After a few months of preparation, the Mont Blanc Treks team, welcomed Rosie Tanner, our 2025 Competition winner at Interlaken, the beginning of our 8-day guided trek of the Jungfrau Region. without further ado, here's Rosie's account of her adventure...
“What are they?” asked Alex, our guide. We looked again. Goats? No, too big. Cows? No, too small, right colour. “I think they are llamas,” I said, “or alpacas.” And, indeed, in the middle of the woods, blocking our narrow path: four lost llamas. Valli forged ahead, clicking his hiking poles and shouting to try and move them off the track. He and Patrick herded the llamas manfully along the path but came to a gate: we were all stuck now. Then one spit at Valli, covering his clothes in smelly, regurgitated food. Then two llamas started spitting at each other. Patrick tried to herd them back along our path, but the rest of our group were in the way, cowering. After a few minutes, we all hid ourselves out of sight of the llamas under a rock face so that they could scuttle back past us into the woods.
This was day three of our Tour of the Jungfrau, in the woods between Hotel Wetterhorn and Alpiglen. The group was forming, we were getting to know each other, exchange life stories and finding our group pace.
Day one of our trek took us via the red and white cog train straight into the middle of the mountains at Schynige Platte, facing the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau in all their glacial glory. These are the places of early mountain history, where mountaineers conquered peaks from the 19th century onwards.
A lovely sunny traverse took us between ridges and past a lake. We ate a quick lunch in a convenient shelter in the rain and a splinter group hiked up to the top of the Faulhorn in a shower, meeting the others again at the bottom. As a reward for our tough hike to First, a complete rainbow came out in the evening opposite the refuge. Dinner tonight – and every evening - was soup, a main course and a dessert; always hearty, healthy and tasty.
We were a colourful group, literally and metaphorically: a Brit turned Dutch (me), two South Africans, two Americans, an Israeli and our British guide, Alex. Even in the rain we looked bright, particularly in the rain. T-shirts, buffs and jackets were blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, lime green, turquoise, pink. And on our first night on trek we all shared a dormitory at Berghaus First: what better way to get to know each other?
Our second day dawned rainy so after breakfast we donned our rain gear, covered our rucksacks, and set off into the clouds. Several shiny black alpine salamanders were scrambling around near and on our path, which we would not have seen had it not been raining. We stopped for obligatory coffee and blueberry, apricot or apple tart at the Berghotel Grosse Scheidegg and tried to dry off. Our final destination - the Hotel Wetterhorn - was dry and warm.
Day three was llama day, up and down through woods, through a barely-lit tunnel and past some permanent ice formations, which made for a fun photoshoot. The rain had stopped, and we were in shorts and T-shirts as we reached Berghaus Alpiglen, just under the Eiger towering above us, as the rain started again.
From Alpiglen we traversed the mountain on a balcony path, hiked past waterfalls and streams, glaciers pouring down above us. Just below the Eiger glacier we stopped at the tourist-filled café for coffee. Clouds were blowing in and out over the glacier, which made it even more spectacular. Another rainbow appeared as we reached the cable car which took us down into Wengen, where we stayed for two days at the beautiful Hotel Victoria Lauberhorn. Here we could use the wellness facilities for our weary muscles – a pool and sauna and steam room. This was a fabulous place to rest for an extra day after all those metres up and down.
Our guide Alex kindly changed our schedule on day five to do a day hike up the valley and back in the sunshine instead of the next day, which was predicted to be rainy. It was. On our rest day in Wengen we just did our own thing. Valli persuaded the local priest to let him do his piano practice on the grand piano in the church, so he was happy. Patrick and Liezel visited just about every cafe in Wengen: coffee, beer, prosecco. So, they were content, too.
On the morning of day six, after buying our picnic lunch from the bakery we took the bus to Stechelberg, starting the second loop of the trek. After an arduous climb, a group of curious goats from the isolated goat farm followed us up past waterfalls and another steep track, delicately picking their way across streams and rocky patches. Patrick played goatherd until we met the real one with his clever black and white dog, herding the goats down the mountain again for milking.
At the Tschingelhorn Berg Hotel there was a stunning, clear view of the Jungfrau and her snowy glaciers on the other side of the valley. Alex and I soaked in the outdoor wood-fired hot tub opposite that view: sheer luxury.
Our seventh day took us from the Tschingelhorn to Mürren, the hardest day in terms of hiking. There was lots of ascent and descent with views of the three giants nearly all day: the Eiger, the Mönch and the mighty Jungfrau. Valli, Liezel and Chava decided to keep to a lower path. Justin, Patrick, Alex and I hiked up to the Rotstock Hut for more pie, Swiss rösti and coffee – and even wider views. The snowy mountain ridge of the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau were sharp again in the bright blue sky.
As we hiked into Mürren we had close encounters with colourful paragliders zooming past into the valley below. And again, we had clear views of the mountains – the Jungfrau directly opposite my hotel window- in car-free Mürren.
Our last day was short and sweet but just as amazing, views-wise. We hiked out of Mürren down to the cable car at Grütschalp, had a short coffee break in Lauterbrunnen and took the train to Interlaken West. Alex said goodbye to drive home to Chamonix and we new friends had dinner in Interlaken. We all agreed that our guide Alex was fabulous and the trek breathtaking, if sometimes tough.
P.S. I spotted a poster: “Visit our llama farm.” Maybe those lost llamas had escaped from there…
