Day 11 – Berghotel Faulhorn to Alphutte Seemad

The Route down the Faulhorn begins with the downhill back the First Lift Station. From there those who wish to hike can hike over to Grosse Scheidegg and on as far as they wish to hike. We were originally going to hike just to Schwarzwaldalp, but neither they nor the hotel in Rosenlaui had rooms for us.

The postal bus can be taken from the bottom of the First Lift, up to Grosse Scheidegg where you can change to a bus down Meringen. We will be staying across the valley and up the other side. If we have time we can stop and take a tour of Gletscherschlucht Rosenlaui. But for certain stop and look at Rechinbach Falls where we see :

“Out of many waterfalls in the Bernese Oberland, Reichenbach Falls seems to have made the greatest impression on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was shown them on a Swiss holiday by his host Sir Henry Lunn, the founder of Lunn Poly. Sir Henry’s grandson, Peter Lunn, recalled, “My grandfather said ‘Push him over the Reichenbach Falls’ and Conan Doyle hadn’t heard of them, so he showed them to him.” So impressed was Doyle that he decided to let his hero die there.” Wiki

“The actual ledge from which Moriarty fell is on the other side of the falls from the funicular; it is accessible by climbing the path to the top of the falls, crossing the bridge and following the trail down the hill. The ledge is marked by a plaque as illustrated here; the English inscription reads: “At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891.” The pathway on which the duel between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty occurs ends some hundred metres away from the falls. When Doyle viewed the falls, the path ended very close to the falls, close enough to touch it, yet over the hundred years after his visit, the pathway has become unsafe and slowly eroded away, and the falls have receded further back into the gorge.” Wiki

We will continue up the lift on the other side of the valley to Mägisalp and from there hike the final mile up 500 ft to the Private Hutte.

Don’t forget to bring enough food for two nights. We must make our own meals.