From Lauterbrunnen-Valley we hike to Tanzbödeli, where we spend the night in a tent.

On the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen

It's late afternoon as we arrive at Lauterbrunnen train station. We're surrounded by mostly asian tourist, who were visiting the famous Junfraujoch, known as "Top of Europe". After a short bus ride to Stechelberg, we continue by foot in direction Obersteinberg. Just a couple of meters after starting we came across a guy who welcomed us with a "howdy", which is rather surprising, as I expected the commen "grüessech", we know so well from bernese people. But since there are so many basejumper around in the valley, it shouldn't surprise me thoough. After this unusual encounter, we continue our way.

The ascent turns out to be quite an agony, since I recovered only a day ago from a severe cold, which leads to much higher sweat levels than normal. Anyway, we reach Hotel Obersteinberg within the planned time and stop there for a short refreshment.

From here on it's just another hour until we reach our goal of the day. Unfourtunally we find us in rather thick clouds with a view neither to the sourrounding mountains nor the evening sky. So we decide to set up camp as soon as possible. While doing so, the clouds begin to disappear, letting us catch a glimpse of the last sunrays of the days. The nearby peak of the Jungfrau (4158m) remains covered in clouds.

Spitzhoren just before sunset

Breithorn at sunset

As the daylight fades, we eat our dinner with a stunning view over the Lauterbrunnen-Valley and the Schilthorn (famous for its appearance in the James Bond Movie "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service" as "Piz Gloria", which is still the name of the restaurant). While the light disappeared nearly completely, the clouds remain persistent. It will be another hour until they are completely gone.

Lauterbrunnen-Valley

Now with the Milkyway in place and perfectly clear skies, we start with long exposure shots. Some of them a couple of minutes, which gives a nice startrail effect. Every minute, temperatures keep dropping, which leads to a lot of moisture on the floor, as well as the camera. Th main hassle was that the lens kept getting fogged up and with the attempt to clean it, it just got worse. Luckily I had a special lens cloth to get rid of it - after every single shot...

Long exposure startrails with Spitzhoren

Milkyway long exposure over Breithorn

About onehundred exposures later, its time to go to sleep, the sun will rise in only 4 hours.

The night was surprisingly cold and wet for a night in late june. Nevertheless, as soon as the first sunbeams hit the tent, temperatures began raising way too fast. Just a couple minutes later, we were forced to crawl out of our sleeping bags. The morning was perfectly clear with just perfect temperatures outside the tent.

View to Jungfrau from inside the tent

Lauterbrunnen valley in the morning

After a good breakfast we pack up our stuff and go on our way back home. We took the same route to go back, since we noticed a little restaurant on the way up that we wanted to stop by for a drink.