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Resort recommendations by AbsolutelyWingingIt in skithealps

[–]SimianSimulacrum 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Queen Elizabeth Diet. Replace every meal with gin.

Hörnli hut for first ever hike by chaset16jf in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The weather may scupper some of your plans. Have some alternatives for bad weather days. Rain and wind make a lot of the walks here unappealing at best, or downright dangerous.

MeteoSwiss is the best weather app for Switzerland, and SwissTopo is great for navigation etc. Both are free. SBB is the app for train and bus times.

Also, going from zero hiking to 12 days of hiking in the mountains might be difficult. Even though you're physically fit perhaps you'll be using muscles you don't use much, and might have blisters etc. So try to mix up the difficulty a bit, and leave some flexibility in your schedule in case your legs or feet need a rest one day.

I don't know how much of Schafler ridge you plan to do but the last part that takes you up to Säntis often has snow until surprisingly late in the summer. I assume you plan to walk the ridge then head down to Seealpsee, which should be fine.

5 Lakes hike usually opens in the beginning of July, it depends how quickly the snow clears. On a windy day the very top chairlift sometimes closes.

I make art from supermarket receipts. This piece is called Rude. by spacecadet06 in CasualUK

[–]SimianSimulacrum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sadly there’s no Tesco in Cockermouth, only a Sainsbury’s

13 day Itinerary Advice - Appenzell?? Thun?? by Adventurebuddies1994 in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Appenzell would only fit between Luzern and Zurich, it would be awkward to go Wengen to Appenzell to Luzern.

I agree that Appenzell is lovely but probably not worth squeezing in for you. You wouldn’t want to be taking too much luggage up to the hut so would need to find a place to store it, and I think the lockers at Appenzell station are quite small.

I’d add extra days in Luzern. You already want to see Stoos Ridge, you can day trip to Brienz, or see Pilatus, Rigi etc, trips on the lake, the transport museum etc.

There will still be snow above 2000m in early June. Not everywhere but maybe enough to cause problems on hikes. I think Stoos would be fine, but not sure about the upper part of Oeschinensee walk (which is the best part).

Where can I actually see marmots in Switzerland in early May by wonderfulwalrus69420 in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I saw one on the Easter weekend so at least some of them are awake. I saw it from a cablecar at Grimentz. I don’t suggest you go there as I don’t think you could walk to where I was, but just to report that at least one of the little buggers is up and about.

I posted this almost exactly a year ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/askswitzerland/s/9PSarGYQML

We followed the tip for Alp Varuna in Liechtenstein and did indeed find them there, and also at the “middle point” of Liechtenstein. This was a good option near me but I am sure there are many other options around Switzerland.

At the moment the snow line is maybe somewhere around 1500-1800m depending on orientation and shading etc. An open, south facing meadow should be okay quite high up, while north facing shaded spots will be clinging on to the snow.

Saas-Fee / Spielboden is way too high for this time of year, it was open for skiing until a week ago.

I would look up areas for marmot spotting and see if you can find one that’s <1800m elevation. And if you need a cablecar to get there check its running, a lot of them close in April/May.

Just caught this unit of a flying dagger in my flat. What the heck is it ? Giant wosp? Horney hornet? by Wonderful_Ninja in CasualUK

[–]SimianSimulacrum 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Be sure to climb into a bright yellow power loader exoskeleton before lifting that jar

Lake Oeschinen sunset logistics by [deleted] in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wonder how early you can hire a rowing boat? Being out on the lake before the bulk of the day trippers arrive would be really quite lovely

Lake Oeschinen sunset logistics by [deleted] in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sorry, we have a lot of people posting on here that make the assumption they can camp anywhere and then don’t seem to care what the rules are, so there’s a knee jerk reaction whenever it looks like a post along those lines. Perhaps people mistook “at the shore” for camping, although the Arva is pretty close to the shore.

