About a year ago a friend told me about the Titlis Bergtrophy, an event where you can hike from Engelberg (1015 meters above sea level) all the way to the summit of Mount Titlis (3238 meters above sea level). A real challenge, because of the massive difference in altitude. So I participated last year, but because it was snowing and foggy, I couldn't hike all the way to the top. Now this year I had a look at the forecast first and when I saw that the weather supposed to be good, I decided to try it again. So early on Saturday morning I grabbed my event ticket at the cable car station and started to walk. The first 10 minutes were flat, the way following along a stream and that was perfect to warm up my legs. Then I turned right at a junction and the first part of the ascent started. The path led upwards through a forest and I already noticed that I wouldn't be the only one who attempted this challenge today. Emerging out of the forest onto a wide field, the first really steep part of the ascent loomed up ahead. The weather, unfortunately, was not as good as predicted. There were too many clouds and too much fog. But of course it was too late to stop now, so I followed the way that led in curves upwards to the first food station located at the cable car station of Trüebsee. So far the going was good. As there were really a lot of people I overtook some of them along the way, but I was also overtaken by some hikers that almost ran up that first steep part. After some food and a toilet break at the cable car station, I carried on. There were no more trees now and the way continued mostly along farming land. The path was still pretty steep and even though I walked on a panoramic trail I noticed nothing at all about that. The weather strongly reminded me of last year as it looked exactly the same in this second part. And when I passed a herd of cows and took almost the same picture as last year, the deja-vu was perfect. :)
After a while the grass and fields made way for stones and gravel, the path relentlessly going upwards without mercy. At least it was easy to overtake the slower people as we mainly walked up in curves, so I took a "short cut" a couple times to be able to walk my own pace. Arriving at the second food station I saw that the part that we couldn't walk last year was now open. There was still a lot of fog around, but the sun made a short appearance every now and then and was actually pretty close to breaking through the mist. Taking another break to regain my strength, I looked forward to the next part of the hike. And soon enough I was ascending a steep hill on a narrow gravel path. As there was loose gravel and stones all around us, it was difficult to overtake and therefore the going was rather slowly. Nevertheless, I went up higher and higher and rather sooner than later reached some stones which I had to scramble over it. It was not that difficult and when I left the stones behind I saw some people standing on a ridge before me. I thought that there might be a nice view up ahead, but when I came upon that ridge I was quite surprised. Tons of people were queueing there and asking the last person in line, I learned that there was a ladder for a short descent and that only one person was allowed to be on it at a time. Well, great, so let's queue then.
About 25 minutes later I finally arrived at the hot spot and there was not only a ladder, there was also a rope. For the sake of adrenaline I took the rope. But all in all even that was not too hard. As there were also a lot of rocks to hold on to, even some children managed to go down by the rope without any problems. The weather got really better in the meantime and we were able to see the Titlis glacier in front of us and all the people walking on it towards the top. Descending a bit further I reached the beginning of the glacier and that was the right moment to take out my walking sticks. Even if it was a glacier, the slope I was walking on was of snow and not of ice, so the sticks were really helpful to keeping a steady pace and not to slip on the snow all the time. Reaching the small Titlis, I left the snow behind and was glad that there was another food station. The legs were getting tired, but there were still 200 meters in altitude to gain to reach the summit. Once I felt more or less recovered from the efforts before, I started the final ascent. Again the way was steep and full of gravel, so I kept to the bigger rocks at the side of the path. It seemed to take ages to get closer to the summit, but I also stopped quite a lot. First of all because of all the people that were descending back to small Titlis, second because I felt tired and paused to regain my breath and last but not least to admire the beautiful view. I could have done with some less clouds though, but that was complaining on a high level. :)
Finally, 6 and a half hours after I started in Engelberg, I reached the summit. It was a good feeling and I was kinda proud to have walked all the way. So a long break on the summit was well deserved. The only downside was that I shared the top with 20 to 30 other people and of course that I had no summit beer with me. :) Haha. Well, after this effort, one sip would have been enough to get me drunk. After enjoying the view as long as possible and taking the mandatory pictures I descended back to small Titlis and headed directly to the cable car station. Descending with the cable car back to Stand, finally lunch was awaiting me as well as a cold beer and a bench to sit down. All in all this was a good day, even though there were way too many people for my taste. As there probably will be even more in the future, I'm not sure if I would participate again.
Highlight of the day: reaching the summit
This hike is for you if:
- you don't like to walk alone
- you always wanted to hike on a glacier
- you want to challenge yourself
- you don't mind steepness, narrow paths and a bit of scrambling
- you want to reach the summit of Mount Titlis without using the cable car
This hike is not for you if:
- you prefer to walk downwards
- you're looking for silence
- you never have been in alpine regions before
P.S.: some fun facts about today:
- there were over 1000 people participating in the Bergtrophy
- the fastest person had 2 hours and 10 minutes from the bottom to the top!
- the youngest kid I met going up was 7 years old...!
Comentários