Friday, July 26, 2013

Sunnegga Paradise - Day Four

Today's destination is a sun terrace above the city of Zermatt called Sunnegga Paradise...a tempting attraction for tourists with its fantastic hiking trails, and beautifully forested hillsides...we were in for a treat.

We began our journey after breakfast by taking a "funicular"-- I suspect most of you don't know what this is, so here goes...    A funicular is quite an experience as it runs UNDERGROUND and on a steep angle, straight up through the mountain.  The train is sloped or diagonal as you can see in this photo I took.


As we boarded the train (with a few hundred Japanese tourists), I commented to the group that it probably has to go quite slow to get up this steep slope.  As soon as the train started we were thrust up the mountain at rocket speed!  I had the last laugh!

So, how does this thing work?   It is essentially a cable railway in which a cable is attached to a pair of "trains" and moves them up and down a steep slope.  These ascending and descending trains counterbalance each other.  The two train cars are always attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the slope.  Counterbalancing the two trains minimizes the energy needed to lift the train going up, so the weight of the one train is pulling the other train up the mountain.  Now you can add "funicular" to your Swiss vocabulary...



Here's a stock photo of one at Sunnegga Paradise.


When you come out of the funicular, you are at a ski lift and come out into a wide open area (Sunnegga means "Sun Terrace") that gives you the best view of the Matterhorn in the valley.    



I must hand it to the Swiss...they are the most organized and detail-oriented people on the planet.  This is a photo of one of their many hiking trail signs....you would think they run a public transportation system up here!  This sign is impressive and tells you how much time each hiking destination should take from this point.   In Utah, we don't even get signs, just little piles of rocks called "cairns" that somehow point the way as you hike from cairn to cairn...and any old mischevious hiker could build a cairn where ever he chooses just to "throw you off"...



You KNOW you are in Switzerland when all you see around you are Japanese people...even some of the Swiss signs, books, and pamphlets are in Japanese, if that says something about the type of revenue they bring into to this country.  Notice the woman in the center holding up a flower (sometimes it is a fan)....she is the leader of this group and trying to get their attention.  


Mark....and a beautiful woman...:)


Josh Smith, one of our guides, discusses with Steve and Kathy, which trail we will take.


 No...not again...it can't be....these two people don't realize how tiresome it gets for their friends to see them in front of the Matterhorn!  Now WE are the ones acting like Japanese tourists!



As we started on the trail down to a pond, we heard alpine horns playing some music...they were just beautiful and sounded almost like a symphony.  As we walked down the hill we saw them...how neat that the Swiss people would greet us in this way....but wait...what's wrong with this next set of pictures?





These aren't Swiss people, but JAPANESE!  The Japanese have taken over Switzerland...we laughed for quite a few minutes at the sight of this...wondered if they were part of their own tour group entertaining their own people...it was very unexpected...and funny.  Now we KNOW that we are in Switzerland!


We were totally entertained by this sight and had a hard time leaving.  These people were all so jovial and happy to be together, chatting away with each other.  That they planned this trip to the extent that they delved into the culture is commendable.  They certainly have my respect...


Walking along the pond...


Taking photos of the Matterhorn...again...:)




Can you see the miniature frog in the center of the photo?  As we would walk through this area, they would jump out of the grass like crickets.  We had to be careful not to step on them...yuck.


So, because the skies were a bit overcast, this gave the perfect lighting for taking wildflower photos. I will confess that I went a bit wildflower crazy....bear with me, as there was beauty all around and I just couldn't let it go un-photographed.  I will identify the rest of these flowers later, but for now, just enjoy their beauty.

Rock daisy...


Wolly Thistle....






Dianthus....


Mountain bellflower...


Next we hiked through an old Swiss village...like the one you would have read about in the novel "Heidi."  It was such a beautiful hike and the architecture fascinated me the most...after the flowers. :)



These homes are refurbished from over a hundred years ago.  The Swiss of long ago would house their animals on the main or lower floor of the home.  The body heat generated by several animals would rise up through the floor and heat the upper level, where the family would live.