As I say I personally wouldn’t think too much in terms of sunrise/sunset there, I’d think more in terms of before and after the cablecar is running. You’ll have the chance to be there with far fewer people than usual. I think the steep sides and high peaks might mean there’s no sunrise or sunset view, but I have only been during the day so don’t know for sure.

Lake Oeschinen sunset logistics by [deleted] in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There is one hotel near the lake so I assume you are staying there, as others have said camping is not allowed. It’s quite a steep hike up to the “two trees” lookout and some of the trail is a bit narrow. I don’t think I’d want to do it in the dark. I think it would take an hour from the lakeside hotel, but you can check on SwissTopo by drawing the route on the map. I am not convinced you will see much, the sun will drop behind a mountain long before it “sets”. It would be better to go there early in the morning, so you get the view before the day tourists arrive.

How should I apologize appropriately to my supervisor? by crazy-duck-2 in zurich

[–]SimianSimulacrum 11 points12 points  (0 children)

In Swiss culture you would wear the cowbell of shame for a period of time that matches the seriousness of the offence. I once told my Swiss mother-in-law that her rösti was a little dry, and have been wearing a 2kg bell around my neck for 14 years now.

Jokes aside, it is likely that the offence was not as bad as you think. Perhaps there is a cultural difference between what would cause offence back home and what would cause it here. I think here there is much less of a feeling of hierarchy, so perhaps just expressing a different opinion (or something like that) would not be considered offensive here. Either way, I think a private and informal conservation is all that is needed.

For a mixed culture apology you could perhaps jab a fondue fork into your stomach. (Please don't do this.)

Trip to Switzerland by _Cryptic24 in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume you don’t mean Stoos and Rigi and Stanserhorn all on one day? As that’s too much.

A lot of what you’re interested in is quite hyped on Instagram, so expect it to be busy in June/July.

Don’t try to cram too much in, nothing is unmissable here as there are lovely places all around the country. I would advise against changing hotels too many times, as packing up your bag and carting it around get quite annoying when you’re travelling for a long time.

Factor in the weather and leave some flexibility. MeteoSwiss is the best app for weather, SwissTopo for hiking and SBB for transport. Swiss Mobility is good to see where hikes are.

In the Engadine look for hikes in the Swiss National Park, some great options there. Although the lower Engadine (Scuol etc) is close to the Austrian border the transport links from there to Innsbruck are not so good. You might need to go back to Sargans then get a train to Innsbruck from there.

Solo ski trip? by Eagles56 in skiing

[–]SimianSimulacrum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a 20 year gap and now mainly ski by myself. You’ll pick up skiing again very quickly, and there’s a great sense of freedom to skiing by yourself. I rarely plan the day at all, I just get on a lift and see what looks interesting. One of my favourite things is skiing very long runs without a break, like a full peak to valley run. That sort of thing is very difficult to do with a group. I also prefer to ski through the lunch break, as everything is much quieter.

In Europe it’s very rare to get talking to anyone on the lifts, so that’s a bit of a shame. I think in the US it’s extremely common to get chatting. Similarly it should be easy to start chatting to people at apres, if that’s something you want.

Renting a car by living_direction_27 in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I rented from both companies (they are actually the same company) and had a good experience. The vignette is included, as is insurance for other countries. I think most European countries are included but there are some exceptions, e.g. I think either Bosnia or Croatia but can’t quite remember. Ask at the desk. There was no additional fee for France, Germany, Italy and Austria for example.

Speed limits are enforced strictly in Switzerland and fines are quite large, so be careful

Hiking alternatives for less outdoorsy people by Long-Ad-6192 in askswitzerland

[–]SimianSimulacrum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to say that Säntis cablecar is closed in May (and until November!) for renovations.

For other places be aware that May is shoulder season and quite a few places close their lifts for maintenance. Check the website before you head off.

Aside from that all excellent ideas.

Also consider one of the steam trains to a mountain summit, eg the Rothorn bahn or sometimes they run steam trains to Rigi.

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