Seealpsee hike - first day of Alps season 2021

Seealpsee Hütte in the afternoon sunshine - ​Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/16, ISO 160, 1/13s

The day has come which I was waiting for months since my last visit in the Alps. It's been about 8 months since I've been in the Switzerland last time... Man, such a long time. Anyway besides the fact that I've missed it so much, it seems we are going to have a difficult season. No, not only because of the covid pandemic, but also the cold spring time and late snowing. I wouldn't say it's bad, because the environment needs that extra water supply, the glaciers need that extra ice, but still, we have to consider where to go and what equipment we take...

​Guest house Forelle by Seealpsee - Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/26s

Originally I was planning a short trip to Seealpsee Hütte and enjoy a terrace meal, just to refresh the feeling of having a good mountain food and watching the Appenzeller peaks around me. Later on it became a bit more than just a short visit, because we have decided to try the steep trail up to Meglisalp. The first meters were completely fine, only some snow made our steps difficult in the forest, but nothing dangerous. Eventually it became an intermediate level hike, when right outside of the tree level we have found a temporary via ferrata made of rope, and the rocks were covered by deep snow. Since it was in a very steep rock wall, we decided to accept the support and get through using the ropes. Looking back it wasn't so terrifying, but as first you never know what surprise you may get from mother nature. 

Klettersteig on snow ​​- Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 640, 1/60s

When we got up to Meglisalp, half of the terrain were still white, the very dusty snow was quite slippery and it was always wise to follow others' footsteps. The small "village" of Meglisalp was in its complete shine. I always love to get back here, it feels like being in a different dimension or discovering a hidden settlement. Some minutes after our arrive the sun showed itself and the mountain called Altmann also looked down on us from the scattering clouds. ​

Meglisalp waking up - ​​Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/160s

Descending in dusty snow with Altmann behind - ​Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/680s

As we were coming down from the mountain, the weather was warming up, the lake Seealpsee was being more colorful, and the air was also warming up a bit. Saying goodbye to the region I made a last peek back on the mountains, and my favorite peak, Säntis was also showing her face for a minute. It seems she was still very shy, maybe she knows how difficult she made my planned climb on her northern side with such a huge amount of snow. 

Green and snow with a shy Säntis peak - ​Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/105s

Since we still had some time until the evening, and I still haven't got any photos in golden hour, we took our journey to the neighbor region, the Glarus Alps. Of course we were already a little tired, and just wanted a small dinner with a nice view, so we stopped by the shores of Walensee, took a nice good beach meal at Lago Mio, then walked along the shores, watching the golden hour on the mountains in the opposite side of the lake.  Luckily the mountain peak called Ruchen collected an interesting volcano-like cloud above and for a few minutes we could enjoy it as the reflected lights made some purplish colors. 
It was a wonderful start of the Mountain season, and I really hope we may enjoy a lot of nice hikes, camping, and of course, the photography.  :) 

Ruchen is playing volcano - ​Fujifilm X-T4, Fujinon XF 16-55mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/13s