Lucerne, Mount Rigi and a Ride in the Snow

Sunday, 4 February, was the second day of our Swiss Travel Passes. After the Schilthorn the day before, we were going up another mountain, and this time we would start the journey by boat.

Leaving Lucerne by boat

We were by the water in Lucerne before nine. The morning was calm and clear, and the old town and the water tower were reflected in the river.

The old town of Lucerne along the river in the morning, with the stone water tower, painted buildings and a church tower, reflected in calm water behind a low bridge. — Lucerne in the morning.

The Lucerne waterfront seen from a boat, with grand lakeside hotels, the twin spires of a church and boats moored along the shore, reflected in the still water. — Lucerne in the morning.

At about nine, our boat pulled away from the town. For the next hour, we crossed Lake Lucerne, past villages and old hotels along the shore, with snowy mountains at the far end of the lake.

A grey-blue lake with a point of land covered in villas and old hotels among tall trees, and snowy mountains in the distance. — Along the shore of Lake Lucerne.

Up the mountain by cogwheel train

The boat brought us to Vitznau, at the foot of the Rigi. The station had a tall sign with the Rigi name on it, and the mountain rose straight up behind the village.

A pale building with a tower carrying a green Rigi sign, below a steep, wooded mountainside with a little snow on the rocks. — Vitznau, at the foot of the Rigi.

It was a Sunday, and the platform was crowded with people waiting for the little red cogwheel train. As it climbed, the slopes were green at first, but within half an hour we were among snow-covered trees, looking down over lakes and flat country far below.

At the top, the snow was deep and the sun came and went between big clouds. Red and blue trains waited at the top station, and there were plenty of people about in the snow.

A red cogwheel train standing beside a snow-covered roof at the top station, with snowy hills and peaks beyond under bright clouds. — Our train at the top station.

Above the station stood the Rigi Kulm Hotel. Nearby, an old green steam locomotive with the number 7 was on display in the snow.

A large white hotel on a snowy slope at the top of Mount Rigi, with a cleared path leading up to it and a viewing terrace beside it, under blue sky and cloud. — The Rigi Kulm Hotel.

Near the top, a paraglider was taking off over the edge of the slope.

A wide snowy slope with a fence line and a turquoise paraglider wing lifting into the air over the edge, with clouds and distant mountains behind, and a small building on the right. — A paraglider taking off near the summit.

From the top, we could see straight down to a lake, a deep blue in the sunlight, with towns along its shores.

A long, deep blue lake far below, with a peninsula, towns and flat green country stretching away to the horizon, seen from the snowy top of the mountain. — Looking down from Rigi Kulm.

A stone from Mount Emei

Near the summit, there was something I had not expected to find on a Swiss mountain. A large stone stood in the snow, carved with three Chinese characters and the words “Mt. Emei, China”.

A large rounded stone with the Chinese characters for Mount Emei carved down its face and the words “Mt. Emei, China” below, standing in snow. — The stone from Mount Emei.

My wife and I had been to Mount Emei together years before, so it was a surprise to come across it here, so far away.

A board beside the stone explained the connection. Mount Rigi and Emei Shan, in Sichuan, have had a partnership since 2009. In 2014, a stone from the Rigi was placed on the summit of Emei, and in 2015 this stone from Emei was placed on the Rigi. According to the board, the two mountains are 8,013 kilometres apart.

A bronze-coloured information board on a stone base in the snow, with text in German, Chinese and English titled “Two Mountains – One Partnership”, behind a rope barrier. — The board about the two mountains.

Walking down in the cloud

After that, we walked down from the summit along a path beside a fence. The cloud came in and out, and at times everything around us turned white.

A person seen from behind with a hood up and arms stretched out wide, walking along a snowy path beside a frosted railing, with snowy hills and cloud ahead. — On the path from the summit.

At one viewpoint, even the telescope was frozen over.

A coin-operated telescope thickly coated in ice and snow, with snowy hills and forest behind under grey cloud. — A frozen telescope.

Further down, we saw one of the blue trains on the line.

A blue and white cogwheel train standing on the line below overhead wires, with snowy hills and a peak behind. — A blue train on the mountain.

A ride in the snow

Before noon, we hired a sledge. A notice where we hired it listed sledges, snowshoes and walking sticks, and safety advice for winter sports in several languages, including Chinese and Korean.

Then we tried sledging together. We went along a snowy path through the fir trees, and later down an open slope where other people were sledging too.

A wide snowy slope with fence posts, dark fir trees along the top and a couple of people pulling sledges up the hill. — The sledging slope.

Down to Weggis

In the early afternoon, we took the train again. At one of the stations, an old wooden carriage with a striped awning stood beside a modern one.

An old varnished wooden railway carriage with a red and white striped awning, seen beside the cream side of a modern carriage with a large number 6. — An old carriage and a new one.

By about twenty past two, we were at Rigi Kaltbad, partway down the mountain, where there were modern buildings with glass pavilions in the snow.

Glass pavilions in the snow in front of a large modern building and a hotel at Rigi Kaltbad, with fir trees behind under a grey sky. — Rigi Kaltbad.

From there, we went down by cable car instead of the train. The snow thinned out as we dropped down the mountainside, until the slopes were green again.

A cable car cabin on its cables above a dark forested mountainside, under a pale grey sky. — The cable car down to Weggis.

Back across the lake

The cable car brought us down to Weggis, on the shore of the lake. We walked down through the village to the water, and a little after three, a large white lake boat came in to take us back to Lucerne.

A large white lake boat with flags at each end, approaching the shore on a calm grey lake, with dark mountains behind. — Our boat back to Lucerne.

Back in Lucerne, it was a grey late afternoon on the lakefront, under the bare, pollarded trees.

Bare, knotted pollarded trees along the lakefront promenade in Lucerne, with a bench, the lake and grey mountains beyond. — The lakefront in Lucerne.

Dinner at home

That evening, we cooked dinner where we were staying, with chops, mushrooms, boiled eggs and salad.

A white plate with grilled chops, mushrooms, halved boiled eggs, green salad leaves and two red chillies, on a wooden table. — Dinner that evening.

It had been a busy day, with a boat, two trains, a cable car, a sledge and another boat. Somewhere in the middle of it, on a snowy Swiss mountain, we had found a piece of Mount Emei.