Pilatus T5-Trilogy

One of our "interesting tours" books includes a couple paths on the North side of the Pilatus that sound great but that only be done when it's dry and late enough in the season that all the snow is gone. Today was one of those days, so we linked up a couple of the paths with another trip up the Esel (also in the book) to form a Pilatus T5-trilogy.

After taking the gondola up to Fräkmüntegg we leave the crowds (sunny September Sunday on the Pilatus... there are crowds!) and follow the hiking path towards Alpgschwänd. Just short of the alp we turn uphill and follow another trail up, up, up through the woods, past some folks gathering mushrooms, up up, until we come out of the trees and things steepen up a bit. Here, above us in the first (very) light scrambly bit (there's even a cable), we see the first other people on this path: a large group working their way up. We're moving faster, but they're enough ahead of us that they aren't really a bother. Up, up some more with the views getting progressively better, until we come out at the Steinbockhütte. This seems to be the destination for the group in front of us (nice destination: the views are really great) so we weave through them and continue on our way. There's steep grass ahead, so we break out the trekking poles (we have ice axes with us, just in case, but they aren't necessary yet) as we traverse and climb on an easily followed trail through the Hängifeld.

Grass flank above the Steinbockhütte

We traverse to the top of the Sulzgraben (this bit of steep grass over a sharp drop is a bit of a pulse-raiser!) and then do the last bit of ascending to hit the East ridge of the Pilatus. We've done this bit of ridge before more than once and it's great each time. The ridge takes us up, up, up to the Rosegg. Along the way we do a quick food break and enjoy the views. From the Rosegg we traverse across to the steep wall of the Esel, which we scramble up (nice pic showing that line here, from this post), climb over the railing (plenty of tourists around wondering where the hell we're coming from), and then go up to the top to enjoy the views and the madness.

On the way up to the Esel

Now it's down to the buildings at the Kulm, through the tunnel, a bit down the standard trail, and then a left turn to star the third part the day's trip: the Nordwestpassage. This small, but easy to follow, trail takes us westward more or less directly under the cliffs leading to the ridge. There isn't anywhere that it's particularly challenging, but it is certainly quite exposed.

Part of the Nordwestpassage. If you look carefully you can see the path.

At the beginning of a big scree field, we descend steeply a bit along the last grassy shoulder and then traverse to pick up the broader path of the Alten Tomlisweg. This leads us up and through the wall, with a bit of easy (though uncomfortably wet in places) scrambling to the ridge. Now we're on a normal hiking path that takes us up to the Tomlishorn and the crowd that's up there (not as bad as the Esel since it's more walking). Another quick food break to enjoy the views, and then we take the normal hiking path back to the Pilatus Kulm (we'd thought about going down the Alten Tomlisweg, but the though of descending through some of the wet bits isn't particularly appealing). The easy and crowded path takes us back to the tunnel and the path down. At the saddle near the chapel we turn off to the right to follow the path down, down, down to Gsäss, and then back to Fräkmüntegg, where we enjoy cool beverages and watching the people in the rope park before hopping in the gondola and starting the trip back home.

This really was an exceptional tour and is one it's very easy to imagine doing again.

Track:
Stats: 11.4km, 1300m up and down.

Two days hiking around Luzern

After a couple cancellations due to weather or other plans, on Saturday we finally managed to get in our Pilatus hike.

We started in Gfellen (1007m), climbed quickly to Alpeli and the Risetenstock (1802m), then followed the ridge past the Mittaggüpfi (1917m), down to a saddle at 1701, back up and around the Widderfeld (we didn't go up to the peak, which would have been a big detour), along the final bit of very nice narrow ridge to the Tomlishorn, then finished at the Pilatus Kulm hotel complex (~2100m). We took the fantastic cog railway down to Alpnachstad. Total climb was about 1300m, with about 300m of descent; we walked for 8.5 hours, including breaks.

On the narrow ridge

Ridge to Tomlishorn and Pilatus-Kulm

After spending the night in Sarnen, we took the Postbus to Stöckalp (1075m) then walked up up up, past Stepfen (1522m), through a really nice gorge and up to Innenbach (1828 m), then over the ridge at Bocki, along the mountainside above Chlister, then steeply up to Wandelen (2105m). The plan from there was to follow the Arnigrat and head down to Sachseln. 20 minutes into the Arnigrat it started to rain. Since the walk was at times pretty hairy and we didn't know what to expect further along, we turned back to Wandelen. From there we headed down to Sachseln (483 m) by way of Mettental (1579m), Unt. Mus (1077m), and Musschwendli.
Total climb was about 1100m, total descent about 1700m; we walked for about 9 hours, including breaks.

