Linthal
30 June 2010
We woke up to a beautiful morning, perfect conditions for the ascent up Klausen.
The first phase is a climb up the hill to the opening of the Urnerboden valley.
|
|
Once you enter the valley, the road is essentially flat. We stopped at a hotel to replenish our snack supply before the second phase of the climb to the summit.
Urnerboden valley |
|
|
The ascent was hazy and warm and just seemed interminable.
|
|
|
We reached the pass around lunchtime. I had an anemic lunch of sausage and bread at the restaurant. We put on our jackets, as it was cold at the pass, and the descent was only going to be colder.
The first part of the descent from Klausen is very dramatic. Off to the side of the road there was a steep drop into a hazy valley.
Descent from Klausen |
|
We passed by the Hotel Posthaus Urigen, which is at one of the hairpins on the descent. Piaw had wanted to stay there, and called ahead the previous day, but the hotel was not open that day.
There were a couple of retrogrades on the descent, which took no more than a few minutes to cross. We rolled down to Altdorf, where we bought some lunch, then headed over to Flüelen to catch a train to Göschenen to set us up for the ascent to Susten the next day. The train was more than a minute late, which is highly unusual in Switzerland.
We stayed at the Hotel zum Weissen Rössli in Göschenen. The proprietor there was Chinese and was, in fact, the only Chinese person in town.
