From Appenzell we headed south to the Engadin valley, via the Julier pass which was quite an amazing drive.
We were staying in Pontresina, which we chose because it seemed a good spot to start a trip on the Bernina Express railway (more on that later).
Since it took us a while to get there from Appenzell, we only arrived mid-afternoon which left us only a short amount of time to take advantage of the remaining sunlight. A quick look in our guidebooks lead us to Muottos Muragl, a point at the top of a mountain which had a view right up the Engadin valley.
We caught the funicular to the top and headed out in the very sub-zero temperatures (it was -18C during our stay).
The view is indeed incredible, with a fresh blanket of snow over everything, and we were there as the sun was setting down on the valley, which only added to the feeling that we had arrived in a really special place in Switzerland.
We had brought our snow-shoes with us, although we spent most of our time on the 'winter walk' track, which is a well groomed path up the mountain. However, with the setting sun the visibility was rapidly reduced.
We weren't worried by the lack of light, we were well dressed and had more than enough 'emergency supplies' for the return trip, and wandered onwards along the path.
At some point we decided it was time to turn back, and put on headlamps and our snowshoes to go cross-country back to the top of the funicular station. It was amazing to be strolling through the knee-deep fresh powder snow, with headlamps lighting the way. Really an amazing way to start our stay in the Engadin valley!
2 comments:
Absolutely stunning photos and I was happy to find your blog so I can snowshoe vicariously along with you this morning.
I notice you've carefully edited out the bit where we got lost, at the top of the mountain, in the dark, just as the snowstorm started getting heavy...I wonder why?
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