Hoher Kasten at 1791m. It was windy, cloudy and cool when I got there. And this is where my walking in the mountains ended after a three-hour walk, a 760m climb and a 440m descent. I took the cable car down to Brülisau to save my knees (they hurt a bit) another 800m descent and arrived in the fog. I am back in Arbon at the house of Brigitte and Kurt. To get there I had to change at Weißenbad, Appenzell and St Gallen, but public transport works perfectly here. It feels a lot like winter here in the valley, but also up in the mountains the weather is changing. The forecast says it will snow tonight down to an altitude of 1000m.

So this is it my dear readers and friends. I am not going directly to Berlin, but my time in the mountains has run out. Tomorrow I will visit Elfride, who I met at capanna Cava and who also lives here in the region, then I will visit Helga at Sillberghaus, then travel on to Stuttgart to see my dear friend Friederike, then on to Würzburg to my aunt Uschi and then maybe to Frankfurt and Cologne. And then Berlin.

After five months in the mountains, of which I spent a little more than three months actually walking, I climbed at total of 58,000m, narrowly missing 60,000m. I am extremely happy and grateful for this very special time of my life, for all the beautiful mountains and chalets I found on my way, for the experience and the lovely people I met. I am especially thankful for the incredible help and hospitality I was offered from so many. I would especially like to thank my special friend Maurizio in Torino, Roberta and Karl in Basle, Emanuela and Arturo in Lodano and Brigitte and Kurt in Arbon, but also loads of other special persons I met on my way like Berry at capanna Cava, only to name one. Those who followed me from where ever they were: I hope you enjoyed my blog. Thank you for keeping up with me regurlarly or just popping in once in a while. Maybe I will be back some time again here telling you about a job in a hut somewhere or other interesting news from the mountains....

Sämtisersee below

Looking back towards Bollenwees, Fählensee and of course the mountains, very hazy day, but in the distance you can possibly make out the huge aerial on the top of Säntis.

The path to Hoher Kasten leads over a long grassy crest with nice views, sea of fog included. I was almost entirely on my own on the path, which is always close to the edge and sometimes exposed.

I left Bollenwees after having breakfast all on my own, all of the others had already left. Monika, who runs Bollenwees with her husband, sat down and talked to me for a while. I slept badly on my last night in the mountains because the school lot put up a terrible racket. I had cheese rösti and Ripasso to celebrate my last night. I must admit that I was overcome by a certain sadness that I haven't shaken off yet. This morning the weather was not that great anymore, I climbed up to Saxer Lücke in the clouds and a rather strong wind. The photo was taken from Saxer Lücke and shows a view of Kreuzberge and Mutschensattel, where I came from yesterday.

First thing I did when I got here was drink a married one. Then I had a shower and took in the last sun of the day. I walked for five hours today, climbed 950m and went down 970m, my highest point was Altmannsattel at 2334m.

Bollenwees in the afternoon autumn sun. It is big and quite full. There are some school classes here, that is why I can't sleep in the dorm but had to take an expensive room instead. The dorm is right above me, I suppose I will not sleep tonight.

Fählensee just below Bollenwees. Unfortunately the light was difficult and the photo doesn't show its beauty and the beauty of the moment. The reflection of the mountains in the lake was incredible.

Kreuzberge. Very popular with climbers. I've heard much about them and found them beautiful, terrifying but inviting. I had the first good view of them from Mutschensattel, where I started on the descent towards Saxer Lücke and Bollenwees.

Lovely view of Altmann while walking towards Mutschensattel. On the way you pass Zwinglipass and Zwinglihütte, which is a SAC hut and closed now.

The blue-white path along the crest leading from Altmannsattel to Schafberg.

Looking towards Lisengrat and Säntis. You can clearly see the path on the crest. Quite impressive...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last bit was quite steep. And I was not the only one on the path.

Looking down at Rotsteinpass. Again the path, marked red and white, was very exposed. A steep secured climb to the highest point at 2334m.

This is the beginning of the path that leads up to Altmannsattel from Rotsteinpass. I climbed the about 600m from Meglisalp to the pass in the shade, but in T-shirt. Another incredibly beautiful day.

