Dates
Monday, April 31 until Saturday, June 5.

Getting there
We are planning to drive with a van on Monday morning from Thun to Bürchen. Please let us know if you have your own car and extra capacity to take somebody along. Those who don't fit into the van can either carpool or take the 2-3 hour train & bus ride.

Getting back
We will drive back the van on Saturday, June 5. If your plane leaves earlier you can use public transportation to get to Zurich/Geneva. For an interactive map click the map below.


 

Public transportation
From Thun there is a train to Brig, another train from Brig to Visp, and a bus from Visp to Bürchen. To return to, say Zurich Airport, you take the bus from Bürchen to Visp, the train from Visp to Brig and then there are direct trains from Brig to Zurich Airport. To figure out your itinerary check out www.rail.ch and enter Thun and Bürchen, Hasel in the online timetable. Cost for a one way ticket Bürchen - Zurich Airport are roughly Swiss Fr. 150.

Getting there by car
From Thun you drive direction of Frutigen/Kandersteg. In Kandersteg you drive your car onto a train, to get through the mountain. This is about a 15 minute ride through a pitch dark tunnel - a great time to eat your sandwiches. Arriving in Goppenstein you drive your car off the train, descend into the valley and then take the road towards Visp. Just before Visp take a right to Bürchen. For directions from Thun to Bürchen click here.
The road from Visp to Bürchen is narrow and curvy. Keep honking ahead of curves, watch out if somebody comes your way by checking the road-side mirrors and allow the locals to pass you by.

The chalet
The chalet is rather rustic, simple and small. There are four rooms: the kitchen with a table for 8-10, the living room with two single beds, the master bedroom with two single beds and a crib, and the bedroom with four bunk beds.
There is a grandfather coo-coo clock, a porch off the kitchen and a grassy area in front of the house. The path leading to the chalet is very steep for a short piece. There is wood heating, a sitting bath tub/shower (the capacity of the water heater is limited, though), two toilets, electricity and even a phone.

The town
Bürchen is a small town consisting of several clusters of housing. The chalet is located in the Hasel cluster. There is also a post office, a grocery store, a church and a schoolhouse. The chalet is uphill from the church, following a very steep path.

Cost
A rough estimate is about 500 Swiss Fr. per person for the five days. This includes the food we cook ourselves, the van, the additional chalet, ... it doesn't include the alcoholic beverages...

What to bring along
Good hiking shoes (your sneakers won't do for the mountain tours), a good jacket, a daypack, clothing for warm and cold weather, raingear, books to read, exotic games we don't have already, ...

Program
We will decide when we get there, but some of the options are a cozy outside Raclette (half of a cheese-wheel melted on the fire - in the local tradition), a couple of smaller hikes on the Moosalp and along a small, cute irrigation channel between Bürchen and the neighboring town, a visit to the poet Rainer Maria Rilke's grave in Raron, a mountain tour up the Augstbordhorn or a day trip to Zermatt and the Matterhorn.

Directions to the chalet
Coming up from Visp, at the first crossing, follow the signs for Bürchen Hasel (not Unterbäch). At the first right (Hasel) go straight. At the second right, fork right. The street goes downhills and then takes a sharp right. Park your car here (blue dots on map). By foot, follow the street, take a right onto the first dirt road. Follow the dirt road until the path gets really steep. The dark, old chalet you see on the right of the path is the one (upper red dot on map).
To zoom or move, click on the map below.

People
We've got 12 great people on board:

• DeeDee, friend from Boston. DeeDee is a Duhla works at (runs?) a non-profit. Staying for the whole week.
• Liz & Jonathan, friends of Trish from college & their baby Samuel. They are from San Fran. Liz works in marketing, Jonathan in food management. Staying the whole week.
• Cynthia & Jeff and daughter Clare. Trish's friends from college. They are from Denver. Cyn is mom (previously anthropologist) and he is a photographer. Staying the whole week.
• Julie & Adam, friends of Trish from high school. Also from San Fran. Julie is in marketing, Adam in computers.
• Julie, friend of Trish from highschool, from Seattle. Nutritionist. She & other Julie& Adam are headed out on Weds to Italy.
• Holger & Gabby, friends of Peter & Trish from Boston. Holger's an opinionated computer guy and Gaby is an environmentalist  studying at Fletcher. H&G are leaving us on Thursday.
• And the two of us, of course. Staying for the whole week as well.