Another thing I love about the Swiss culture...always prepared with several cords of firewood, cut uniformly and stacked by summer for the next winter.  We saw woodpiles in front of every private home in Zermatt..and they were meticulous.  We could learn a lot from the Swiss..


 The post-and-beam timber work was all done with hand tools...I cannot imagine cutting through a huge beam today without a chain saw...:)

Many of the homes had stone foundations, to keep the wood from touching the ground and rotting.



Nikki and Josh had plenty to tell us about how the Swiss built these homes.


Another home...



There were so many wildflowers in this village too...






See how the wooden part of the home is up off the foundation?  See those stone-like discs at the base of each foundational support?  Those are called "staddle stones" which were originally used as supporting bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders.  The staddle stones lifted the building above the ground thus protecting it from rodents and water seepage.  Somehow that smooth stone is just not enough for a rodent to get a grip on, and he slides off....good to know, huh?  

It was originally used for old granaries to keep the rodents from spoiling the village's food supply.  The idea transferred over to homes and most that we saw had staddle stones, as you will see in the next few photos.  



A real Swiss village in the Alps...




This little garden supplied a little restaurant with delicious salad greens.


Rhubarb was growing wild on the hillside...most was bolting (producing a flower stalk for seed production) which doesn't affect the taste of the stems... but never eat the leaves, they are poisonous from all the oxalic acid in them.



More staddle stones...I imagine that the air circulation under the building helped keep the grain dry also.

 How scenic to see an old church with the Matterhorn behind it.




Slate-roofed homes...just beautiful in its art and construction.



Like the old bobsled on the wall...




If you are going to have a staddle stone, at least make it look attractive....


Hand-carved wooden mushrooms...what else would you do to pass the long winter?


These people don't let a tree go to waste...perfect flower box.


The Swiss are my new friends...such gardeners.


Leaving the old Swiss village for Hansel and Gretel's forest...


Pines, firs and spruce filled the forest...felt like I might need to leave a trail of bread crumbs...


The forest had so many wildflowers that every time I spotted a new one, I had to photograph it.












This staddle stone just isn't going to perform its function well...it's...uh...sitting right on the ground!  Must have been a replica...


Now, that's better...




Water pouring out of the mountain!  Formed a gushing torrent of a river that 
joined up with the Gornera River in Zermatt.


Will you ever forgive me?  Yes, more wildflowers...




Mark and Josh talking sports as they walk through the forest.


Raspberries growing in the wild.  These should have been blooming a month ago, 
but the season is one month behind due to the cold, wet winter.



 They are NOT discussing wildflowers...


So cute...I think every Japanese person is given a camera at birth...:)


The trees must perpetuate!




A close-up shot of the train's cograil system...



I like how this fence is constructed and kept in good repair...didn't see any broken fence slats anywhere!   I don't recall seeing any trash, or graffiti in the village either.  The canton of Valais is known for its expectation that each person is responsible for their needs, not the government.  The people take care of their own health care too...no government intervention. People can leave their expensive mountain bikes unlocked in front of their homes, and no one steals them.  I saw mountain climbers leave their backpacks filled with expensive gear outside while they would go into a restaurant to eat....this truly is paradise. :)  Very little, if any, crime in this posh resort town.



A cog rail train coming down from Sunnegga.


Moss growing on the rooftops...


We stopped at a park to eat lunch...a simple, yet delicious spread of Swiss bread, cheeses, meats, chips, chocolate, and the sweetest fruit on earth.  Nikki brought along her Opinel knife, a fold-up knife (made in France) to cut the food...everyone, including ourselves, wanted to own such a knife like this so we could cut up food on the trail when we hike.  


The knife, which she carries on all her hikes, stays sharp for years.  She cut this cantaloupe, which she lugged up in her pack, in no time.  Definitely the BEST cantaloupe I have eaten in my life...didn't know they could taste this good!


As we walked into town (Zermatt), we saw this grand hotel.


The Matterhorn became my fascination over the next day as I learned about 
Edward Whymper and the first dramatic ascent (and tragedy) of the Matterhorn.


Toured the Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt, which was underground.



