small village to the train station we had to walk for 8km or 5 miles down the road and take the cable car down to Turtmann to catch the train back to to the big cities.

Boy this wasnt easy but it was exciting and fun. We had to figure out how to get out of the Alps.