free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
A brief report on our trip to Switzerland to do stages 9-14 of the Alpine Pass route last month. Who needs words when the pictures can do all the talking! Bit of background, we stayed in guesthouses and arranged for our bags to be transported in between, meaning we only needed a day rucksack on the actual walks. Also, Switzerland is expensive so we stayed everywhere half board, all our meals were excellent though! And the beer is quite cheap! The Alpine Pass crosses Switzerland east to west but we only did the stages that cross the bernese alps. We used Kev Reynolds excellent book (Cicerone) to plan the stages. The route is graded C (challenging) due to the length of some of the stages and the ascent/descent of up to 1300m in any one day. A couple of the walks had a little exposure and scrambling.
We started in Murren, taking an extra day here to enjoy the quite spectacular views of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau massif...
- From our balcony
- From the top of the Schilthorn mountain station
We got a nice few shots of the Alpenglow as dusk fell over the Eiger...
Our first two days involved 8 hour walks ascending to two high passes at around 2750m, the Sefinnenfurgge and then the Hohturli, however we ended up with a slight navigational error and ascended Bundstock, a different pass, on day two instead...here are some walking highlights...
- leaving Murren
- the terrain changes to scree and rock at around 1750m
- part of the descents are too steep to walk on so you take the stairs!
- en route to Bundstock (by mistake!)
- the red and white markers are to guide mountain walkers
- reaching the blumlisalp glacier
- lots of broad scree slopes to cross
- summit of Regensboldhorn
- early morning cloud inversion of sorts!
and lots and lots of these...
I couldnt recommend this part of Switzerland highly enough...we are definately returning next year but will likely base ourselves in Kandersteg as there are a number of good ascents of the surrounding mountains from there, its a charming place in an ideal location. The most special place we stayed was definately a mountain hostel in Griesalp,a remote little hamlet in the Kiental valley, only really an option if you choose to walk in and out again as we did. but worth the two days of hard walking, I promise!
Its back to the Bens for us for now though!