Despite dire forecasts, the morning was dry with light cloud, and we deemed it suitable for taking the nearest cable car up to Stoos, a car-free ski resort in winter, and mountain holiday village in summer. We thought it might take an hour or two – we had no idea how much there was to see and do, or how spectacular the views would be.

Mythen Peak and valley

It was a multi stage journey – first, a gondola from Morschach to Stoos.  Then your choice of chair lift up to one of two peaks.  We headed up to Fronalpstock, on a proper chair lift, the kind you have to line yourself up for to sit on, then when you get off you have to skip forward out of the way to avoid being knocked over. Part way up we had to change chair lifts. As we glided higher and higher, the scenery got more and more impressive.  Cow bells chimed all the way up, much to my delight. I knew we were truly in Switzerland, and I half expected to see Heidi skipping over the col.

The sound of cow bells

Chair lift to Fronalpstock

Where’s Heidi?

At the top we headed for one of several panoramic lookouts. From here we could see four lakes, and umpteen mountain peaks, including Pilatus, where we’d stayed overnight 27 years ago.  We stayed for ages drinking in the views from every vantage point. We even made some new fluffy friends.  The return ride was just as lovely.

Mt Pilatus

We can see our apartment

Stargate?

Mythen

Boy on a mountain

New friends

The grass is always greener

Back in Stoos, we walked through the village to the second chairlift, which takes you to another high peak in a single stage.  En route we encountered some lovely Swiss cows up close. Ian bravely took up the rear guard, leaving me to lead the advance.

Stoos village

Close encounters of the bovine kind

By now it was mid afternoon and the cloud was coming in fast.  At the top we could only see glimpses, but we enjoyed the journey up and back.

Time to go back down

Our next ride was a return trip on the new Stoosbahn, whose claim to fame is as the world’s steepest funicular, reaching an angle of 110 degrees. It’s also shaped like a series of kegs, and looks quite strange trundling up and down the mountain. The Swiss are all trying to outdo each other with novel ways to get people to part with their money, and every cable car or funicular seems to have a gimmick.  It was fun to ride, and the technology is actually very clever as it changes angles to adjust to the varying degrees of steepness.

All aboard!

Stoosbahn track

Stoosbahn coming up

Stoosbhan track from the bottom – 110 degrees

By now it was 4pm and we’d spent a very enjoyable and full day on the mountain. It was time for our final descent back to Morschach, for shopping and another al fresco dinner looking out over the lake from our patio.  Life is tough.