Mount Titlis, Switzerland

Destination #10: Mount Titlis, Switzerland

Year of Visit: Summer 2008

The Titlis (3,238 m) is a mountain in the Urner Alps of Switzerland. It is located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Berne in Switzerland, overlooking Engelberg (Obwalden) and is famous as the site of the world's first revolving cable car. The cable car system connects Engelberg to the summit of Klein Titlis (3,028 m) through the three stages of Gerschnialp (1,262 m), Trübsee (1,796 m) and Stand (2,428 m) - wikipedia

How to get there:

Drive or take the public transport from Lucerne via Stans to Engelberg, ascend the summit of Mt.Titlis by aerial cable-car.

When I flew from London to Rome in December 2007, I looked out of the window and saw snow covered mountains of the Swiss Alps and questioned myself if I was making the most sensible decision to travel to Italy in winter instead of signing up for a ski trip to Les Arcs, French Resort.

I had a wonderful time in Italy and about 7 months later I'm at the Swiss Alps.

No skiing over summer of course so technically skiing remains something I would love to try out in future. The snow on Mount Titlis didn't melt off completely over summer, definitely not at the peak.

The cable car system connects Engelberg to the summit of Klein Titlis (3,028 m) through three stages - Gerschnialp (1,262 m), Trübsee (1,796 m) and Stand (2,428 m).

The picturesque town of Engelberg from the cable car.

Another view of the Engelberg town. Mount Titlis is a proven attraction amongst Asian tourists. Chinese nationals, Indian nationals, Hong Kongers, Indonesians and of course Malaysians. Being Asians, more often than not we join a guided tour for the sake of convenience.

The ascend to the third stage of Stand (2,428 m).

The visible greeneries over summer is simply magnificent.

From Stand (2,428 m), we switched over to the world's first revolving cable car to get to the summit of Klein Titlis (3,028 m).

Voila! We're at the summit of Mount Titlis.

Sky blue and white. The only two visible colours at the summit.

There is this part of the mountain at Mount Titlis that look like a statue of Buddha from a distance. It was discovered by a Chinese adventurer back in 1996.

The breathtaking view from the summit of Mount Titlis (3,028 m). Awesome!

The author lying down on the ice with the Swiss Alps as the backdrop.

This looks like an ideal slope for skiing.

It wasn't easy hiking up the slope with shoes though, watch your steps or you will roll down fast!

Another view of the snow-clad mountains in summer. Stunning!

I guess it will be all white during winter.

The Ice Flyer descending to another level.

I went up the slope, slid down all the way on purpose and ended up with a wet butt.

I couldn't ski nor do any snowboarding so I did a butt-slide.

If you noticed I only wore a thin long sleeved roundneck shirt.

It certainly felt like 10-15 degrees Celcius though I doubt it was 10-15 otherwise how could the snow not melt away. It was definitely way colder in Britain even though we didn't get much snow over the year.

The ice grotto is also an attraction at the Mount Titlis summit.

It was much colder in the ice grotto. Probably a dozen degrees Celcius lower than outside!

The last bits of the snow capped Mount Titlis before descending in the revolving cable car.

Mid level - The snow melts away very quickly in summer.

The rest of the massive Swiss Alps.

Engelberg and the Swiss Alps - how picturesque, doesn't it look like one of those Mild Seven advertisements in the 1990s?

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