Swiss Alpine Pass Route

The Swiss Alpine Pass Route runs for 200 miles  between Sargans and Montreux over 18 mountain passes. It is also called the Via Alpina 1 for the part between Sargans and Lenk.

My wife Jan and I walked it with 3 friends in two 8 day sections, the first from Grindelwald to Montreux in 2006 and the second in 2013 from Sargans to Grindelwald. Both trips were in Late August/early September.

I wrote daily blog posts at the time and have combined these, illustrated with mobile phone pictures as well as the black and white photographs that I took on my Mamiya film cameras. There's lots of other information there as well.

Here is the link to the new web page: Swiss Alpine Pass Route

Alpine Pass Route Day 2. Weisstannen to Elm.

We had an early breakfast at 7am as it was going to be a long tough day today.

Shortly after 8am we started walking up the valley along the river. So many waterfalls! Lots of cows with very loud cow bells for company. Easy walking for a few miles then a steep climb to the pass.

View east from below Foo Pass

We reached the pass by 1.15pm. This was the main event of the day at 2223m and clear views in all directions. Took a few photos here on my Mamiya 7 camera as well as a few on my mobile phone so that I had some images for this blog post.

Foo Pass view north

Jolly steep descent from the pass and we quickly came to the Raminer farm which seemed to be selling refreshments, including beer. After a short stop for a pint we continued down to Elm,  which took a further 2 hours.

Elm is a pretty but quiet village and we stayed in the Elmer hotel and were very well looked after all night.

Tomorrow we walk to Linthal.

Foo Pass

Alpine Pass Route Day 8. Meiringen to Grindelwald

Thursday 12th was our 8th and last day walking the Alpine Pass Route. This completes this half of the route, as well as the entire walk from Sargans to Montreaux as we walked from Grindelwald to Montreaux in 2006.

We have actually been following the signs for the Via Alpina 1 this time which follows most of the same route.

The day started wet in Meiringen as we made our way up past the Reichenbach Falls, the place where Sherlock Holmes met his fate. I took several photos on my Samsung S3 phone which Google automatically converted into a video.

It was a steady climb up through the trees and meadows to Schwarzwaldalp where we stopped for a short lunch break. The rain started again before reaching the Grosse Scheidegg for another break. It was just a stroll from here for a couple of hours to our finish at the Alte Post Hotel in Grindelwald. The black and white photo is of the Wetterhorn.

Overall, we took 16 days to walk about 220 miles from Sargans to Montreux, starting in 2006 and finishing in 2013: 2 blocks of 8 days.

Alpine Pass Route Day 6. Attinghausen to Engelberg

Another long day on our 8 day walk from Sargans to Grindelwald along the Alpine Pass Route.

We had an early breakfast son that we could catch the small gondola lift from Attinghausen to Brusti before the rush.

We were walking by 8.30am and the rain was clearing with the sun trying to break through.

Nice little ridge as we climbed higher to the saddle of Angistock. Then we lost quite a bit of height as we avoided a slope prone to rockfall. Then up to the Surenen Pass at 2291m by late morning. It was cold but still dry.

We dropped down to a ski hut (about the size of a garden shed) to have lunch inside. Shortly after leaving the rain returned and continued for the rest of the day. No views or photos after this.

Stopped at hut for hot soup and a break from the rain. Then down for another hour or so to another hut for a beer. Really heavy rain for the rest of the descent. We arrived at our hotel at 5.30pm looking like drowned rats!

Tomorrow we walk to Meiringen with better weather forecast. Fingers crossed.

New Alpine Images

I have added a lot of new photographs to my web gallery. These are from various trips over the years and include ski mountaineering and skiing.

Locations include:

• the Gran Paradiso area of northwest Italy near Aosta. 
• The Bernese Oberland around Murren. 
• Mountains around Saas Fee, Zermatt and Gressoney.
• Photos from the summit of the Aiguille du Tour near Chamonix.

There are also some aerial shots taken in the Alps from helicopters and in Colorado near Steamboat Springs from a light aircraft. I will do a separate post for these with a few tips as to what worked best.

Jungfrau Ski Tracks

Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau (left to right)

Breithorn and Sefinenfurke (on Alpine Pass Route)

Mont Blanc (right) from Aiguille du Tour

La Tsantaleina and Crevasse, Gran Paradiso

Ski Mountaineering Above the Rifugio Benevolo

Room With a View, Rifugio Guglielmina, Gressoney

Strahlhorn from the Allalingletscher

Weissmies from Schwarzberg Weisstor

Alpine Pass Route Day 7. Engelberg to Meiringen

Another good start to the day. Dry but cold. Clouds on the tops though.

Started in the best way by catching the cable car to the top! Good view behind us over Trubsee Lake (lake photo taken by Jan as I forgot!). All of my photos here taken on my Samsung S3 and edited with Snapseed.

Walked past lake to another lift to Joch Pass. This resembled a building site so quickly moved on.

Fresh snow overnight above 1800m. Looked like winter. Hoped that tops would clear but stayed hidden from us.