Rotsteinpass at about 2100m. I wanted to stay there overnight, but unfortunately it was closed. I should have called. From there I had planned to go up to Altmann at 2340m, but seeing it was closed I had to go back down and Meglisalp was the nearest destination. So I am back here again. Had a lovely salad and cheese rösti and will go to bed soon. I walked for almost seven hours today, climbed 1050m and went down 1000m. My highest point was Säntis at 2500m.

Beautiful view towards the valley from Rotsteinpass in the other direction. Sea of clouds.

The last bit of Lisengrat with a view of (hidden) Rotsteinpass and mountain Altmann.

Lisengrat is really impressive and a lot of fun especially in this wonderful autumn sun. Walked in a T-shirt all day. This is a view back, one can hardly imagine that it is actually possible to walk up or down there. But it is. Look at the highest spot of the crest, there were people up there when I took the photo...

The middle part of Lisengrat. Like an easy via ferrata. Some parts REALLY exposed.

Looking back while walking Lisengrat

Looking back at Säntis with its buildings new and old. From Säntis to Rotsteinpass it is only an hour's walk (even though a you need to concentrate while walking). I stopped on a lovely grassy bit of the crest and napped shortly in the sun. Wasn't in a hurry...

Lisengrat. An extremely beautiful path along a crest. I was surprised to find that it is a "normal" white-red marked path, because it is very exposed. Even though it is secured all along it isn't for those who suffer heights and are not used to this kind of path. Every step must be meditated especially now, there was some slippery snow leftovers from last week's snow.

The first part of Lisengrat, which takes you from Säntis to Rotsteinpass. Säntis is an extremely popular peak with two huts and loads of people. Most of then come up in the cable car, pensioners and the like. I was reminded of Zugspitze for example. At Säntis I said good-bye to Kurt who went back home and then embarked on the Lisengrat in wonderful weather.

Looking back while walking towards Säntis

It was a 1000m climb to Säntis and it was a very, very nice path. Especially the last bit, which was very rocky and wild  and offered incredible views. And there were very few people. That changed once at the old Säntis hut. The hut was packed in and outside. Not nice. But the views were stunning.

Looking at the path we walked yesterday while walking up towards Säntis, the highest mountain here in the Alpstein at about 2500m. It was a lovely walk and it was HOT.

Meglisalp in the morning light. The alp consists of the Berggasthaus Meglisalp, an alpe and other buildings including a very pretty church. We left at half past nine in the shade, but soon we climbed in the quite hot autumn sun, another marvellous day.

From Messmer it was another about 200m climb across Agete Platte, which is a partly exposed and steep secured path which takes you to an altitude of 1900m. From there it is another 400m descent to Meglisalp where we spent the night. We arrived late, at six in the evening, shortly before it became dark. We walked for about six hours (as always including breaks and all), climbed 1350m, went down 700m and our highest point was 1896m.

After an about 400m climb we arrived at Berggasthaus Aescher-Wildkirchli, where we stopped for a break. Once we left the fog below the weather was phantastic and it was really HOT! Hotter than some times in the summer. The hut is beautiful and built into the rocks, which are climbing rocks, very interesting ones. Alpstein is a climbing region, which I did not know, like many other things, but I had Kurt with me who explained everything to me. Thank you very much Kurt.

Meglisalp and mountains in the last bit of evening sun. Meglisalp is, like almost all of the Alpstein Berggasthäuser, big and it reminds me of Bavaria for various reasons. After a hot shower we had dinner, "Chäschnöpfli" for me, the Appenzell variant of "Käsespätzle", pasta with yummy cheese in principle. I have been told that the Appenzeller people are very "particular" with a culture and history all of their own. Late in the evening we were invited to a table where the owners and some guests sat and were treated to very mature Appenzeller cheese and interesting stories.

We passed Altenalp and took a small unnamed pass before reaching Messmer, which is a hut like most of the Alpstein huts, but somehow it wasn't that inviting.

Our plan was to walk to Meglisalp via Mesmer and Agete Platte. The path towards Mesmer is narrow and close to the edge and very nice. Alpstein is small and hasn't high mountains, but it is very particular and very alpine.

In a short walk from Aescher-Wildkirchli you reach the famous Wildkirchli cave with the "Einsiedlerei", an ancient bear cave where an eremit used to live in a hut with a tiny church from the 17th century on. 

