Our first mountain adventure of the 2026 season, postponed from Tuesday to Friday due to poor weather forecast. Friday forecast was cool but dry... hardy har har. We met in Meiringen, getting there on different trains. I travelled via Luzern as I live in BL and my companion came from Basel via Bern. In Luzern I had a chat with a helpful SBB assistant woman who made sure that the millions of cases a group of tourists needed to transport were not in the bike spaces so I had space for my bike. She did a great job. As I was waiting for my connection I spotted a baby train on the next platform. I have no idea what it is - cute though :).
We met as agreed, set off, soon out of the village on the main road to Innertkirchen. This is the worst part of the entire route - lots of cars, lorries and the occasional bus. It doesnt last long though and we were soon in Innertkirchen at the junction - turn right to go to Grimselpass, straight ahead for Susten. A group of fast cars approached, and we let them go first - and noticed that they suddenly stopped. We watched them chat to each other, look at a map then about turn, come back and go towards Grimsel. When we started the pass road we saw the sign indicated that the road was closed after Steingletcher so it wasnt possible to go through to Wassen on the other side. I assume this was the reason they stopped. As we made our way up the first few kms of the pass road, practically the only traffic we saw were UK cars on some sort of rally event. They were not impacted by the pass closure, but other than them, there was nothing - so very good. Turning left at the sign for Engstelenalp, we had our first proper stop. Food was eaten and rain jackets off - we had warmed up by this time. Now for the first proper climb to the car park at the road barrier where the private road starts. More information about the road at https://wgme.ch/
A narrow road, weaving up through the trees, quite steep most of the time making vehicles passing a careful experience. There was very little traffic though, so all was well. It opens out after a few kms as you turn a corner and see a windsock which indicates the Restaurant at the start of the private road. It was still cool at this point, dry and cloudy so perfect weather for my Scottish condition.
Here we met our first animals - the goats were very keen to see us and climbed up the slope to talk to us, their bells ringing as the approached. In the background there was a louder clang clang that turned out to be cows. Bigger animals, bigger bells.
From here we entered the animal zone. All the way up to the top of the climb there were cattle grids and most were active meaning the animals were roaming about with no fence to keep them off the road. That meant the road was covered in - lets call it "stuff". We needed to cycle through so we had 1km of stuff on the road, 1or 2km of clean road, then more stuff. My bike has now been deep cleaned :).
Below is after the cows, looking back where we had come from
On our way up we were on the look out for Marmots, we thought we heard some squeals but couldn't be sure. When I was last here, we had seen them so I was keen to find them this time. We were not disappointed! We saw some quite high up, too far to really see then I noticed 2 quite close to the road and even more playing on rocks nearby. Its great to see them, just running about.
As we stood watching them and taking photos, 3 cyclists appeared behind us so we pointed them out and they were soon watching and taking photos.
After this excitement, we were at the end of the flat section and now the climbing started again and with it, the rain. It wasnt long before my jacket was back on and at one point the cows came back. They were not impressed by the 3 cyclists that had passed us and a car - just standing in the middle of the road. We walked past them, and now i needed to get back on my bike - im useless at this, so I walked more to get to a slightly flatter section.
From now on it was just steep and wet and grey and misty, marvellous :). It stayed like this all the way to the top where the rain stopped for a short while. We walked over to the water. There were 2 other people there, and us. I loved it, it was so quiet and peaceful. There are plenty of the tables and benches as well as fire pits and lots of wood to burn. Today was idilic - thanks to the rain I expect.
We were now pretty hungry and went to the newly refurbished Alphütte Rossboden - soup and sausage - delicious!
Outside seating - when its not pouring with rain
It was at this point that the rain decided to come on heavier and we made the decision to go back down to Innertkirchen and over to Meiringen, not go further as had been originally planned. We were cold on the descent but the lower we got, the warmer and dryer it became. Downhill in the wet on near constant 10% or more gradient is not really fun so I am glad we took it easy. My feet were soaked by half way down and I had puddles in my shoes.
Once back in Meiringen it wasnt long before we were in our respective trains, warming up and admiring the photos.
An excellent day out, despite the weather, wet but not windy. Thanks to my companion for joining and company. Watch for more mountain plans over the next 2 months on the Strava group page, come and join us!
Distance: 50km
Climbing: 1510m
Avg speed - hahahahahaha
Marmots seen - loads
Cows - millions
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