After a lot of "circular" chilling it was high time for some "triangular" action again ;-P Unfortunately it was the middle of the week and none of my regular partners could escape their work commitments. So I went by myself. I parked the car between a bunch of expensive Porsches at the Ybrig colf course and headed out. Not even a hundred meters later a sign informed me that the trail I had in mind was closed due to fresh rockfall. Fine. Spontaneous change of plans. Turn around and head for another trail going up the other side of the same mountain. A few minutes in I encountered yet another sign that informed me that this trail was also closed, this time to protect some wildlife area. Fine. Yet another change of plans. Head for the signposted detour. A few meters up that there was a sign blocking the path telling me that it is closed due to ongoing forestry work. In effect the entire mountain was closed. At this point I decided to drop my stereotypical German adherance to rules and start ignoring any and all signs.
A good decision it turned out to be. While I could hear and see the loggers at a distance, we didn't bother each other at all. My trail goes up the North-Eastern flank of Diethelm, with beautiful views of the Wägitaler lake. While I did plan to climb Diethelm, I took a detour up Wyss Rössli first. A much less frequented summit that doesn't even feature a trail to the top (or a marked name on most maps). A bit of scrambling got me up to a nice summit cross that I enjoyed in perfect solitude.
After carefully retracing my steps back down I headed for the saddle between Diethelm and Turner and hiked along the long grassy but exposed ridge of Turner. The summit was a bit anti-climatic, not marked in any way and not very nice to hang out on. I didn't spend much time there and instead headed for the monarch in the region, Diethelm. This one features a proper trail to the summit, including some metal wires and ladders. I met three guys at the summit cross, two about to leave and the third hanging out for a long time, waiting for the clouds to clear and the views to open up. I sat for quite a while, contemplating views to the Wändlispitz, the mountain I fell off of more than 10 years ago.
I returned back to the car via the trail that was hit by rockfall, completing the circle around the mountain for a total of 1350m elevation and 16km. Comfortably fitting into a day so that I could have plenty of family time in the morning and evening. I didn't even bring any calories on the trip and returned home quite hungry ;-P
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