Trekking at Arvenbuehl

This was my first hike in Schneeshuhen (snow-shoes). Rainer and Maya were nice enough to think this one up, organize everything and lead the way.

After buying winter boots the previous evening, I got up early enough to make it to main station (HB) at 8:00 and get the ticket to Arvenbuehl. Met Eduardo from work at the station and waited to meetup with the rest of the group. We were about 12-13 folks when we left some 15 minutes later for Ziegelbruecke by train. This was a nice ride along the southern side of Zurisee (Lake Zurich). We took the connecting bus from Ziegelbruecke to Arvenbuehl, which goes through the town of Amden in Kanton Sinkt Gallen (St. Gallen). Apparently this is also a skiing place, but there were nice trails paved out for hiking in winter boots or snow shoes.

Rainer had rented snowshoes for those of us who needed them. After some fumbling and asking Maya all of us got strapped in the snowshoes and set off. Target was to get to the cafe/restaurant place halfway to the top, have some lunch and return through another route. As I recall it we were : me, Eduardo, Rainer, Maya, Archana, Martin, Guy, Regina, Thomas, May lee, Leo and his friend. I'm sure I'm forgetting one person more, anyway.

The weather was excellent, bright, sunny, clear and not windy. We made good time up the trek till one of May Lee's snowshoe strap broke. That significantly slowed us all down, as we waited for Maya/Rainer to figure out how to fix it. At leisure we trod through the used paths and some fresh powder upto the restaurant. It had only seating outside, but was serving some nice hot stuff. We took a long break here, freezing off in the chilly wind. May Lee's snow shoe was temporarily fixed somewhere closeby, and after that we set off to the next higher point. The view here was pretty sweet, especially it was clear and you could see to a great distance. After that point it was all downhill, at times just jumping through the fresh powder in somewhat steep slopes. Tiring but fun. The damn snowshoes do get pretty heavy after gathering a lot of snow on them.

On getting back to Arvenbuehl we went to a restaurant closeby and had some snacks/soups/drinks before getting on a bus back to Ziegelbruecke, and taking the next train back to Zurich. The train was packed, especially with returning skiers - so no place to sit really. In any case around 18:00-18:30 we were back in main station after a beautiful day of hiking.

-- Ashish Bhambhani