Similar Posts
From GrÀchen to Zermatt via the longest suspension bridge: part one
Hiking from GrÀchen to Zermatt via the longest Suspension bridge is an interesting two-day hike. It provides you with views of glaciers, boulder fields, scree slopes and more. It also provides you with the opportunity to cross a suspension bridge that takes six minutes.
Hiking up from GrÀchen
The hike up from GrÀchen takes you up through a forest. You go through a forest and there is a stream to your left and the nice landscape to your right. The hike up is easy.
As I hike with a water filter I like to get water straight from glaciers when I can. I gathered water from the glacier. It tastes good and it’s fresh. Gathering water from this point is easy.
From this cirque you climb up through some more trees and eventually you get to a nice view point from which you can see the landscape. This provides a good point for a snack and rest.
[vrview img=”https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/export_1503909534859.jpg” width=”500″ height=”500″ ]
Use mouse to look around image above. (360 image)
Many years ago the glacier reached down into the valley below. You can clearly see the depth of the former glacier. At this point you are above the tree line. You begin to walk on bare rock. The slopes get steeper and you are more exposed.
One segment of this hike crosses a zone of active rock falls. When we were walking here we heard a loud noise that sounded like thunder or a jet. After a few seconds we saw large rocks falling down the slope and bouncing. Where they hit the ground clouds of dirt and dust erupted. It was too far away for me to get good video footage. At this moment we were more attentive. If you look up you see that massive rocks get loose and fall. Look at the contrast between the sign post and the boulders. You need to scramble and climb over rocks and navigate your way towards safety.
The dangerous zone in context
The dangerous zone takes a few minutes to cross and there are big rocks behind which you could try to shelter during a rock fall but the best option is to spend as little time as possible in the dangerous section. Rock falls are usually due to hikers, rain and ice formation. When rock falls are common you see that there is no moss and no trees grow. Later we crossed over boulder fields where trees and moss were growing. The EuropahĂŒtte is built in an old boulder field overlooking the bridge.
Fractals
In one of the Coastline documentaries I watched a while ago, they said that if you measure the coastline to within one metre you get one distance and if you measure the same coastline to within 30 centimetres or less you would get a much higher figure. During the last few kilometres, this was clearly evident. On the GPS the two or three kilometres were the last two or three kilometres for a long time. The terrain undulates quite a bit and there are many nooks and crannies. In a straight line the distance was 1.6km but in real terms, the distance was closer to three or four kilometres.
Until this hike, I was used to circular rather than linear hikes. Most of the hikes start in one point and go around to another. When you look at the route track for both days of hiking they go in a relatively straight line.
Music Festivals, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sleep Deprivation
First things First, I have had a lot of fun at festivals, and I have volunteered for a few. What I object to is the noise pollution. In the 21st century we could avoid that noise pollution, so we should.
And now for the rant, now that I have told you I like festivals, when they don’t get in the way of other peoples’ desire for silence, for sleep.
As I write this I am in a sleep deprived state because I was unable to sleep according to my circadian rhythm due to a music festival. The sound engineers that work at music festivals are pretty dumb, so they build powerful stacks of speakers that are so loud that you need hearing protection at the music festival, and the surrounding countryside is filled with noise pollution.Â
I Know, I Know, They Donât Care.Â
I know, I shouldnât insult an entire profession for taking no pride in their work, and not taking any responsibility for the harm they do to the surrounding countryside. They canât help it. Theyâre just not very bright.Â
I write this for catharsis, because for five hours yesterday the music festival upwind from where I live was noisy from 1900 to 0100. I felt like going to sleep earlier as I knew I had to get up early. In the end I failed to get to sleep until an hour or two after the noise pollution ended.Â
Highly Polluting
In the 21st century, and given the audience, you would expect music festivals to be environmentally friendly. They boast about âcompostable cupsâ and recycling and more. They then encourage columns of cars to park on crop fields, where, if it rains, or if vehicles are leaking oil, the ground becomes polluted with festival goer hydrocarbons from cars.Â
The noise pollution is a serious problem. Near Nyon there are two big festivals. Caribama, which is taking place now, and PalĂ©o, next month. Both festivals are filled with altermondalistes who want a greender planet, corporations to be socially responsible, and yet for a week each, these festivals make noise pollution several nights in a row from 1900 until 2 or 3am. For those weeks it becomes challenging to sleep.Â
