Swiss Via Alpina Day 3: Klausenpass to Engelberg
Monday 6/26/23
Klausenpass to Engelberg, 32.7 miles, 7,333ft gain, 9,902ft loss, 4:53am start, 12 hrs 40 min (Strava activity)
The morning started with mindblowingly beautiful scenery at sunrise along Urnerboden, Switzerland's largest alp. I hiked along and looking down into a deep valley and then eventually plunged the 4,000ft downhill into it! It was a fun, zippy way to start the morning, but my already-tired quads took quite a beating right from the start of the day.
By the time I reached the town of Altdorf, it was hot and sunny out. The ascent out of town was very steep following an old cobblestone road, and I was sweaty, getting attacked my bugs, and exposed in the sun.
Something that’s been blowing my mind about the towns and villages throughout the Swiss Alps are the homes and farms situated on perilously steep foothills and mountainsides. How any kind of car, carriage, wagon, or anything with wheels can maneuver up and down these steep and winding roads is completely mind boggling. It is clearly just a way of life here!
From the valley to the mountain pass it was a 6,000ft steady climb, and much of it very steep. Near the top I encountered my first snowfield, which made me nervous as part of it went over a raging stream. Once I stepped onto the snowfield It was clear that the snow was very thick, solid, and deep going over the stream and not in any danger of breaking, but I still scurried across as quickly as I could, feeling unnerved. I worked very hard to scramble over the last steep bit of snow to the top (Surenenpass), and once I arrived I had to stop, gasp, and crouch over and rest my head on the top of my hiking pole. Another woman hiker was at the top having a rest and we were both excited to find each other- another solo woman hiking the Via Alpina! I thanked her for giving me footsteps to follow in the snow on the way up. The next descent would lead to Engelberg, and from there I had one more mountain pass to climb and about 8 miles to get to Engstlenalp. However, it had been a big day to that point and my legs, body, and mind) were toast. I felt very intimidated about the prospect of another big climb.
Ending my day early in Engelberg would mean forfeiting my room and payment for lodging in Engstlenalp, it would throw off my plans and lodging reservations for the rest of the hike, and it would put me behind in my FKT attempt, but I really felt like I needed to stop. I stumbled into an inn at Engelberg a little after 5pm and asked if they had any rooms available, and they did. Arriving in my room all I wanted to do was collapse on the floor, but I had chores to do. Shower, charge electronics, wash my salty, stinky clothes in the sink, figure out breakfast and food for the next day, find somewhere open for dinner (not easy on a Monday evening) cancel the rest of my lodging for the week. I treated myself to a hot meal of chicken curry and rice a couple doors down then finally collapsed into bed.
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