Fighting against demons and shadows – what was wrong with me?
Silent thoughts between bright and dark.
Everything looked super easy easy-peasy on the map, almost as flat as water. Haha, it was not, not at all! The path to the Ruosalp (→ link to map) felt unbelievable steep, almost overhanging – admittedly, that’s a bit of an exaggeration; but nevertheless, I checked the map over and over again, only to find out, that I was still on track. How long would it take to the ‘Gross Gade’ barn (→ link to map)?
Ruosalp
It was November 13, 2020 – Summer was long gone; in fact it was frosty cold and well below 0°C – at least in the shade. There would be only a few days until the onset of Winter, then deep snow would calmly cover the path to the Ruosalp.
The Ruosalp (→ link to map) is the remotest alp in the Bisisthal valley, in the Swiss Alps.
‘Gross Gade’
When I finally reached the barn at ‘Gross Gade’ – completely flat and exhausted – I sat down and had a warming coffee in the early sun – which had just crossed the horizon in the south, at 11.30 a.m. Would it be right to say “The sun rises in the South”? Calm down, demons; what a day.
And what a long barn! Almost 60 meters long, one of the longest barns I have ever seen! On the other hand, considering the total number of cattle on the Ruosalp during the Summer the size oft the barn seemed quite appropriate.
Curious about its inside, looking furtively like a prankster I tried to open one of its four doors – indeed it was open! But dear me, what an idiot I had been, I had forgotten my head torch at home! Nevertheless, slowly I entered the barn, groping in the dark with the dim glow of my smartphone’s torch – how creepy was that! – are there vampires lurking in the dark?
Slightly scared – and more: what, if there was someone closing the door from the outside? I would be locked in, there was no way to open the door from the inside, instead I would have to try to open one of the small windows and climb out this way … pssst – did you hear that? There seemed to be somebody outside … more than a little nervous I decided to leave the barn as soon as possible.
Nobody was there. I was all alone.
Photographing this wonderful barn from the outside I promised to come back again. Maybe someone could make sure I wouldn’t be locked in by this non-existing, ominous and fictive stranger outside … and hopefully I wouldn’t forget my head torch again.
Just imagine the mind-blowing black and white or monochrome photograph inside this long barn, this beautiful light shining through the door – it would look awesome, wouldn’t it?
Frozen.
‘Ober Stafel’, cable car station
It was already past 2 p.m. – should I take the ordinary path to ‘Ober Stafel’ (→ link to map) or follow the steep trail straight up the hill? Remembering Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ I followed the steep trail straight up the hill. Later on this afternoon I would return on the normal path.
Twentyfive minutes later, gasping again I reached the top cable car station at ‘Ober Stafel’ (1’746 m a.s.l.). It was well worth struggling up this mountain! Behind the cable car station there were two other barns on a plain field and behind them wide and calm meadows – what a perfect spot for a wild camp this would be! Well, I didn’t have my tent and sleeping bag with me, but I would come back again anyway, for sure.
Fighting against demons and shadows
So far all day long I had been fighting against dark demons and shadows, my world was flipping over from black to white to black again, from bright to dark to bright again, and in the barn I was frightened – probably by nothing else but myself – I was terribly out of inner balance – what was wrong with me?
But as soon as I had reached the ‘Ober Stafel’ and its cable car station at the top of my today’s hike I felt free and balanced again, as if a blocking heavy load had gone. It seemed I finally had won the battle against all the dark demons.
Free and positive again!
hmm – strange, … isn’t it?
Let me show some more images of the calm way back.
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