Yesterday I had two fans going, at full power and I couldnât block out the thudding from the bass that the music festival was pumping out. If I had wanted to, I could have listened to the festival for free.Â
FOMO
Although governments, the Far Right and the media they control have said that the pandemic is over it isnât. Music festivals were a source of psychological torture because they reminded us that whilst we were self-isolating and trying to avoid long COVID the alcoholics, and less intellectually bright, were getting drunk and enjoying themselves, with no thought or consideration for the impact the substances, sleep deprivation, and long COVID could have on their health.Â
I Have Volunteered at These Events
I am not against these events, as such. I used to enjoy them as a young adult. Itâs as a middle aged âgrumpyâ man that I hate them. I donât hate them for what they are, but for their disregard for peopleâs intimate sphere. I dislike them for their invasion of the private sphere, through noise pollution.Â
In the 21st century, in the age where we canât mow lawns between 1230 and 1330, where we canât vacuum on Sundays and more, why is it socially acceptable to allow such noise pollution until two or three am for a week at a time?Â
I thought that festival goers wanted a fairer, greener, more responsible world, and yet they pollute fields with parked cars, make it impossible to sleep and more.Â
Do festival goers not realise the paradox of wanting a fairer world, despite their own selfish behaviour?Â
Let us sleep. Lower the volume. Be kind and considerate of those that are not participating in your event. Show empathy.Â
A Call for More Cycling and Walking Paths
I walk or cycle almost every day across five or six villages per walk, and more on bikes. During these walks and bike rides I see that there is a chronic lack of safe walking and cycling routes, if you want to go for any distance. Almost every village has five, six or more roads in and out of it, but there are no safe walking or cycling routes
We hear about how people want to make cities more cycle friendly but there is a problem in the countryside. If you want to walk from most villages to most other villages you need to walk along roads where nothing is in place for walkers. You are forced to walk into muddy fields, long wet grass and more.
I frequently have cars at 70-80km/h passing me, more often than not they do not deflect to the opposite lane, to pass safely. They drive at 80km/h half a meter from you. This is deeply unpleasant, and in a time of global warming awareness, and environmental consideration this must change.
Walking between villages, to avoid using the car, and to enjoy what the local landscape has to offer, shouldn’t be an unpleasant and scary experience. I say scary but it’s actually anger. Anger that car drivers show no empathy for cyclists and walkers, that if a person walks along a road they are an idiot for doing so.
Thousands of hours have been spent discussing how to make cities more friendly for pedestrians and cyclists but in my experience that is not where the problem lies. That’s just where it’s most attractive to talk about.
The place where we should resolve the lack of pedestrian and cycling routes is the countryside because that is where it is pleasant and rational to walk. The routes I walk are seven to ten kilometres. If I walk where it is safe for pedestrians I’d be walking two kilometre routes. That’s too short. Every village and town should be connected by safe walking, and cycling paths. If they have the space for four roads then at least one should be for pedestrians and cyclists only.
I often cycle and walk along agricultural roads but in my experience they are more dangerous than roads, because cars overtake unsafely. They squeeze you off the road, they don’t bother to slow down. They just force their way through, and if they hear you yell abuse at you, they threaten to beat you up.
“Oh, but you shouldn’t yell at strangers”. I argue from the other angle. Stop making pedestrians feel unsafe, by the way you drive. The more you walk along roads, and the more you cycle, the more toxic the behaviour of drivers becomes. Scuba diving is considered an extreme sport, and so is climbing. I am beginning to think that walking and cycling between villages and towns is an extreme sport too. If you’re a cyclist you often feel cars pass too close and too fast. Drivers rarely slow down, and despite no traffic coming from the opposite side, they insist on squeezing us.
I do have one trick, when cycling. Turn around regularly and keep fixing cars. I have found that if I behave as if I am a scared, paranoid cyclists cars slow down, and give more space. It’s tiring and boring to do, but it does drastically affect my sense of safety.
What I want is not complicated. I want farm roads to ban cars. I also want paths to be built that connect every single village to every other village, so that pedestrians can walk safely from one to the other, without walking along roads. I want it to be pleasant to walk as pedestrians, or cycle, from every village or town, to every other village or town.