That's where we want to go?

On the Arnigrat

It was sad to stop the Arnigrat hike, but we'll definitely go back and do it again. In the other direction so that we're looking towards the Alps instead of away.

Climbing the Galtigentürme

This climbing tour along the Galtigentürme was on our list from earlier in the year: we had signed up to do it with the SAC, but then the tour ended up being cancelled due to bad weather (like so much this summer). Since we had good weather forecast for Sunday, we decided to give it a try on our own. It's been raining a fair amount, so we figure a climbing day is better than doing one of the "more interesting" hikes involving steep grass slopes.

After the train to Alpnachstad we buy tickets for the cog railway up the Pilatus. The woman at the counter lets us know that if we want to come down on the cog railway, we will need to reserve a slot for it. She recommends that we do this "as soon as possible" once we get up top. Yikes... guess big crowds are to be expected! Mixed in with the large group of Asian tourists waiting to board the train are a fair number of climbers (recognizable from the helmets and/or ropes on their packs)... not too much of a surprise that we're not going to be lonely on the mountain today. ;-) We, along with the rest of the climbers, get out at Ämsigen and head up the trail towards Matt. This takes us up, at first through woods, then up, up along a nice, if somewhat muddy, trail.  When we hit Mattalp we can already see at least two groups on the "standard" route up the Mattalpplatte and there are three groups who've arrived in front of us who are waiting and at least one behind us. Hrm. That's a crowd. There are other routes up the face, but we don't have a real topo with us and aren't sure which ones are both of an appropriate difficulty level and go all the way to the top, so we opt to skip this first bit and go straight to the first of the towers.

crowd heading towards the Mattalpplatte

There seems to be something like a path along the cliff to the left, so we head up that way along with another pair who seem to not be interested in waiting. Partway up someone calls them back and directs them around the cliff the other way; being stubborn (imagine that), we continue up. The traces of trail are steep, particularly once we get into the grass, but the footing is good, so it's no problem to get up to end of the face and then around it and back to the entry point for the first tower. Here we wait for two groups to clear the way and then start climbing ourselves. The first three towers don't have anything more difficult than 4a, so we climb in our boots (as does pretty much everyone else we see).

view down along the grat of the 1st towers and further down to Mattalp

The ridge is a fun climb: it's not particularly difficult (though quite exposed), but it's interesting and the views of the surrounding mountains rising over the sea of clouds are great. We do some waiting because of the two in front of us, and cause the two behind us to wait a bit, but there's enough room at all the stands so it's not overly cramped and the atmosphere is good. We do an ok job with the communication bits, certainly better than on the Brüggligrat, despite the occasional noise from the cog rail below us.

climbing above the clouds

Between the third and the fourth tower we take advantage of the broad grass ridge to take a lunch break. It's a nice spot for a break, but this turns out to be a strategic mistake. The first pitch of the fourth tower is the trickiest bit on the ridge (4c), so it's a natural choke point. By the time we're done with lunch there are two groups climbing the first pitch and another four groups waiting to start. We opt, reluctantly, to skip it rather than dealing with that line. It might have been better to do lunch "in line" at the bottom of the tower (though that still would have resulted in climbing in more of a crowd than Greg is enthusiastic about).

long line at the bottom of the fourth tower

Up the steep grass slope to the right of the tower we go, until we hit the ridge at it's top, from there along the ridge, with a bit more scrambling, until we hit the Rosegg. From there we opt to head up to the Esel. This bit ends up being just as fun as the climbing itself. There's a clear use path that leads us to the wall below the Esel. From here there are blue markings along with the use path that lead steeply up, up, up. There's a great mixture of scrambling and steep grass, snaking back and forth, at times very exposed, great views all around (and down), until the path ends at the walkway down from the Esel to the Pilatus Kulm. We climb the fence, getting some funny looks from the tourists atop the Esel, and walk the last few meters up to the top to enjoy the views. Looking down, the funny looks are completely understandable: it really doesn't look like there's a way down there. :-)

view from Pilatus Kulm

At the Kulm itself we manage to get a reservation for a train leaving in an hour and half, so we go grab some cool beverages and enjoy the people watching, mountain views, and the memories of a very nice tour.

