scrb -here's a Youtube video of the trip:

Bookmarking!

Good hikers count with 20 min for the hike from the lake to the gondola station and with 40 min for the hike down from the lake up to Kandersteg.
The difference of altitude between zo lower and the upper gondola station is 500 metres.
The fare corresponds to most other fares of touristic gondolas in the Swiss Alps, but almost nobody pays the full fare (Half Fare Card, Swiss Travel Pass, Regional Passes, all with free rides for kids, etc.).

When I stayed in Kandersteg, there was no gondola. It was a 2-person, open chairlift into the heights. I have a fear of heights, so I closed my eyes almost the whole way! The hike down was steep, rocky and covered with tree roots. We both had blistered toes for days. Not fit for a stroller at that time!

I see the Oeschinensee gondelbahn opened in 2008 with more modern infrastructure. That open chairlift so high up, and for so long was A. Trip. 😲

Indeed, the small bituminized road (for walkers only) didn't yet exist in the last century.
May be you took the path down from the upper chairlift (now gondola) station which is smaller and steeper anyway.

I visited around early September.

Didn’t have great weather for a couple of days and my stay in Interlaken was running out so I set out by car on a overcast morning.

I’d been checking webcams and things didn’t look hopeful. So I arrived at the gondola station around 9:30 and went up. For the hike, most of the peaks were shrouded in clouds so you couldn’t see them.

but little by little they cleared up. I arrived at the lake and walked around and by 11 or so a lot of the clouds lifted.

Around noon I headed back to the gondola. You could see a lot more of the mountains on that path. On the gondola, Kandersteg looked brilliant in the sun. The parking lot was almost full and more people were arriving.

I had hope to go up to Niesen Kulm on the way back but webcams showed there was no visibility from the top.

oh when I arrived, I missed the turn and ended up in the queue for the car train thing. They let me turn to the road back to Kandersteg and the gondola.

big queue, I will have to find out what that’s about.

What would the situation be like in February say?

I wonder if the bus and ferry schedules, or even the train schedules would be as frequent in the winter as in summer to get to some of these places (Niederhorn, Niesen or even some place like Gelmerbahn?).

As above:
Operating times of all lifts, etc: https://www.regionalpass-berneroberl...lic-transport/