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Jeroo Irani

Tourists flock to the Swiss mountains in the hundreds to experience the raw power of nature and hike through its mountains and ridges.

If the mountains could be flattened with a hot iron, Switzerland would be one of the largest countries in Europe. And yet you can fly all over the country in 14 minutes, one of our guides told us. As we explored the sharp mountains and the rumpled ridges of this alpine region, we began to understand the paradox. The mountains beckoned and we could not resist their siren call. On our last day, we decided to experience the raw power of nature by hiking from Bussalp to Bort in the First Region, which has more than 90 km of hiking trails.

We took a bus from Grindelwald to Bussalp, at the crack of dawn when sunrise had painted the Eiger Mountain, visible from our room, in delicate shades of pink and lavender. Fifteen minutes into the bus ride and we had our first brush with danger. The bus stalled, for immense boulders of ice had blocked the path. But within minutes, we were on our way, for help in Switzerland is always at hand and the path was cleared in a trice.

When the bus left us at Bussalp, near an impossibly high snow bank, my fears returned. (Fortunately, we were warmly clad and even had on special hiking boots that we had rented from a sports goods store down in Grindelwald.) We had never trekked in the snow before and were afraid that we would be hopelessly out of shape. Snow lay in soft drifts ahead. What if we slipped headlong, fractured an arm or a leg? Got buried alive in a blizzard?

The blood of great explorers does not course through my veins and so I contemplated the glitter of the snow-clad valleys and towering cliffs of ice with a sense of desperation. Our first step... whoosh... slipping sliding, falling backwards, my companion and I clutched wildly at each other. Slowly we found our snow legs and soon the deep pine forests with their snow-laden trees seemed less hostile.

Fortunately our four-hour hike was on level land and we met just a few other hikers. There were occasional chalets along the way, ear-deep in snow, looking benignly like each other. They were all shuttered for the winter. From time to time, we consulted our map, indicating the trains, funiculars and chairlifts connecting the various peaks and slopes. It all looked so deceptively tame and simple, giving no hint of the heights and depths and topographical complexities that lay ahead.

Snowflakes fell softly and we tried to catch them on our tongues and on our palms. Occasionally, the path seemed to have been hewn out of a great precipice, and we sloshed through, chatting at times to pass the time. The sun blazed and we felt hot under the collar only to feel cold as we reached a shady glen. Our tan deepened to a tomato-red; not only did the sun shine directly overhead, it also reflected off the snow.

After about two hours into the hike, we met a couple, who told us that there was a restaurant with a breathtaking view up ahead. As we crested a small hill — it lay below us — a café in the middle of nowhere ... basically a small chalet with around 10 tables and chairs spread on sun-splashed snow. The owner sported sunglasses and heavy boots, and also waited at tables, managing to manoeuvre herself over huge piles of snow. As we sipped our coffee, we saw a startling sight — the sky above was streaked with purple, yellow, red, green paragliders. They swung, wafted and soared overhead like passing sun gods.

We continued with what seemed like a forbidding journey, along a sign posted trail. The path now ahead of us dipped and curved into a gentle valley of what seemed like freshly fallen snow. And in the distance, we could see Bort station, with its gondolas and chair lifts for skiers. But there was no trail. We had lost the path. It had disappeared into soft hard snow dunes. At one point we found ourselves knee deep in snow, managed to pull ourselves out and stood tottering on a patch of hard ice.

Around us the mountains rose, seeming to burst with malicious intent. The raw power of nature can be both awesome and unforgiving. Up above, we could see skiers tearing down the hill from Bort station. Others curved lazily, seeming to furl and unfurl their bodies. We knew that if we collided into the skiers, we could be pole-vaulted into the sky.

Exhaustion had seeped into my bones and my legs felt like dead weights. My head was reeling. In the distance, Bort ski station with its swinging gondolas bearing skiers and non-skiers shimmered tauntingly like a mirage. So near yet so far.

Finally we decided to slip and slide downhill, hysterical with fear and excitement as we bumped our way down on our derrieres. Now up above us rose the slopes where skiers blazed their individual trails. We had to get to Bort station to take the gondola to Grindelwald. But waves of skiers kept schussing down, close enough to touch. Suddenly, there was a lull in the pressure of skiers. We sprinted uphill to Bort station, breathless with exhilaration and fear.

Brandishing our ski passes (which allowed us to use all the ski lifts, gondolas, 42 mountain railways and funiculars in the region), we got into a swaying gondola and swung out to Grindelwald. In the fading light, the grand skiing slopes seemed to glitter with an ambient light. We congratulated ourselves for finding Grindelwald and in a sense, ourselves.

Fact file

How to get there: Swiss International Airlines operates direct flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Zurich.

Where to stay: There are a number of hotels and private apartments with attached kitchens, which are very affordable if rented out by the week.

How to get around: A Swiss Rail pass (valid for the number of days of your choice) allows you to travel on any train, bus or steamboat on the national transport system around the country.

Interlaken is the transit point for Grindelwald in the Jungfrau region. However, in these mountains, which are serviced by private railways, the pass is valid only up to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. A ski pass or its equivalent in summer gives one almost unlimited access to these facilities for the duration of its validity.

Ski equipment — as also hiking/trekking boots — may be rented from shops in Grindelwald as well as in other towns.

Tips: For more information, contact the office of the Switzerland Tourism in Mumbai, Ph: (022) 2287 2210, 2287 0122. For the Swiss Rail pass and apartments, contact the Swiss Tours offices in Mumbai. Ph: (022) 281 4829 or e-mail them at federico.sommaruga@switzerlandtourism.ch

Picture by the author.

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