This is the story of one of my favourite photographs and experiences of 2020: sunset over the western Bernese Alps from Niesen Kulm.
I love the Bernese Oberland regional pass. I'm not going to pretend it is cheap, but I do think that it is incredible value, and the freedom of a regional pass pushes you to fit in an extra adventure rather than turn in early. If I was travelling pay-as-you-go, even with a half fare card discount, this photo would not exist and I would never have seen the magnificent evening vista that accompanied it.
After a glorious day around Oeschinensee, the weather had turned, as it often does high in the mountains. It had started to rain and there was thunder in the air as the train approached Mülenen station, where you can transfer for the Niesenbahn funicular. The forecast gave a small chance that the clouds would clear by sundown. I decided to give it a whirl.
The Niesen is a 2,362m high mountain rising above Thunersee in the Bernese Oberland. It's sometimes known as the Swiss Pyramid as from Thun or Interlaken it takes on a distinctive shape that should be thoroughly obvious from the name. The Niesenbahn funicular railway runs in two sections from the village of Mülenen to the summit station, accompanied by what is claimed to be the world's longest staircase, with 11,674 steps over 1,669m of ascent.
You've probably not been on a funicular when a thunderstorm starts, with the rain pelting on the roof of your little red box of metal, clinging to the side of a 2,000m mountain. This might have been enough to change my mind but once you're on a funicular, you're pretty much committed to the full trip. At the top, I legged it through the persisting downpour and into the berghaus for a beer, peering through the window into the grey clag in the hope that it might lift in the 90 minutes or so left before sunset. In any case, a cool beer on top of a mountain is always a cause for celebration, even if the weather is miserable. The restaurant was quite well-to-do for a mountain summit, with large glass windows to enable fine dining with a view. I felt a little out of place with my hiking boots and rucksack.
Eventually, the rain ceased, and on walking out of the door I realised that not only had the cloud persisted but also the wind still bit hard. I went to explore the short summit ridge behind the berghaus, much to the concern of a waitress on her break outside the back door who needed reassurance that I wasn't planning to walk down the mountain in the dark. I made it about another 100 yards before deciding that walking into the wind in the gloom, even for just a few metres more, wasn't worth whatever marginally different perspective I might garner. The clouds started to clear. I headed across to the summit viewing platform, where Thunersee below and Interlaken along the valley had started to come into view.
With only a few minutes to sundown, the distant clouds finally broke over the western Bernese Alps. I'm not going to pretend this was some epic trek - I got the train to the top - but it was great to have a small reward for some patience and a willingness to squeeze in one more adventure.