Climbing our way to Grindelwald
Grindelwald is west of Andermatt and it takes climbing two passes to get there. The Susten Pass was first and rambles up 4,000+ feet starting in a forest and then through a large open Valley. There are some steep sections but compared to the Grosse Scheidegg, the steep sections are not that steep. Grosse Scheidegg added more climbing -- today's total was 8862 ft.over 55 miles.
Our running total by my Garmin is that we've riden 238 miles and climbed 30, 816 feet. Seems like we do better with up and down than straight ahead!
The descent off the Susten is fabulous as it doesn't just "bomb" down the mountain but transitions from a steep slope to a long meander through several Alpine towns and villages. We split the Grosse Scheidegg in half by stopping for lunch midway up. It was one of those large hotels in the middle of nowhere with a small amount of staff that just seemed like it would take forever to get all 12 of us fed and on our way. Therefore, I went for the double ice cream cone and started off on the second half. By the time I reached the summit, I ran into Howie who had decided to skip lunch at the hotel and was just finishing his wurst. We descended together and then started hunting for bike jerseys in Grindelwald.
There were few to be found but one fellow suggested a place that was basically a toy store but the fellow who ran it knew one of the local bike club guys. He called and got no answer but took our names and hotel info. Lo and behold, during dinner he shows up with two jerseys which we sheepishly kept as out of sight as we could. The good news is that we stop at a bike shop our guide Nel knows tomorrow.
Our hotel looks directly at the Eiger though (Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood for you movie buffs).
