As Alex, Kevin, Kathrin and I pay our 5 Franks at the booth to climb the mountain and view the glacier, I can't help but notice the numerous beer signs hanging on the walls. Underneath the signs are prices.
“Wait a minute,” I say. “We're about to climb a mountain- you know, drop offs, heights, and avalaches- a mountain, and they're selling alcohol at the bottom?”
“Well, better here than at the top, don't you think?” replies Alex.
Oh Europe, I love you, but there are somethings I just can't figure out.
Fortunately, we're not climbing this mountain rock wall style. There are stairs. Sort of. I slow down as I approach. “No way. I'm not climbing these. Look at them! They're not even steps! They're split logs haphazardly nailed to other pieces of wood. There's no way that railing can support weight. It looks so flimsy. These stairs are suicide.”
“Waaaah!” Kevin mocks me.
“Fine,” I say. “But if I'm going to be pissed if I get a splinter. Or die,” I mumble under my breath.
We start climbing up the mountain. Even with stairs, it's hard. I'm breathing heavy after 5 minutes, and I'm the one who's actually in shape. I had started off taking them two at a time because I figured the faster I do it, the faster I get off these damn things. Not anymore. Now I'm taking them one plodding step at a time.
After about 15 minutes we come to a landing halfway up the mountain. There's a bench long enough for all four of us to sit on. We happily oblige and plop down. As we catch our breath and rest our legs, we notice a small pyramid of rocks standing about six inches tall.
“What's that?” Kevin asks.
“Oh, there are these little animals that live on this mountain. They build little rock piles like that. Nobody knows why they do it,” answer Kathrin. I raise an eyebrow. This can't be real.
“Really? That's so cool!” exclaims Kevin, as he pulls out his digital camera. “What are they called?”
“I don't know what you call them in English,” she says the German word, “They look a little bit like gophers or prairie dogs.
I look over to Alex, a confused look on my face. This is totally absurd, there's no way it can be true. But Kathrin isn't known for her jokes.
“Where are they?” asks Kevin as he stands up to walk around the pile and take more pictures.
“Oh, they're nocturnal and very afraid of humans.” I can see the smile tugging at the corners of Kathrin's mouth. The ruse is up for Alex and me. I look back to Alex. We both have to cover our mouths to keep from laughing.
“They're very rare. Only on this mountain, I think. I'm surprised you haven't heard about them.”
“Me too. I'll have to look into it when I get home. I think people will get a kick out of this.”
Kathrin can't stop herself. She's starts laughing hysterically. Alex and I bust out laughing too. “What?” Kevin looks at us dumbly for a minute. “Oh. I hate you guys.” Kevin is quite possibly the most gullible person I've ever met.
Another 15 minutes of stair climbing later, we reach the glacier. Well, we can see the glacier. It's receded so much that it's about 100 feet back from the observation deck. On stone walls, we can see how far the glacier has receded in the past fifty years. It used to come out well past the edge of the deck. There is water pouring out from under the glacier, forming a waterfall. Leaning over the railing, I can hear the thunder of the water hitting the pool below.
The view from where we are is quite amazing. We can see mountains in all directions, and farmlands, forests, and towns in the lowlands between them. It really is breathtaking.
We head back down the mountain uneventfully. As we pass the entrance booth, I'm almost tempted to buy a beer.
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