We had weather forecasts working against us... rain for the next three days... although today started with brilliant sunshine. An emergency meeting of the Program Committee was called.. and the call went out.. Jungfrau or Bust... before the forecasted weather arrives. We pulled out our cold weather gear... mountains are notoriously unreliable... and off we went to the train station. I had to send Joye into the ticket office... the thought of paying the $220 for each ticket to complete a 15 klm (guess) train journey still upset me. The train was packed... we had to change trains halfway up the mountain and couldn't get on the first available train. The train track was steep... the cog breaking system slowed the train... it took over 2 hours to complete the 15 klms trip.
Our concerns about the weather evaporated immediately upon reaching the top. At a height of 3,500 metres we were above the cloud level... perhaps our view down the valleys may be interrupted... but we were guaranteed sunshine for the day. We had not anticipated altitude malaise... but after the first flight of stairs we remembered to pace our rate of exertion.
Not only were we above the cloud level... we were also above the 'haze' level... looking down the glaciers, vision and colours were perfect for miles... the whites were pure... the blues were pristine... the rock face offered fine detail
No physical effort was required of visitors... so we had all shapes and sizes and ages and nationalities. Something about high altitudes makes people more outgoing. Couples were asking strangers to take their photo... we had three young Chinese girls ask for us to pose with them while their friends took photos... most peculiar... Joye and I checked our wallets after the encounter... although we did enjoy the celebrity treatment. We talked with a group of climbers who had reached the summit of Monch yesterday and Jungfrau today... and they looked fit enough to do the Eiger tomorrow. To keep tourists amused, a range of sporting activities are played up on the glacier. Even a cricket match is played up there... I don't know what Switzerland is doing organising cricket matches... if they learned their techniques from the English, I bet the glacier wicket surface had been doctored.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day. Once back in the valley, we were under cloud cover... but we have escaped rain so far. Today's altitude is the highest we have reached in Europe. Next week we will go around and check out the Matterhorn... which is the tallest mountain in Switzerland. That could be interesting.
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