Day started with no clouds. By the time we finished breakfast and got to the train station it was 10 and clouds were starting to form.
| This is a very large amount of German beer. |  |
| Notice the warning signs: flammable and the other one. I am not sure what the dead tree and dead fish on a rock mean, but I am glad I do not drink. |  |
| I forgot it took 2 hours to get to Schynigge Platte, the place we start the hike. The signs say it takes 4 hours 10 minutes. It is 12:30. We should be okay. | |
| Starting out cheerful in the wind |  |
| Dan and Kristin do not seem worried |  |
| The view is nice |  |
| Look how far we have come. |  |
| Sadly we have been walking for 2 hours and the sign says we have 3 hours 10 minutes left. We stopped for quick lunch of cheese and bread and food from Sprouts | |
| We still have a ways to go |  |
| Are we there yet? |  |
| Beauty at the top of the mountain |  |
| It has been 3 hours and we get our first glimpse of the hotel. It is the bump on the right at the top of the peak |  |
| A restaurant in the middle of nowhere |  |
| Still more climbing |  |
| And more |  |
| Still smiling |  |
| A bit concerned about the clouds and wind |  |
| That last bit looks steep. |  |
| It is |  |
| Made it! |  |
The hotel was a bit informal. It was 175 years old. We could not tell where the front door was. There were 2 building joined by a covered passageway. The door in one building said Restaurant. The other building had 2 doors. One said toilette and the other said nothing. I went for the door #3 that said nothing. Good choice. I bumped into people who said go to the restaurant door. I went back to the restaurant door and asked the first person I met how to register. She said she didn’t work there. I was discovering this was a low key resort. I did not think it was self service though. The check-in lady walked in just then and we checked in. The light was to dark for my old tired eyes to read so the check-in lady had to point to the places I needed to fill in the information. I assume it was check-in information and not a life insurance form I was filling out.
Once the forms were complete she walked us to our rooms. We again crossed the open passageway to door #3. She showed us the indoor toilet room. It contained a toilet, a waste basket, and a bucket of water in case the first flush was not enough water. We then removed our shoes before starting back to our rooms and then started to get really cold. We went up a few steps to the hallway and there were 2 10 watt light bulbs down the 50 feet of hallway to our rooms. There were doors on one side of the hall. That wall was slanted 20 degress back from perpendicular. I assume it was intentional and did not happen from the wind that day. At the end of the hall were steps cut into the bedrock that led up to our rooms. At the top of those stairs were 2 candles. 1 for light and 1 for heat. Just kidding. Both were for light.
At this point we are glad we are late as she tells us supper starts at 6pm and it is 5:45. The restaurant has a real heater!!! We quickly unpack and head for the heat where they also serve food.
Not surprisingly there are only 3 groups there that night. Since we are last to arrive we are farthest from the heater. The check-in lady is the waitress. She and her husband stay up there 6 weeks and go home for 1 week during the season from April (May?) to Oct. She is very nice and shows us pictures of the phenomenal sunset and sunrise that we missed the previous night and morning. We order hot chocolate and wrap our fingers around the cups to bring feeling back into them.
We start talking to the German group next to us and find out we are in the midst of a storm. One of the Germans in the group clears the path from the First chairlift to the hotel throughout the winter. I did not ask him if he does this for fun or if there was any purpose to clearing a path to a closed hotel on the top of a mountain in the middle of winter. The owner goes outside to strap the tables down and take down the flag so it does not blow away.
Kristin and Dan go to bed and we stay up talking to the Germans. Nice people. Nicer heat in the restaurant. We can hear the wind whipping and moaning outside. We finally ask for the hot water bottle bed warmers and make our way to our room.