8. The Glacier at Grindelwald 1970

Note.  Due to global warming this glacier no longer exists. Most of it melted!  please visit this site for an explanation.

I can not remember much about the hostel in Grindelwald except that it was beautiful, large and shaped like a mountain chalet.  It was also hung high up the side of one of the mountains overlooking the town!  It was quite a hike.

  I arrived early afternoon so had to wait until 4:00 to check in to get a bed for the next two nights.  After getting settled I left the six bed men's dorm room, (we were separated by sex during those days unless we were there as a family) and went back downstairs to the common room.  There I met a couple traveling by car that were looking for company to share auto expenses for a couple of days.  Three of us joined them. They were planning on visiting the lower glacier the next day, returning for the night and then heading into Italy over the next few days.  In the ravine, in front of the glacier, pink marble could be quarried as the ice melted and it was quite famous.

Morning found us shopping in the market for the days lunch. Before Rick Steves there was "Europe on five dollars a day".  I took the hint and bought a roll, 1/4th kilo each of cheese and sliced meat and viola! I had bought lunch and sometimes supper too!  Then we were in the van for the trip to the parking lot near the trail to the glacier.  We hiked up to and into the glacier paths and tunnels through and over and alongside the glacier.  It was a combination of chilly air and sweaty exertion at the same time.



When we came out we settled in for our lunch alongside a stream off the glacier.  We finished lunch, shared a joint and mellowed out watching the stream come of the glacier in the form of a very tall waterfall and then streaming down the side of the mountain in a rock bed.  Then someone gets the bright idea to get refreshed in the waterfall (translated - skinny dip in the waterfall and see who can stand the cold water for the longest).  It wasn't me.  I only lasted about 28 seconds.  One of the girls lasted for about 34 seconds.  We quickly dressed to warm back up and meet back downstream to head back to the van.

I am still wearing my new leather sandals that were handmade for me in Troy, NY with special rubber tread soles.  They were still  not completely broken in and I slipped on the rocks bordering the stream.  I then slid on my bottom down the wet solid rock bank for about thirty feet, gaining speed and then going over the side for another six foot drop in the air into a stream that was only about a foot and a half deep with a solid rock bottom on my behind!  The whole fall seemed to be in slow motion with me thinking over and over again I was going to break a leg and ruin my whole trip.  I did not break any bones or bleed from any cuts.  My friends helped me up and I managed with their help to walk back down the trail to the van and we returned to the hostel for a change into dry clothes and a cup of hot chocolate.  A plus to the day was that my sandals stretched and dried in the shape of my feet and fit perfectly for the next two years.

BTW - I just learned that I had a setting wrong on comments.  You can now comment on the posts.  Sorry it took so long to find it.