Jungfrau

Last Saturday, as soon as we arrived in Lauterbrunnen we headed straight for the top of Jungfrau.  Jungfrau is one of the main mountains in the Berner Oberland region.  Once we reached the top, we ate the genuine Swiss lunch that we packed with us.

In the background is the largest glacier in Europe, around 11 miles long and a lot more mountains.  Jungfrau is a great big pile of rock that overlooks the valley that we stayed in.  You can see in the next pictures the valley floor and the TOPS of the clouds.

If you know me(Eric) at all, then you know that I was freaking out on the observation tower as we were on a small peak that was 100 feet above the ridge and the ridge was 10000 feet above the valley floor.  Slight case of acrophobia plus Jungfrau equals me being nervous the whole dang time.  The next picture is a case of the observation tower from the glacier side.  See, its really tall!

We then decided that it would be a good idea to take a "45 minute" "easy walk" up to a hut that basically acts as a base for adventure sports people.  I use quotes for several reasons:
1.  It wasn't 45 minutes
2.  It wasn't easy

The reasons for the difficulty can be summed up in another list:
1.  There was lots of snow on the ground and Melissa was wearing shoes with little tread
2.  We were at 14000 feet.  This lead to us being light-headed and tired the whole way up.
3.  It was uphill the whole way.

In summary, we walked uphill, in centuries worth of snow, basically barefoot.  This turned  out to be a not-so-fantastic idea.  We got to the hut and collapsed on the table.  On the way back, with a little bit of rest, we were able to enjoy the surroundings thoroughly.

Next blog post: best day of hiking ever!