Rösti. Cheese Rösti. According to Kurt some of the best in whole Appenzell, and they were indeed delicious. I had them with Apfelschorle, but even better is the "Ghürotne", which is Swyzer deutsch for German "Geheiratne" (married ones). The marriage is between apple juice and chidre or "Apfelwein". Very tasty.

Kurt and I left Arbon rather late, at about ten. Arbon and the whole region were engulfed in fog, it looked like it had rained but I was told that it was the fog and not the rain that wet the streets, cars and houses. We took a bus and two trains to arrive at Wasserauen where we started our walk. In the fog until an altitude of about 1200m. Then we looked down at the fog (see photo).

Inside the cathedral is beautiful. I sat there for a while admiring the paintings, frescos and stucchi and listened to somebody playing the organ wonderfully. And I lit a candle for Jürgen.

St Gallen is very pretty. This is the cathedral, as you can see against a lovely blue sky. Behind the cathedral is the "Staatsbibliothek" which is famous for having some of the oldest script.

St Gallen. The weather forecast for the Appenzell region is good for the next days, but I decided to stay a day with my friendly hosts because I wanted to spend some time with them and I needed to wash my clothes. So after a nice lunch with almost the whole family (only daughter Lea was missing) and a stroll around Arbon with Kurt I took the bus to St Gallen to have a look around, go to the bank and buy a map for the Alpstein.

Arbon at the Bodensee. But it is useless to take a photo of the nice lake because of the fog and the difficult light. Kurt took me for a short walk today and told me a lot about the place now and in the old times. He picked me up in St Gallen yesterday and then we had a late tasty cheese fondue with his wife Brigitte and their sons Reto and Robin. It was really nice to see them again and we spent a lovely evening together.

There they are, Gigi, Helga and Luigi. We descended to Prato Sornico together today, had a drink at the bar there and then unfortunately had to say good-bye. Helga drove me to Lodano to Arturo's house and then went back to Germany. And the Italians went back to Italy. I picked up the stuff I had left at Arturo's house and then went with Arturo to Bellinzona where he went to watch an ice hockey match of his son Raffaelo. And now I'm on the train towards Arbon where I will spend the night at the house of Brigitte and Kurt, the nice couple I met at Ceaglio in Marmora. The weather forecast for Appenzell is quite good, so I'm off to the Alpsteingebirge and some more days of walking.

Helga helped me prepare this great high tea for the about ten Ticinesi, including Arturo and Claudio of course, who came up on Saturday to get the hut ready for the winter. We tried to use up everything that was left, especially the vegetables and all. Helga is a great cook and great company, she meanwhile works at Sillberghaus near Berchtesgaden and is quite happy with her new job. We had a good time together and she even met my two Italian Luigis who came up to Soveltra on Saturday.

Campo Tencia two days ago. Now, a lot of the snow has gone away, but over 2000m it is still there. My week was completely solitary until Thursday evening when I heard the door open and Helga stood in front of me. Big surprise! I met Helga once, last year in Valle Susa, at rifugio Aurelio Ravetti. She had done what I did this year, leave her job and go to the mountains for months. She walked the GTA from Munich to Monaco. We stayed in touch and there she was and I was very happy to have her.

Soveltra in the snow. Lots of snow. Emanuela took me to Prato Sornico and then I walked in the beautiful but cool autumn sun to Soveltra, which is an about 800m climb. At about 1200m the snow started and a quite exposed part of the path had come away. It is possible to pass but a little dangerous. After I talked to Arturo and Claudio they closed the path. Whoever decides to come up should now take the winter path via Campala. Which is also nice. It took me a while to understand the stove in the kitchen, which I never use in the summer, but is important because it heats the whole hut. And it was cold when I got there, about 3°. Now it's all cosy and warm. It is good to be here and it is wonderful with the snow.

But, once again, there's a nice warm open fire as well as two warm cats. I'm cooking for the Rothens tonight, its funghi trifolati, canelloni with broccoli and mascarpone and then apricot crumble with ice cream. The weather is suppposed to be better tomorrow so I will be at Soveltra in the early afternoon.

Rain, rain, rain. It rained non-stop all night and almost all of today. And it was cold so it snowed at a height of about 1000m. The bad weather is why I didn't go up to Soveltra today. Instead I went to Locarno to have the battery of my altimeter exchanged and buy some things I needed.