Day 7: Via Ferrata and Schilthorn

 We watched the weather reports for Day 7 closely, knowing it was our big excursion day.  Planning this trip, we kept posts about the Via Ferrata.  Italian for "Iron Path," it is a series of ladders, steps, pegs, and cables secured to the face of the mountain.  We have zero experience with something like this and since Owen is 10 and under required weight limits, we needed a guide dedicated to our family.  Now that we have done the trip, I would never hire a guide, but I would also never have felt safe doing this the first time without one.

A  of the 2.2km trek is simply hiking on a cliff you would not need to be harnessed for, but there were plenty of upcoming hazardous sections.

We took (and posted) more than a reasonable number of photos.  Zac kept his head down the entire time, truly afraid of heights.  It is hard for us to understand the fear from our adrenaline-chasing bridge jumper, but it is real.

I made friends with two girls behind us.  We talked for an hour, and I heard all about their travel itinerary, college majors, and career plans.  It felt like I was talking to peers until they called me up ahead, yelling, "Hey!  Mom of the group!"  I am not a peer.  I am a mom-of-the-group.  

Kate and I loved these sections.

This adventure has become very popular.  Our guide said he had never seen it so busy.  There were waits at every obstacle. Zac did not like the waits.

Seriously lucking out with the weather!  Earlier that week it called for showers that morning.

The ladder climbs were so long.  It was fun to look down between our toes to really get a feel for the distance to the ground.

We all felt some envy watching the paragliders swoop by.

After a toe line and zip line, we made it to the famous "Nepal Footbridge" on the excursion.  It drops 1,000 feet below, has no handrails, swings, and stretches across the pass or 262 feet.  Our guide pretty much yelled at the very timid people in front of us as we waited at least 20 minutes for them to pass.  The bridge was fun and did not feel daunting to me and Kate, but the views were exhilarating. 

It took just over 3 hours with the waits and we were all starving by the end.  However, the weather reports showed thunderstorms starting at 4pm, so we opted out of a sit down lunch, sent Kate down the mountain with Shay, and dropped the boys off at home with lunch before taking off on a quick hike up Shilthorn.  With our limited time, we took the cable car to Birn before starting the steep trek up to the 9,744 foot peak offering the most panoramic views from the top.  We were above the timberline so the going was pretty for views but not immediate scenery.  Loose shale rock was our path the entire climb up.

Our hope was to summit, then quickly jump down to this lake and the ridge behind it.

The top!  This is also where "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" James Bond flick was filmed in 1969.  

As we descended back to the lake, the clouds rolled in and thunder started to rumble.  We knew how fast weather can change here, so we jogged back to the station, hoping to wait it out and make it to that gorgeous ridge.  The clouds passed but we did realize that the last cable car descended in a few minutes.  With impending weather and the kids down at the Clarks' AirB&B, we decided to ride rather than make our hike hours longer.  We never made it to that ridge but we will next time!

Packing into their car like clowns to find dinner.

Where's Owen?  There's Owen!

We were lucky to eventually find a place to seat 10 people and ate a traditional Swiss meal of Rossti as well as some "spicy" (read: barely more than mild) red curry at Restaurant Oberland.  We were lucky to catch a bus as it dumped rain on us back to the cable car.  By this point, Owen was tired and it was a difficult 20 min walk from the cable car to our chalet, but all was forgiven after a good night's sleep.