Good views with nice skies. After the Engstlensee lake below the pass we climbed to Tannalp and on to Balmeregghorn. The weather was closing in here. Low cloud and snow.

The next section should have been spectacular. A narrow traverse up to Planplatten. The snow was falling harder and it was windy so we took the quick way down; a convenient cable car to Meiringen from 2100m!

We were down before the forecast rain and testing the local beer before reaching our very comfortable hotel.

Tomorrow, Thursday, we finish our 8 day walk in Grindelwald.

Alpine Pass Route Day 5. Unterschächen to Attinghausen.

Today started where yesterday ended, with rain and low cloud. The Hotel Alpina in Unterschächen was good and most of our clothes were dry.

The walking was not that memorable, being mostly along or close to roads.

The town of Burglen was interesting, with it's claim to fame being that it was where William Tell came from. Unfortunately it was shut! I took a few photos around the church while the rest of the group searched in vain for somewhere that was open for lunch.

Burglen church

William Tell statue in Burglen

We carried on along the river towards our hotel in Attinghausen as the skies above cleared. The Hotel Krone where we are staying is a very friendly place with good food and beer.

I also took some photos of the castle ruins near our hotel. Nice light, nice sky.

Forecast tomorrow is bad!

Alpine Pass Route Day 4. Linthal to Unterschächen

Today, our fourth day on the Alpine Pass Route, was our first wet day. It was raining as we left the Hotel Bahnhof in Linthal and it was still raining as we arrived at the Hotel Alpina in Unterschächen. The only thing that changed was the intensity.

It was a bit under 10 hours and 17 miles, with about an hour of stops through the day. We started at 8.15am.

The first few hours we climbed up through forest so we were sheltered from the rain but it was warm and humid. Not that pleasant but some stunning cliffs to weave through.

Above the forest it opened out to alpine meadows and the rain was harder. We took shelter at Urnerboden for a lunch break at 12.30. I did take a shot of Urnerboden but only on my Samsung S3.

Urnerboden

It was raining too hard for me to use my Mamiya 7 camera.

From here it was a steady climb to the Klausen Pass, where we stopped for a snack at 2.50pm. At 1900 metres we had hoped for good views but with low rain clouds we saw nothing.

After a long traverse from the pass it was steeply down on a good path to Asch. This should have been one of the highlights of the trip with a very large waterfall immediately behind the village. Unfortunately it was raining but I managed 4 shots on my Mamiya 7 camera and several on my Samsung S3. Low cloud so unable to see the top.

The version I took on my Mamiya 7, added after trek

Aesch Falls on a good day!, taken on my Mamiya 7, added after trek

It was just an hour more to walk down to our hotel in Unterschächen, the Alpina. No wifi in the Hotel so this blog will have to wait until tomorrow, Monday, to send.

Garden gnome house near Unterschächen. 

Short day tomorrow, just 4 hours, to Attinghausen near Altdorf.

Alpine Pass Route Day 3. Elm to Linthal.

Yesterday was a big day for us and jolly tiring so we decided to shorten today's walk by 4 miles by using the bus. The weather was due to close in later so this also gave us the best chance of decent weather for the high shots.

We were walking by 9.40am at 1700m. It was a steady climb from the Obererbs Ski hut to the first saddle at 11am. Good views and sunshine.

Richetli Pass from Saddle

Richetli Pass right on skyline

From here it was an easy downhill section to a bowl below the pass.

We were on the Richetlipass at 12.15pm. Nice light and clouds looking back. A bit hazy ahead.

View West from Richetli Pass

Steeply downhill for a long time, some of it along the top of old glacial moraines to the valley floor.

Another couple of hours saw us in Linthal at 4.30pm. Dunkel beer on draft aided recovery! That's 3 dry days running. Forecast not good for tomorrow.

Alpine Pass Route Day 1. Sargans to Weisstannen

Yesterday we travelled from Grindelwald to Zurich where we had a couple of hours for taking photos around the city. I took photos along the river, across the lake and around the Old Town. After 2.5h I had the shots I wanted so we returned to the station and caught the train to Sargans.

We were meeting friends in the Hotel Löwen, just below the castle. Lots of catching up to do over a few pints and a few glasses of wine.

Today we resumed the Alpine Pass Route in Switzerland that we started 7 years ago when we walked from Grindelwald to Montreaux, on the shores of Lake Geneva. It's the same group of 5 walkers but unfortunately our support team has changed because of illness from good friends Rick and Glen to a commercial company, Swiss Trails. It's not the same but the bags arrived!

The whole route crosses the high alpine passes between Sargans and Montreaux
A total of 16 days walking by the time we finish this time in Grindelwald.

It was a short day today, just 7.5miles and 4 hours. Jolly warm though. Temperatures around 27ºC. Lots of walking in forest which was much cooler than open hillside. An easy introduction to the trip.

We arrived at our hotel in Weisstannen in time for lunch, I shared a Rosti with Phil and had a couple of Dunkel beers.

Weisstannen Refreshments

Tomorrow we cross the Foo Pass to Elm, a rather more serious and strenuous day than today.