Guest post: Hiking with @kitkat_ch in Switzerland

"I have been wanting to spend a night at this mountain refuge for quite a few years already. It's very near my parents' place. But I never managed to go there till now."

We are happy to hear new stories in our blog, so thanks to amazing Martina Bisaz (@kitkat_ch) for sharing with us this interesting note from her life.

A month ago, the weather looked nice and there wasn't much snow which made it still possible to hike there. The mountain refuge was already unattended because usually at that time of the year it would be all covered with snow already and the hiking season was already finished. But the door is always open, even in winter for people who do backcountry skiing and need a place to sleep.

I asked my friend Lily from France if she would like to join me. It was a very spontaneous decision and two days later she drove to Switzerland and we started our hike at lunch time. It normally takes 2-3 hours to hike to the cabin, but because we had huge backpacks and stopped every 5 minutes for photos, it took us double the time. It was very tough hike, especially for Lily because she is such a tiny person, and the weight was too much for her.

But we finally made it, just in time for sunset and the struggle was all worth it. We got rewarded with an amazing sunset. The sky was on fire. After taking some photos, we went inside to check out the house. I was so glad we were the only people there. Two bedrooms were open and a little kitchen with two tables. I made a fire to warm up the room and started to boil some water for us to drink. I cooked a nice risotto and after dinner, it was already quite dark, the perfect time to go outside and take some night shots!

We were afraid that it would be freezing cold, but surprisingly it wasn't. It was such an amazing sky and the atmosphere was perfect. total silence, just Lily and myself under the Milky Way surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountains. After taking some photos, we just lied down on the ground and watched the stars and talked about life. We ended up staying out there for almost 4 hours, that's how beautiful the night was.

We both didn't sleep quite well, kept waking up all the time. Maybe it was the altitude, maybe it was too warm in the room (which was strange because the house has no heater, it all warmed up from the sun during the day), we don't know. We got up for sunrise, which was also pretty breathtaking. And after breakfast, bread, butter, jam, egg, we started to clean up and pack and made our way back down.

All in all, it was the perfect get away, despite the tough ascent, the reward was worth all the suffering for sure. And then that perfect clear sky with the shooting stars, absolute silence, no other humans around,  just me and Lily between those impressive mountains, simply unforgettable. I'm so glad we went there out of season. It wouldn't have been the same if the refuge was full of other hikers.