On the Road Again: An alpine view at last!

After Tuesday's trip to Pilatus when the expected view was hidden by cloud, I am pleased to say that today's trip to Mt Titlus was a great success - brilliant sunshine until early afternoon, snowy peaks in all directions and views of alpine meadows and lakes below.

We reached the tourist resort of Engelberg around 9am and made the three-stage ascent to Mt Titlis by gondola, cable car and the new Rotair cable car which revolves as it carries passengers to the top. There were several groups of Chinese and Indian tourists so it was quite a crowded trip.

Rotair cable car

We went straight up to the fifth floor in the summit centre and ventured outside to enjoy the snow and take some photos of the scenery. Titlis has Switzerland's only glacier and the summit centre is at 3020m, which can make you a bit breathless. Maybe that explains the crazy behaviour of some of the tourists - young men being photographed bare-chested; old and young women wearing sandals or high heels in the snow.

Next we visited the Glacier Cave, a 150m long corridor which is 20m below the surface of the glacier. Having seen ice sculptures in a similar cave at Jungfrau, we were rather disappointed with this one. I decided to take the Cliff Walk next which was a pretty scary experience, in particular crossing the suspension bridge as it swayed in the wind. It was with a sense of relief that I made it back to Ian who was waiting inside.

Suspension bridge in the wind

We had lunch at the summit before taking the Rotair cable car, the regular cable car and then the gondola back as far as Gerschnialp, where we alighted to walk the rest of the way down to Engelberg. The 'Alpine Flower Trail' path which we had intended to take was closed due to building works and it took us a couple of false starts before we found the correct path downhill. That led us through some lovely woods, and past picturesque farms and meadows. We enjoyed the sound of jingling cow bells as we passed them in the fields.