Welcome to Wander We Go. I’m Alex.
I write about life in Zürich, travels throughout Europe, and musings on both.
All tagged snow hikes
In the summer, Raunaq and I are focused on high alpine hiking. But in the spring, when all the snow packs are melting, there’s no better time to wander through a Swiss valley - especially if that valley is the land of the 72 waterfalls. Lauterbrunnen might just be the most whimsical place in all of Switzerland. Which, in a land full of storybook towns and rolling green countrysides and aquamarine lakes, is saying something. It’s modern-day Rivendell, and it is spectacular.
But then, on the first Thursday night of the year, I came across something that seemed too unique to pass up - ice-skating on Oeschinensee. That is, ice-skating on deep-blue-turned-black-ice frozen lake nestled high up in the Bernese Oberland mountain range. And the closing argument: ice-skating on a frozen lake up in the mountains that’s only possible when weather conditions are exactly right. Cold enough to fully freeze the water, but without snowfall to cover the lake’s surface. It could last a few days, a few weeks, or simply never freeze over for nearly two decades. The magic only lasts as long as the snow doesn’t fall and the ice doesn’t melt. And right now, Lake Oeschinensee was the ultimate natural ice skating rink for just a few more days, until the forecasted big snowfall on the upcoming Sunday. Doubt of winter sports be damned, we were going ice skating.
