H and I were headed off for a couple of weeks of vacation in Italy via Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland but were turned back by authorities positioned along the road for the San Bernardino and to go back and take the Gotthard Pass direction Zรผrich.
Uncertain and a bit frustrated, we set off but paused to look for better directions and if the famously high passage was suitable for cars towing a camping trailer and a friendly local advised us on the safest route, chancing by on her bicycle and registering that we were lost. We continued through the valley of the canton of Graubunden, passing through every settlement. It wasn’t until en route, still a bit unconvinced, that we realised that our misdirection (of which we garnered a few details from the above informant) was due to a rather catastrophic landslide that necessitated closure of the highway (washing away a section of the Autobahn) and several hundred residents needed to be evacuated, ashamed that I had been cursing AI search results on popular but outdated information when disaster had just struck and was still developing—though I maintain that artificial intelligence still played a major role with suggesting popular searches over timeliness and relevance.
Climate change is the culprit for these increasingly common disruptions. Given the turning weather and long detour we stayed at a campsite on the way to the Lukmanierpass, safe passage which we later confirmed (the woman who stopped to help was absolutely right), in a beautiful spot by the chief tributary of the Rhein at Rein da Medal, from the Romansch for source.
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