Winter Walk and Tobogganing at Melchsee Frutt

Wednesday February 13 -- We have been having some very nice winter weather, lots of sunshine lately which looks great when the landscape is covered in an expansive blanket of snow.

This Wednesday we went for a winter walk in the large vehicle-free upper plateau of the Obwalden Alps between the Melchtal Valley and the Engelberg Valley. Namely between Melchsee Frutt and Tannalp, There are no trees up here, just snow as far as the eye can see. 

The walk itself was not particularly interesting though, a 10 km roundtrip with a nice lunch at the halfway point at the Tannalp Gasthaus which is open all winter. You walk on a typical wide prepared trail, but the lack of trees and the frozen-over lakes makes the landscape somewhat monotonous after all. Or maybe it was because I forgot my sunglasses, so the glare was hard on the eyes. But it was tranquil and the sun was warm.

To get up here, you take a gondola cable-car from Stöckalp in the Melchtal Valley. Getting back down becomes more interesting, as there is an 8-km toboggan run, the longest in central Switzerland (in summer you can rent a trottinette for the descent). We brought our sleds along and saved on rentals (we locked them up near the cable-way station so didn't take them on our walk) and the 35-minute descent at the fastest possible speed was the best part of the day! Also, we made it back to the bus stop with just two minutes to spare, which was a good thing, because we were wet and cold and wouldn't have appreciated having to wait another hour for the next bus....

The bus from Sarnen brings you into the Melchtal Valley, to the cable-car station at Stöckalp. After our three-hour walk, we rode our sleds back down to the station.

At Melchsee-Frutt, the first amazing views

 

From the top of the elevator, looking across this high plateau. The landscape is covered in walking trails, cross-country trails, and ski pistes

At the bottom of the elevator is where the loop trail starts and ends

We started the loop on the South side, passing the chapel first

 

URS

 

 

Up ahead is the dam from Lake Tannensee. For me, the landscape was maybe TOO MUCH white

And the half-way mark and furthest East we can go: Tannalp. At the very back slightly to the right is Mount Titlis, whose glacier offers skiing all year round

 

Gasthaus Tannalp open all winter, served very good food.

I found an empty chair and had a nap in the sun before heading back to Melchsee-Frutt

One last look at Tannalp (we did a summer hike through here in 2016 and purchased some Tannalp cheese, hand-made up here in the summer time)

Heading back on the northern side of the loop.

 

Back at the summit station we collected our sleds and did the 35-minute run back down to the Melchtal Valley

VIDEO: We played "Leap-Frog" with the two kids on the sled for most of the way down. Sometimes they passed us, sometimes we passed them.

We still have a long way to go from here down to the valley bottom!

Sharing the toboggan run with the skiers.

VIDEO:  The toboggan run back down to the valley was the best part of the day.

The red line is the gondola cable car, the purple line shows the approx. 10 km we walked, and the yellow is the toboggan trail back down to Stöckalp

Extremes of Sun and Shade at Marbachegg

Wednesday February 6, 2019 -- Actually, we had a totally different plan for the day, but the train we were in had problems with the brakes, so with a delay of 30 minutes we missed the bus connection to Sörenberg in Central Switzerland.

Nevertheless there are other areas nearby in the Entlebuch (Lucerne) area which were out of the fog, so we got a connection to the next valley over and took a gondola cableway up to the sunny family ski area called Marbachegg.

As it was already lunch time, we walked away from the crowds at the restaurant terrace and sat on a lonely bench for an hour in the almost too warm sunshine soaking in the views of the Bernese Alps (including Mount Finsteraarhorn, at 4272m the highest peak of the Bernese Alps) as well as the two prominent ridges East and South of Marbachegg, namely the Schratteflue and Hohgant respectively.

Since we had actually come to do a "Winter Walk" and not just sit in the sun all day, we had a choice: 90 minutes down to Bumbach on the South flank (warm sunshine all the way but potentially 5 km of asphalt and no snow on the trees any more) or 2 hours to Marbach on the North flank (LOTS of shade but crunchy snow on the road and a most magical snowy landscape). We picked the latter, as shade is still preferable to asphalt.

Back in Marbach we bought locally-made cheeses and joghurts at the dairy shop (including a coal-infused midnight-black cheese aptly named "Sorcerer's Cheese", I've never seen that before), and on the ride home, we were infinitely satisfied as we approached the thick wall of fog that accompanied us back, knowing that even with foiled plans, we still had sunshine and stunning views this day.

On our train ride toward the Entlebuch area West of Lake Lucerne, we traveled through thick fog, common in the lowlands 

Here is what the Emme River looks like in the fog

And then when the fog lifts!!! The advantage of fog is that the snow stays longer after a snowfall

Heading into the village of Escholzmatt, where we caught the bus South to Marbach

The village of Marbach as seen from the gondola cableway. Our plan is to walk back down to here.

Heading up to Marbachegg with the gondola cableway

First fabulous view of the Bernese Alps after arriving at Marbachegg. Here we are right on the border of Cantons Luzern and Bern

Everyone stopped to photograph this special house!

 

I love the contrast of sun and shade on the furrows on the Schratteflue Ridge

Before starting on the actual planned hike down to Marbach on the North side of the hill, we walked the 1-km ridge trail toward the border marker. Along the way were lots of benches, and since it was lunch time, we spent an hour up here in the almost-too-hot sunshine on one of those benches!

From the Ridge there is one small view window into the valley on the western side, the side we came up from with the cable car. From here you could see all the way to the Jura mountains as well.

 

But most of the view from the border line is to the East, to the Schratteflue Massif.

We sat in this hole for an hour, it was wonderful!

Some of the Bernese Alps. In the center: Mount Schreckhorn;  On the right, the highest peak in the Bernese Alps: Mount Finsteraarhorn

This hand-drawn sign says 90 minutes to Marbach. Not sure why, because it is DEFINITELY at least 2 hours!

First part across the ski hill was steep, but the rest was easy-going! Off we go on the walking trail back down into the valley

Walking down the North side of the hill it was all shadow, but the snow was lovely

On the opposite side of where we were walking, to the North, it was all sunshine!

Once in a while we walked through small pools of sunshine, but there was always this great view to look backwards to.

 

A little bit of welcome sunshine

Last stretch before getting back to Marbach, which dozes happily in the sunshine! We have quite a bit more shadow to cross before getting there.

The sun was shining nicely through this couloir

Without the shadow, we wouldn't see these pretty plays of sunshine

Pretty

And the whole landscape sparkled

The path to the Lourdes Cave (place of pilgrimage)

Walking through Marbach

 

A visit to the Marbach Cheese Dairy, with its vending machine outside (contains cheese plus some other snacks) and coal-infused "Witch's Cheese".

Late afternoon sunshine on the Entlebuch landscape on our train ride back home

AND we can see the wall of fog as we approach from the West! Rest of the way home was in the fog

One can walk back to the cable car station, but we caught the bus on the North side of the village at the Dairy

Up with the cable car, down on foot (two hours)

Marbach in the Entlebuch Region of Switzerland (Canton Luzern)