Magic Mountain_3

7_GLACIERS
Half an hour beyond Obersteinberg we reached a plateau at Schaflager. Traces of retreating glaciers dotted along the the foot of adjacent mountains. Clear sighting of disappeared glaciers raised every hiker's deep concern. Bare glacial deposit exposed as ashes beneath tiny bits of thinning tongues. Some experts warned that Alpine glaciers would disappear entirely by 2050. Judging by what we had seen (despite the time of high summer), perhaps the experts were already over-optimistic.


8_OBERHORESEE
Another hour of steep climb took us to our final destination - a tiny glacial lake at the altitude of 2065m, Oberhoresee (a). As inexperienced hikers, we were overjoyed by reaching this remote destination, almost six hours after we left Gimmelwald. We seated ourselves on a rock, took off our backpacks and jackets. Right away we found ourselves busy taking photos in front of the tiny turquoise lake, in which the Jungfrau imprinted her sacrosanct reflections (b)(c)(d). No one among the dozen or so hikers who rested around the water dared to take a dip into the close-to-freezing water. Some hikers took out their food, some their binoculars, and some, including AC, preferred to take a nap on a rock - an experience that she later described as "eyelid and snow-mountains" (all you can see are the snow-capped mountains when you open your eyes, as simple as that).

9_ALPINE HIGHLANDS
Behind Oberhoresee stood the summit of Breithorn and her glaciers. For 30 minutes we lingered on this peaceful highland around the lake (a). Wild Alpine flowers, mainly in white, purple and yellow, carpeted the ground up to the snowline. Honeybees buzzed and butterflies fluttered up and down (b). Again our hearing was dominated by the sound of running water, mainly from the glaciers of Breithorn and beyond. At Oberhoren we got a chance to cross a small bridge and headed up to the hut at Schmadrihutte(c). That would take us probably another 60-75 minutes. We didn't take it. We had to conserve energy for the long descend ahead. Mini waterfalls cascaded down the mountain, along a path that led us to loop around the highland (d). At around 15:30, we decided to journey back down, as we had no plan to stay the night outdoor.

Magic Mountain _2

4_PATH TO OBERSTEINBERG
At the altitude of around 1800m we reached an open slope under the steep cliffs of Tanzbodeli. We followed the signed pathway towards the east side of Tanzbodeli and reached an overhanging pathway where we came face to face with the majestic Jungfrau (a). Glacial water streamed down the snowline, making us wonder how much longer before all these glaciers are gone (b). We came so close to these famous peaks all by ourselves, as if the two of us were the only visitors to the 'magic mountain'. Comparing to the year-round busy Jungfraujoch mountain railway station on the other side of the summit, where I visited ten years ago with my parents, this Jungfrau in front of us stood as if a different mountain (c). The high path ended at another green slope fenced off for cow grazing (d). This was the point where I mis-read the map and thought we should have followed a higher path. As I attempted to find our way through the grazing slope to reach my imaginary higher path, a shepherd appeared from nowhere and instructed me the right way - a short descend below the slope to the restaurant of Obersteinberg.


5_LUNCH
We reached Obersteinberg at around 12:45. On a bench facing the Talback Falls, we had our lunch - 2 cans of corn-beef, 1 can of tuna and 1 loaf of bread. We bought most of our food supplies the day before from the Migros supermarket at the Basel railway station. We knew that we would not find any grocery shop at Gimmelwald, and nothing would be open in Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen by the time we arrived. Unbeatable scenery. Simple but delicious food. Pure glacier water. Zero complain.


6_STREAMS
After lunch, we turned our back towards Jungfrau and made our way further south towards the glaciers of Breithorn. We passed by numerous waterfalls (a), crossed the Tschingel Litschina (b) and other glacial streams at several occassions. As we approached closer to this deep end of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, the peaks of Jungfrau and Monch formed a magnificent backdrop behind us. At this time of the day, this west face of the mountains was completely bathed in the afternoon sun (c).