The track:

From Hergiswil to Pilatus along the east ridge

Originally intended to be a training tour, this ended up being quite a nice one in its own right. The idea is from "Alpinwandern in den Voralpen: zwischen Saane and Reuss". We took the train to Hergiswil and then walked along the shore of the lake, around the corner, and then up, up with the hiking path. It's a nice climb, mainly under trees, with a good breeze, up, up, for the first few hundred meters. After a bit of contouring we climb again, switching back under the trees, until hitting the ridge at p839. The views are awesome, we really have great weather, and we're mostly alone (we a few bikers and a very small number of hikers coming the other way). Now a longer contour under the ridge until we hit the Renggpass, where we switch back to the ridge and start climbing again. Partway up this climb we take a break and eat a bit while enjoying the views to the north. Onward onward, under the Chrummhorn, climbing steadily, until the Tellenfadlücke. At this point we head off the red-white marked path and switch to the path described in our book that takes us further along the ridge.

looking up to the Pilatus

This next stretch leads us further up, up, up, through woods, sometimes over, sometimes around rocks, constantly climbing until we hit the broad grass flank below the Windegg. Here we see the first other hikers of the day who are going the same direction we are. We take another quick break to eat something and enjoy the great views and then start the last bit of climbing up to the Rosegg. This is nice, steep, varied, T4 hiking, big fun! At the saddle past the Steiglihorn we join the path that comes up from the Galtigentürme and then continue to the Rosegg.

looking down along the east ridge

We both want to do the last T5 bit up to the Esel east wall again, but we weren't sure whether or not this would be feasible given the conditions (there is still some snow around) so this is a decision point. Fortunately we see a couple other people doing the path and watch them clear the one snow patch without trouble, so that's an easy decision. Off we go, walking and scrambling and walking and scrambling, over the big snow patch (not sure I'd want to be the first one to do this), up, up, up until we hit the top at the Esel, climb the fence, and go enjoy the panoramic views. This really is a *great* stretch of path.

path up the east wall

Up top we stop for some quick refreshments (cold beverages and french fries) and then work our way through the tourists in the tunnels to start our way down the North side. We want to do at least some descent on this trip, so the plan is to head down at least as far as the first gondola station. This is the same route as what we came up with Kristen some years ago. At the church we would have preferred the more direct descent towards the east, but there's way too much snow for that, so we take the more scenic route. It's a good descent, followed by a bit more climbing (not necessary!) and then we head down the last bit, past the rodelbahn, to the gondola station. The line is scary long, but it moves fast, and 15 minutes later we start the long gondola ride down.

Andrea pointed out somewhere along the way that this wasn't really a training tour: it was too varied and interesting in its own right. That makes it even better. :-)

The track:

We did 1899m up, 934m down, and covered 14.6km.

Up to the Stanserhorn

Given the weather forecast, we probably wouldn't have done this one today if we weren't desperate to get up into the mountains and to do some more "getting in shape" work.

We started in Stans and planned to do the direttissima route up to the peak, but at the gondola station at Chaelti we discovered that the direct route was closed. After thinking about it a couple seconds and taking the amount of rain that has come down over the last days, we decided to obey the signs and take the longer zig-zag panorama route. So up we go on a mixture of forest road and path, not climbing overly steeply. At the construction site at Bluematt we need to do some improvisation to follow the path (after discovering that the electric fence was active... ouch!), but then we continue on the, now quite muddy, road/path up. Just past Bluematt we come to this great sign (we'll see a few more along the way), which is now our new logo/slogan:

Further up to the Ahornhütte, where we have a sandwich on the nice picnic table enjoying the only-partially-cloud-obscured views out over the Vierwaldstattersee, Luzern, etc.

 

 After the break it's a short bit more up to the ridge at Blatti. The last piece starts on the ridge (the view out towards Engelberg, Pilatus, etc. is unfortunately almost entirely covered by clouds), then drops down a bit, past Rinderalp, and then back up to the ridge before hitting the gondola station/restaurant at the Stanserhorn. It's still early, so everything is closed, but we appreciate the views out towards Luzern a bit more (nothing to see the other way), have another sandwich, and then start down towards Dallenwil.

The path down to Dallenwil would be really, really nice on a day with views (and, preferably, with dry footing), but it's still not bad in the wet with the low clouds. At Wiesenberg we decide that we've both had enough of descending through mud (boy is that tough on the knees), so we grab the gondola (very basic) down to Dallenwil. We miss the train by a few minutes, which leaves us time for refreshing beverages before catching the next train back towards Luzern and home.

We'll definitely have to head back to the Stanserhorn some day when it's clear.

Hiking the Oberbauenstock

The original plan for the three-day weekend was to do some mountaineering and climbing around the Cabane de Moiry. We cancelled that due to the crappy weather forecast for Sunday and Monday. This trip is our "let's take advantage of the good weather on Saturday" alternative. It's a bit dialed back from what we might normally due since greg is still recovering from a bad cold he had during the week. The hike is adapted from one of the "more interesting hikes" books.