The first seven climbers of the Matterhorn reached the summit in 1865. Catastrophe followed after they began their descent.  Four of those first climbers fell to their deaths when their rope snapped....a stock photo below shows the exact rope.  




The history of the ski....wood and leather bindings in the old days.


This green light marks the route Whymper took on his first ascent up the Matterhorn.  
It's the route that most people take today.


This interesting photo shows Ulrich Inderbinen (1900-2004) on the right.  He was a Swiss mountain guide who climbed the Matterhorn 371 times.  He gained worldwide attention during the 125th Anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn, when he made his last ascent at the age of 90.  He still led his 1983 tourists with a hemp rope around his belly through the glacier breaks...had no interest in modern methods of backup.   He died at 104 years old.  Now I have no excuse to try new things at my age...:)   I found his obituary so interesting, that I pasted the link here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ulrich-inderbinen-6167377.html



 Some gravestones outside the church of men who lost their lives climbing a mountain...not what I needed to see while hiking in the Alps...:)




After we were done touring the museum, Mark and I grabbed our daypacks and headed up to the Edelweiss Restaurant, pictured below, about 2,000 feet above the valley floor...we wanted to get more hiking in and since the group was done for the day, we headed off on our own.


Here's a close-up of our destination...

We walked through Zermatt in the direction of the Post Office, where the trailhead began.  Many of the trails here wind through people's private property...but, hey, they are Swiss and are okay with that!  I like these people more and more each day....:)


What are those metal clips on the roof?  They are snow guards that are designed to keep the snow ON the roof!  Have you ever seen a slab of snow melt slowly and start to slide off the roof?  Well, no one enjoys getting clobbered with a ton of snow when it finally slides off, so these metal guards are designed to keep the snow on the roof.  The metal also conducts heat which helps the snow to melt a little faster than it otherwise would do.


We had a lovely view of Zermatt as we started on the trailhead.



The clipped in logs also help keep the snow from sliding off...see the slate roof design?


I can't speak highly enough of the Swiss people...aside from posting highly-detailed signs at every fork in the trail, they paint directional arrows and lines along the entire trail (on the rocks, etc.) just to help you along your way!


This is just a little junction in the trail, but look at all the information they give you!


My garden fetish manifests itself again...they grow their food anywhere they have soil.



Avalanche fences keep the snow from cascading down onto the village.




As we were hiking up the trail, we came to a Swiss ghost town!  We wandered through the overgrowth of bushes, trees and flowers, and found this ancient Swiss cabin...from his facial expression, he looks a little ticked off.

The hay mow....


The Swiss ghost town...see the staddle stones?




On the way up to the Edelweiss Restaurant is this beautiful waterfall...



A catch basin...


Mark couldn't believe we did two major hikes in one day...he did great on the uphills.


This steep climb was through a beautiful mature forest...in the shade...:)


I had to get a closer look at the flowers...


This is a strange-looking one...


We made it in about 40 minutes to the restaurant and decided to go another 
mile up the canyon to a spectacular waterfall.


Wildflowers lined the trail on both sides...



The water was pouring right out of the mountain, through a pipe.






The "J" shape at the base of these trees is formed when winter snows push downhill
against them as they grow, making them bend over the years.





Our view of beautiful Zermatt as we came down.



So picturesque...


Poppies growing in someone's yard...



They certainly know how to dress up a window box...


The tennis courts in the main square of Zermatt...


The grocery store (Migros) where we shopped.


Had dinner out at the Pollux T-Bar & Disco...didn't dance...:)



D.J. & Jen Todd, and their friend Rob were in our tour group.


Steve and Kathy Miner


Mark  & I getting ready to order from a menu in German....


Prashant and Annie...


Arti & Prashant


Josh and Nikki, our tour guides


My delicious dinner only had one thing wrong with it...it had eyes...











2 comments:

  1. I am loving all of the beautiful pictures! I miss Switzerland. From our backpacking trip around Europe, Switzerland is the one place that I dream of going back too. It looks like you are having fun. Savor every minute of your trip - soon you will back home to dishes and daily chores. ENJOY!!!! You are missed!

    ReplyDelete