We need to encourage people to feel safe to walk from village A to village B, without being endangered by discourteous drivers. We need to make drivers walk by the road side, to experience what it feels like to have a car coming towards them at 80 km/h. We need car drivers to show empathy towards cyclists, and walkers, hikers and more. We need to change the culture that pedestrians and cyclists have no right to use roads.
I would cycle more, if it wasn’t an extreme sport.
A Day In The Clouds
Today was a different to recent days because we spent it within the clouds, rather than beneath, or above them. It is hard to be above the clouds when you are near lake level. SRF has two nice time lapses of clouds flowing over a mountain as if it was water, or dry ice. Choose the one you prefer.
It is estimated that a tenth of the Swiss population could be sick with covid-19 at the moment. If a tenth of those people had long covid then Switzerland is faced with 87,000 people with long Covid.
“Environ une personne sur dix a contractĂ© le Covid ces derniĂšres semaines en Suisse, a dit Urs Karrer, vice-prĂ©sident de la task force scientifique de la ConfĂ©dĂ©ration devant la presse Ă Berne. Les nouvelles infections se concentrent actuellement surtout chez les enfants de moins de 10 ans.
One million one hundred thousand cases of Covid have been detected in Switzerland, out of a population of around eight point seven million. In theory that’s an eighth of Switzerland that has fallen sick, if we ignore second and third infections of the virus.
There are two challenges to face. The first of these is to see whether we can get through the current wave without being infected, and that’s unlikely for parents of children and people who are exposed to others. The second challenge, it to see how much longer this pandemic will last. At the moment, with the speed at which new variants arrive. Three, within a matter of weeks, it looks as though new variants will emerge faster than vaccines and as if we will have many more waves.
Some countries stand out by the way in which they are not trying to make things better.
And Finally
I am still studying and learning. I will continue to study for as long as the pandemic lasts, because it is the one thing that is guaranteed not to be taken away from me. It also provides me with a sense of accomplishment every day.
Trail Glove 7 After 440 Kilometres
Since the 7th of May 2023 I have been wearing Trail Glove 7 Shoes for most of my walks. During this time I have walked in towns, villages, fields, the mountains and more. They have felt comfortable for almost all of this walking. As I am not familiar with this type of shoe I have been keeping an eye on the wearing out of the shoes.
Heels and Blisters
Usually with most normal shoes I wear out the rear part of the shoe, to the point that the soft material that pads the back of the heel is worn away to expose bare plastic, which then wears against the back of my feet, and leaves blisters. My solution, to extend the life of those shoes was to protect the rear of my foot from rubbing. This isn’t an ideal solution. That’s what encouraged me to try barefoot shoes.
Toe Box Spacing
For some reason as I wore new iterations of shoes that I previously really liked I found that the sides of my feet would sometimes rub against the side and adapt a way to protect themselves. I didn’t like the idea that normal shoes were damaging my feet. Designs that had been fantastic in the past, became uncomfortable to wear due to either poor design, or bad materials.
The Trail Glove 7
These are very comfortable shoes for the first 400 kilometres. They provide just the right amount of heel padding for the heels. After 400 km I believe that the sole of the heel is worn just enough for heel strikes to be felt in the bone, after a walk.
Over the last two days I have walked in rainy, wet conditions. Due to how worn out the soles of the shoes are I felt the shoe slide from under me. I expected that this problem would occur. The tread wears out within 120 kilometres depending on walking style and surfaces. After that you’re happy to have warm, dry weather, Slipping is less of a risk in such conditions.
The rest of the shoes look fine. There are no holes on the top of the shoes, no fraying or any other signs of wear.
Mud Grabbing
As I wrote before the tread of the shoes wears down quite fast, where our feet apply the most force to the ground, but remains intact everywhere else. The result is that if you walk in muddy conditions, as I did yesterday, the tread traps mud and you’re stuck having to clear out the mud with a skewer or tooth pick, rather than a brush. Brushing doesn’t work.
And Finally
Although I think the support from the heel of the left shoe is gone I will continue to wear them until they get a hole. I wore a pair of hiking shoes until the foot support was worn smooth inside the shoe, and the soles were also worn out. I have worn other shoes until the toes of the soles of the shoes were punctured. I plan to do the same with these shoes, to determine their endurance. At the very least I want to get them to five hundred kilometres.
You know it’s time to replace shoes when you walk through a shallow puddle and your socks get wet, from the bottom of the shoe, rather than the sides.