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Day 13 Sunday 20.8.00  

We left Lenk early and climbed up through the Wallbachslucht, quite a dramatic gorge with waterfalls and circular boiler pots eroded by the water. Then it was a steady climb over rough meadowland for about one and a half hours to the summit at the Truttlisbergpass (2038m). Highlights of the day were views back to the Eiger and Monch, a farmers’ Fest near the summit, with tables laid out in front of a hut, and an Alpenhorn playing “Amazing Grace”.  

Truttlisbergpass from the east

There were strange rock formations on some of the ridges of Karst limestone.

Looking east towards the Spitzhorn

Looking down to Lauenen

 This section of the walk has the high mountains very much in the background. After lunch at the pass we dropped down steadily to the attractive village of Lauenen where we enjoyed apple juice in one of the hotels. 

Looking back over Lauenen on the climb to the Chrinepass.

By now it was extremely hot but fortunately the climb to the Chrinepass (1659m) was not too arduous. The hurricane of December 1999 had done a great deal of damage to the forests here and the path had been diverted.

The summit is at the forest edge with no views east but quite dramatic ones to the west looking over Gsteig. A strong Southwesterly wind, the Fohn, had started to blow; clearly the weather was about to break. 

Looking towards Gsteig with the weather deterioating.

The path dropped steadily through pasture and fields to Gsteig, a small village with a spectacular backdrop of the Spitzhorn. We stayed in the old Hotel Baren where some mix-up had occurred with the reservation through the local tourist office. Nevertheless we were given a choice of rooms!

The Spitzhorn from Gsteig

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