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The Stupids Step Out or Know Your Hike

Maybe some of you remember about 30 years ago a series of children’s books called The Stupids Step Out which was a way to teach kids to do things like don’t go the mountains or the desert, etc. without being properly prepared. We apparently forgot all these good lessons because one should definitely be (in Switzerland). KNOW YOUR HIKE.

Today we looked at the hiking map for the Wengen area which we are in and decided to do a new hike for us as it was a glorious day. Looking at the map it was “well that looks ok, looks like it mostly runs along the ridge line” and “well,it’s rated with the white and red which means more difficult but we did those last time “ which was 7 years ago.

Ah, nope. This was all a SIGNIFICANT DOWNHILL. After about 1/2 hour into what turned out to be a 4 hour hike (2.5 on the Swiss scale) we were like OOPS. First of all we are 7 years older. Second we did not properly research the hike beforehand. There were people older than us blowing by us but this hike required knees of steel and toes that could take being pushed to the end of the shoes almost all day. By the end I was only able to take tiny steps. A train station never looked so good in Alpinglen and A beer at KS was the best. Thank goodness we saved this puppy for the last day. Anyway moral is the story: KNOW YOUR HIKE!

😎

Posted by
28069 posts

I did something even more stupid in the Dolomites in 2015. There were several mistakes, the most idiotic being that when I realized I was having serious trouble with the rocky, steep downhill walk (despite having a hiking pole with me), I did not turn around. I have learned my lesson.

Posted by
4100 posts

The kids at my elementary library loved those books. It seems like you had a great, if not strenuous, adventure. Don’t try to beat this adventure with The Stupids Take Off for your flight home though 😄

Posted by
707 posts

Well after the fact, my wife and I refer to such experiences as Glorious Adventures :-)

Posted by
1388 posts

Almost got hypothermia above Davos years ago. Cold front swept in with freezing rain. We'll never be that unprepared again in the mountains. Take your kit.

Posted by
3439 posts

I would be mentioned in "The Stupids Go Snorkeling". I wanted to go out one last time, and didn't bother with my fins or snorkeling vest. No need to mention that I got caught in the current, and had to be rescued by some people on a glass bottom boat. My husband was chatting with a couple we'd just met and didn't notice anything amiss until they were helping me walk out of the water.

Posted by
11776 posts

Ahhh, the dreaded downhill. 20 years ago I hated uphill. These days I will go uphill to avoid turning around and doing a steep section down. But wasn’t Wednesday glorious weather?