August 31: My cousin and travelling companion James and I have spent a couple of days here in Andermatt. It’s in the heart of the Swiss Alps and has the great attraction of being at the bottom of 4 of the higher passes in these parts. For that reason, it’s swarming with motorcycles in the summer, and skiers in the winter.
On our first day here, we decided to do a loop through Susten, Grimsel and Furka passes, before returning to Andermatt. This is a picture taken in the town of Gletsch. You are looking at the west face of the Furka pass which you can see snaking its’ way up the side of the mountain. To the left is a “Y”-shaped area of rock and gravel that is, in fact, all that remains of the Rhone glacier – the source of the Rhone river. When I attended school in Lausanne (yes, 50 years ago) they called it the “Angel glacier” because the shape resembled a white angel on the side of the mountain. The wings are the top of the “Y” shape, and the main part of the glacier, which started about where you see the hotel mid-way up the pass, extended down into the valley. You could walk through a tunnel into the glacier for a small fee.
Now there is only a small lake at the top, fed by a few small fields of snow. I’ve seen the glacier grow smaller on every trip I have taken through these passes – climate change in real time – but this was by far the most sobering as it has now essentially disappeared, never to return.
James and I departed Andermatt by climbing the Oberalp pass. It heads east out of town. In this picture you see Andermatt itself, and the east face of the Furka pass in the background. The Oberalp is the most benign of the passes, with wide, well-engineered turns and a fairly steady rate of climb. As we left town, we were some distance behind a group of local riders and I thought it might be a good opportunity to gauge my riding ability against someone with more experience on these roads. With patience and some application of my limited skills, I actually found myself gaining on the last of the riders. It took a long time, but eventually I reeled them in. It was only then that I noticed the bright blue “L” sticker on the back of the bike. This was someone learning to ride and it had taken me a good part of the morning to catch up.
I have a lot to learn – humility first and foremost. Apparently, I am in a good part of the world to learn many of life’s lessons first-hand.