Day 7: Grindelwald, Switzerland - I Crashed my Drone in the Mountains!

Friday, July 7, 2023

Grindelwald, Switzerland

An early morning walk through Mürren led us to our routine train ride and cable car down to Lauterbrunnen.  Today was going to be an amazing day… and a catastrophic day…

After disembarking from the cable car, we rushed to the train leaving the valley along with other travelers.  Our train would take us to Grindelwald.  

I know what you’re thinking.  “What?!  They went to Harry Potter World!”  

No. There are no Fantastic Beasts here.  

“Grindelwald, the village on the Eiger in the Bernese Oberland, is nestled in a lovely green valley surrounded by towering peaks, such as the Eiger North Face and the Wetterhorn. This grandiose panorama as well as the countless viewpoints and activities on offer make Grindelwald one of the most popular and cosmopolitan tourist destinations in Switzerland and the largest ski area in the Jungfrau region” (myswitzerland.com)

As we rode the train into this beautiful location… and leading up to this point, 

I realized I had been here before. 

In 2016, my Dad, Mom, and I had hiked the Tour Du Mont Blanc and had started other trails in Switzerland, when we rode a bus down into a beautiful valley.  It was in Grindelwald that my hiking plans…and the rest of my life plans, were about to change.  

That July in 2016, while 6000 miles away from home, Alina contacted me and told me she had gone into pre-term labor.  I was able to renegotiate my airfare and returned home within 24 hours. I returned on a Sunday and Alina was put on bed rest on Monday.  Jonas would be born 1.5 months later on September 1, 2016.  That was my memory of Grindelwald.  A quick end to an amazing hike with my parents and the end of being a non-parent.  

And now.  I get to bring both Alina and Jonas back to this place. So the memories are layered over one another in vivid feelings and colors. It makes a place special. 

This time, Alina, Jonas, and I wandered the busy Main Street in the bustling town of Grindelwald.  A place teeming with hikers, mountain bikers, runners, para-gliders, and most of all, tourists.  Our little family was in the tourism category this year.  

I had hoped to get a coffee at a place I had resourced, but unfortunately, it wasn’t open. But a closed coffee shop only strengthened my resolve to return.

We doubled back, while Jonas was coming to the end of his capacity for long-distance walking, to the Grindelwald-First: Top of Adventure station.  Our half-fare and Berner Oberland pass gave us free access to a 30-minute gondola ride up the mountain.  Alina and Jonas were thrilled to have a small cable car to ourselves and watch the expanding majestic mountain range come into a full panorama.  

We passed 2 stations before arriving at Grindelwald-First, a high mountain adventure land overlooking amazing view.  They have a lot of activities, but we started our day on the balcony of a restaurant over looking Grindelwald valley and huge mountains. 

After refreshments, we went down the hill a little to see paragliders jumping off the abyss and floating on the wind currents.

We decided to take a risk and make the 50-minute hike uphill to Bachalpsee lake, the “blue jewel” of the Alps.  Of course with a kid, you can double that time easily.  

On the way, we enjoyed taking selfies and I even got to fly the drone!  

Jojo had his ups and downs, but overall he was a great little hiker.  

Once we got to the lake, we found a grassy hill and sat down to eat our picnic lunch.  

After eating, I thought it would be a good idea to fly the drone.  I got some amazing flyover shots of the lake.  

As I was watching my remote screen, I made the huge mistake of not keeping an eye on the drone itself.  As I was circling the lake sideways at a decent height, I noticed the hill I was flying over, start surging upwards as my drone came upon an unseen jutting tower of a hill.  All of a sudden, my drone camera froze and an alert notified me the propellors were no longer functioning.  

I had crashed my drone into the side of a mountain and I didn’t see where it happened.  However, I did have two helpful clues.  The screen had frozen on a view of a hill and the lake, with a glimpse of the trail below.  Also, the DJI mini pro 3 drone comes with GPS tracking, which means satellites triangulate the exact location of the drone… and it’s displayed on the remote control screen.  

After a few minutes of panicking, I knew I had to go find my drone.  I said goodbye to Alina and Jonas, not really knowing why.  I really wasn’t familiar with the area, but I jogged towards the larger of the two lakes that I was filming.  While remembering the frozen screen point of view of the drone and the GPS, I found my line of sight— I was staring at a substantially high and steep hill.  I made my way up the grassy slopes while keeping an eye on my GPS coordinates.  Higher and higher, then steeper and steeper, I had a growing anxiousness about the possibility of slipping and falling down the hill.  My search took me to the top of the hill, where I was able to look over a small cliff and located my drone.  I traversed alongside of the mountain, climbed up to the grassy slope, and retrieved my drone.  It was fine, except for a shattered propeller— a small loss in comparison to losing the aircraft.

I climbed a small rock face back to the top of the large hill and carefully made my way down until I got to Alina and Jonas at the bottom.  I was exhausted from the steep hike, the worry of losing the drone, and the high alpine thin air.  We started our trek back down the mountain. 

We walked back down the 1.8 mile trail back to First, where we walked the Thrill Walk, a walkway along cliffs with a sheer drop below.

We ended the Thrill walk back on the restaurant patio and rewarded our hike with some cold drinks and a last beautiful view before heading down the mountain in cable cars.

After the thrilling ride down to the Grindelwald First cable car station, we made our way back to the coffee shop that had been closed that morning.  

Alina and I shared a coffee while talking to a family from Qatar.  Their 4-year-old son was playing with Jonas at the coffee shop's children’s workbench.  The coffee shop owner was very kind and knowledgeable about coffee machines and grinders.  He shared some ideas that I might use in the future. He also gave us some recommendations for dinner.  

We walked down the Main Street to the train station, where we ate dinner at the same Hotel my dad, mom, and I ate the evening I left to return home to Alina in 2016.  We ordered fondue and chicken nuggets for Jojo.  We finished our meal and walked over to the train station to catch our train back to Mürren.

After returning to our AirBnB, I tried to repair and replace the broken propellor, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the tools I needed.  So, the drone was officially done flying for the remainder of our trip.