We start with an early train-train-bus trip that ends up with us on the first (8:00) gondola up from Emmetten to the restaurant at Niederbauen. From here we follow the path towards the Niderbauen Chulm. The weather is beautiful, there are lots of flowers, the views are great, it's a really nice hike up. We briefly enjoy the views from the peak (along with a fair number of other people, not quite clear where they came from) before heading down, past the blue-white path leading down to Weid, down, to the turnoff to the Hundschopf, We ignore this and turn right to contour around back towards the gondola station. At Merlieggen we turn to follow the road a bit and then take the path steeply up, past the big erosion feature, and up, up towards the Faulberg. Once on the step we continue, now on a blue-white path, up towards the Oberbauenstock. Up, up towards the towering face, then around the West, across a scree field, and then up the face to the shoulder. The route is steep but easy (it even has cables) and, though we're slow, we make it up on to the ridge without problems. There's no danger of us getting lonely up here, it's a beautiful day, a nice hike, and not too difficult. We follow the ridge up the last hundred meters to the Oberbauenstock itself were we do a food break with very, very nice views. Some of the previous hikes we can see from here: Engelberger Rotstock, Brisen, Gitschen, Rigi Hochflue (twice),  Eggberge, Krönten (just barely), Stanserhorn, Buochserhorn,  Pilatus. The view is just great.

view from the top of the Oberbauenstock

view from the top of the Oberbauenstock

After lunch we head back and follow a very nice path along the ridge and to the saddle below the Zingel. Neither of us are at 100%, so we opt not to continue the ridge (though we'll have to do this at some point) and start our way down. At the devision point near Haseneggli we opt to head down through the valley to Emmetten instead of going to Stockhütte and taking the gondola. This starts as a nice path through the woods, next to the stream and ends up as a bit too long on the road, but we make it down to town with time to spare to grab some refreshment before grabbing the bus that starts the trip back home.

more views

This was a great use of a beautiful day.

Track:

Not climbing the Ruessiflue

 Our plan for the day was to climb the Rüssiflue on the Pilatus massif, we ended up doing a hike instead because it was just too hot.

We get a early start, 6:00 train from Basel, and started hiking up from Alpnachdorf at around 7:30. It's already pretty warm and the humidity is quite high. We head through town (reversing our descent from the Tomlishorn tour) and start heading up, up. We take advantage of the fountain at the farmhouse near Winterhalten to cool off a bit and continue up. After a bit G realizes that he's way too warm, so he starts to slow down. Another cooling off break at the stream in the gorge, the more slow climbing. G really isn't having much fun. After getting to the end of the Rüssiflue we take a break by the stream and eat something. Here we decide to skip the ridge (G just isn't up to it) and do a hike instead.

After the break we head up a bit more, past Fräkmunt and then following the trail under the Widderfeld towards Schybach. Another short break above the parking lot at Blätz (this is where we came down on the Tomlishorn trip) and then further along towards Schwand. Down further and another break at a fountain with a bench in the shade to eat a bit and cool down some more. Down, down, and around to p884 where we opt to head through the gorge instead of going down across fields. An interminable bit through the woods (and up a bit!) to the gorge - it's actually probably a nice hike, but G just isn't enjoying himself at all - across on a bridge, and then traversing through the woods until we again end up at the farmhouse near Winterhalten. Another cooling fountain break and then it's repeating the way up.

Back in town we stop at our hotel, have showers to cool down, take a nap, and then have a nice dinner.

We both (G in particular) definitely need to do some more heat acclimatization work! Oh, and the Rüssiflue really does look spectacular need to get back to that too.

Track:

Stats: 8:40, ~22km, ~1500m up and down

Läufelfingen -> Hägendorf

The theme of the day was flexibility.

Our original plan was to get up early and head down towards Luzern in order to do a long gratweg up the Pilatus. The weather forecast (for rain and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon) nixed that idea. So Andrea pointed out that if we started a hike in Läufelfingen and crossed the last bit of the Jura we would have (by combining different hikes) completed a path from Basel all the way across the Jura. That's combining Birsfelden->Rheinfelden, Rheinfelden->Gelterkinden, Gelterkinden->Läufelfingen, and now this hike. If we keep this up and are systematic, we should be able to complete a path across Switzerland. :-)

The devolving weather conditions forced a couple of changes later in the hike as well; this is what we ended up doing: Läufelfingen (566m), Muren (718m), Schmutzberg (969m), Challhöchi (847m), Belchenflue (~1100m), Allerheilengberg (880m), Richenwil (~600m), Gnöd, Hägendorf (423m). We didn't go through the Teufelsschlucht (the big attraction along this hike) due to the weather.

on the Belchenflue

Bad weather coming from the west...

