Oeschinensee - FRündenhütte
It’s the end of September 2023 and the Fründenhütte is open for the last time this season. As we both have Fridays off, we were able to start the blue and white hike during the week. We travelled to Kandersteg by train. From there we took the cable car up to Lake Oeschinen. We walked along a wide pedestrian path for quite a while, which gave us an idea of what can be going on here at the weekend. We walked briskly along the lake to the start of the blue and white route to the Fründenhütte. Suddenly we were almost alone on the hiking trail. The exposed part came right at the beginning, but you could hold on to wire ropes everywhere. The view of the lake deep below us was fantastic. After the exposed part, we climbed 600mm up to the hut. After an exhausting 4 hours we reached the SAC hut. There we had a piece of cake and something to drink.
We spent the night together with 5 other hikers in the dormitory. It was an amazingly quiet night and we both felt well rested the next morning
In the morning there was a blanket of mist over the lake and misty waterfalls appeared on the mountain slopes. It was such a peaceful and quiet atmosphere up there.
On the way down, we spotted three ibex sitting comfortably on the rock. They seemed to have absolutely no interest in us. The further we descended, the more the clouds cleared and the sun continued to shine through.
Freddy still had a bit of respect for the descent on the blue and white part of the path, as it was partly steep and over hard-packed earth. But you didn’t slip at all and there were still ropes to hold on to.
By lunchtime we were back down at the lake. The hustle and bustle there was overwhelming. It was the complete opposite of the peace and quiet on the mountain in the morning. Finally, we jumped into the cold Lake Oeschinen for a dip. It took a bit of effort, but cooling off was really good after the hike.
