Hoch Geissberg (2396m)

Sitting at the breakfast table with the family, getting the kid ready for school. Looking out the window into a gray, overcast and rainy day. Scrolling around the weather map on my phone. Found the one spot in Switzerland that showed just a cloud symbol instead of a cloud with rain. Rain was expected, but only later in the afternoon. Applied a ton of wishful thinking and spontaneously decided to go climb the nearest interesting looking mountain in the vicinity. Dropped the younger kid off at Krippe, bought some supplies at Migros and continued on to the mountain. This is how professionals plan and organize hiking trips ;-P

Very nice trail across the pastures. It continued like this for a long time. Hard to imagine how much (manual) labor it must have been to built these walls.

First glimpse of the summit.

Dammed lake with overflows.

My gamble should pay off in a big way! Not only did I get super lucky with the choice of mountain and route, but I even had a few hours of blue sky! It's a T4 trail with a few exposed sections that are protected by metal cables. The higher I got, the more doubts crept in whether the route would actually be possible in these conditions. I had to cross successively larger and dicier patches of snow. But once I reached the bottom of the ramp to the summit there was no stopping me. With the target in sight I activated beast mode and dug steps for 500 meters of elevation gain through wet snow. Super satisfying to get the engine going and motoring up a slope like that.

T4 trail.

Blue skies! My gamble is paying off!

A cross on top of the steep cliff. The summit is still 500 meters or so of climbing away.

It was windy and cold on the summit and dark clouds were moving in menacingly. I didn't spend much time and quickly started my way back down. Raindrops started falling 20 minutes before I got back to the car. Success!

16km, 1777m, 5:21h

Long ramp.

Steep to the left.

Steep to the right.

Lone footsteps. The juxtaposition between civilization in the valley and my position in this snowy deserted wilderness felt unreal. Two worlds, so close and yet so far.

This required effort!

Summit!

Summit ridge.

Different stride length on the way up vs down ;-P

I'd often be balls deep in the snow. Tiring. Also a perfect fit for my running shoes ;-P

Curious cow came running towards me.

Love how they repurposed / changed the sign.

So many waterfalls crossing the road. One more beautiful than the next.

Bench with a view.

Back in the rain. Just in time.