It takes few hikes to learn the importance of the right hiking gear (including clothes…), as every small item that one doesn’t need is a liability growing exponentially in proportion to the distance away from the base and physical exhaustion. Within 30 minutes, we felt rather good as the valley of Gerschnialp opened up at 4300 feet with green vistas, Engelberg in the backdrop, alpine farmer houses, and the ski school for beginners that still has enough snow in early and late winters for attempting initial descents and working on technique. We discussed coming back here during the coming Christmas break and having a ski holiday with the kids. And, with gentle slopes behind us, the first real taste of alpine hiking hit us hard as the cable cars raced ahead, and the last mile to Trübsee (while visible from a distance) went through never-ending steep curves, that we thought will take just 15 minutes. As if that’s not enough, we had some more humbling enroute, during a rather juvenile banter with folks whose first climb up the Titlis was 55 years ago. Finally, we reached Trübsee around 11am and for us the most exciting part was the breakfast – Swiss muesli, bouillon, bread and hot tea, with pristine views of Trübsee in the backdrop (the alpine lake that freezes in winters).
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