Harder Kulm
“Kulm” is “Hill” in German so the name “Harder Kulm” loosely translates to “Harder Hill” or “Tough Hill”. Calling it a hill does not do justice to this Goliath. I mean look at it.
This Harder Kulm is from the Alps ranges, it stands tall at 4337 feet overlooking Interlaken, Switzerland. It was mid-January when I visited, the average temprature being 0°c to -5°c and the mountain top was filled with snow.
If you check the direction from Google Maps, it says the trail is 2.5 KM from the base, but don’t be fooled it’ll just show the road length and not the off-trail hiking distance that starts at the end of this road. Which is much farther than 2.5 KM, locals told me that it might be around 4.5 - 5 KM.
The Ascend
The hiking trail is really steep and ascending was painstakingly difficult, I was making stops every 20 mins and could feel my heart pump blood to the brain, and to top that I forgot my water-bottle, Genius! So I did the whole hike without any water intakes whatsoever. That’s around 10 KM up and down, which might not sound much to people who don’t hike, but holy-mother-of-Jesus was it difficult.
After around covering 80% of the hike, I stopped at the roadside to catch my you know, breath heart (Which I felt was in my mouth and would fall out anytime), anyways, this is when I noticed that it’s snowing.
That’s a snowflake! They’re really small and my camera not competent enough.
During the ascent, there was a spot that was really scary. I literally sat down for 15 minutes and contemplated whether I wanted to do this or not.
Okay, It might not seem that scary in the picture but believe me you, the far-left side of the picture is a never-ending snow valley. The trail is all snow-covered and one slip could have lead to god-knows-what.
I was at the final few meters though and could see the peak I could not turn back now, I committed and crossed that walk-of-death. I might mention that the snow in the trail is crystallized by all the feet trampling it, which makes it really hard to walk without slipping and to top that I didn’t have proper hiking gears, Genius! I know!
The ascend was exhausting but the descend was treacherous
There I was at the top of this thing, all the aching has paid off and the view was worth it.
There was not a single soul at the top, which made it even more special. This place is filled with tourists in summer btw.
Ok, now it was time to address the elephant in the room. I knew the hiking down was going to be scarier, while climbing you don’t look down at the valley, you are motivated, you have will-power, you are focused on the peak, the view it’ll have and everything, but while descending it’s the opposite, you don’t have enough motivation, your will-power is all used up by the climb, you’re leaving behind the hill-top, the gorgeous view, you’re sort-of acknowledging the end of an experience, you’re heading back to your normal mundane life, and there’s going to be office tomorrow, Balls!
I cannot stress it enough how much I cursed myself for not bringing good trekking boots and trekking sticks. Imagine this, there is crystallized snow on the 3-feet-wide trail, there’s water dripping from the side and there’s also mud, and a slip of foot will send on a roller-coaster ride towards the valley, which ain’t much fun if you ask me.
I was slipping and balancing at all the crucial turns, at some points there was literally a feet of walking-ground and a smooth snow-white steep valley beside it and I could not step a firm foot.
It was really dangerous, so if you’re reading this, please don’t forward it to my parents.
All in all, a great experience, if you’re ever in Interlaken I highly recommend going up-top.
This is me flexing at the end of all this existential risk.