Total hiking time was about 4 hours, including a snack atop the Belchenflue, from which we had fantastic panoramic views of the Alps, the Jura, the southern Schwarzwald, and the clouds which were moving in. Here's the view to the North:

Flühli -> Gfelle

On Saturday we ran across the new SAC book "Entlebuch-Emmental Zwischen Pilatus, Napf und Sigriswiler Rothorn"; flipping through it revealed all kinds of interesting sounding hikes with a strong emphasis on doing ridges. We like ridges, so we immediately bought the book. This was our first hike from it.

We started pretty early: on a train leaving Basel at 6:30 and did the tram->train->train->bus thing. The bus from Schüpfheim is pretty full, but we're the only ones who get off at Flühli (they're all going to the Brienzer Rothorn, yay!). From Flühli we take the road out of town under blue skies, below the walls of the Schwandiliflue, past Mettle and Salzbüel, then along the path to the farm at Baumgarte. To this point we've been climbing steadily, (about 400m already), but haven't really noticed it; this all changes when we take a right at Baumgarte, head across the grass, and climb up the Leitere. This starts off steep and just gets steeper. :-) It's a great "path" (well-marked, but no path until it gets really steep) including steep grass, rock scrambling, a few cables, and a lot of mud. Definitely wouldn't want to do this the other way under these conditions!

Once up to the ridge we do a quick energy-bar break then continue along the ridge until we hit the cross on the peak under the Schafmatt. Here we run into a small group of sheep (sheep on the Schafmatt???) being guarded by two dogs (seen signs for this before, haven't actually seen the dogs though); we had around them with a bit of gentle talking for the dogs and head up to the real Schafmatt peak. The views would probably be amazing, but the clouds are bit too low to be able to see much in the direction of the alps. From here on it's ridge walking along an unmarked, but mostly visible, trail. For a while we have a good example of ridge weather: clouds on our left, clear to the right. The ridge is excellent: grass bits, scrambly bits, narrow bits, steep bits, everything you want. :-)

At a saddle we run into a couple of ibexes (they aren't much bothered by us) and do a sandwich break before continuing on. After a bit more nice walking we get to the end of the road: the cross at Pt. 1815 on the Abnistetterflue. Another sandwich break and some more view-enjoying, then back a bit and steeply down to the unmarked path running along the south face. Past the Toregg, and down to the Oberlooegg. Here we start seeing other people on the paths (the first of the day). A bit further on we come to the Schimbrig Bad where, unplanned but very welcome, a cool drink awaits.

At this point we play a bit of a game with ourselves. The signs say 1 hour 10 minutes to Gfelle, the next bus leaves in an hour, so we decide to take it easy and catch the next one. By the time we finish our drinks and set out again, we've got about 40 minutes to get the bus. We set out at our normal "getting ready hochtouren" pace for a bit, then at some point decide that it's worth trying to catch the bus. We up the pace to just under a jog and start cutting switchbacks out of the path. By the time we hit the river we've got 7-8 minutes left and no real idea how much farther it is to the bus stop, so we continue along alternating between fast walking and jogging. When the bus stop comes into view, the bus is there and the driver is getting ready to leave. Some fast jogging for the last 100m and we get to the bus just as he's pulling out, luckily for us the driver stops. We get on the bus sweaty, out-of-breath, and giggly. :-)

Note to ourselves: we seem to head uphill considerably faster than the times given in new book. We made it to the Schaffmatt in less than three hours, including a break, not the 4 hours given in the book.

Along the Schrattenflue

The forecast was good, so we set out to do a hike from the Entlebuch "interesting hikes" book ("Entlebuch-Emmental Zwischen Pilatus, Napf und Sigriswiler Rothorn" from the SAC).

Starting just outside of Flühli we follow the river for a bit (no Andrea's Special today) before passing through Torbach and starting to climb. We're under clouds/in fog, so views aren't really there, but at least it's nice and cool. Up, up we go, at times through woods, at times across fields, at times on forest roads. The footing is alternately fine and pretty muddy. As we go higher we get more and more into the cloud, which lends a spooky, fantastic character to some of the fields we cross. This isn't a heavily used path: a lot of the time we're just following the markers or, at best, traces of a path. Very nice. After passing Ämmetal thing start to get pretty steep and direttissima as we do the last 350m or so vertical meters up to the Ober Gummenegg. At the pass we come out into the sun (the ridge is stopping the clouds) and enjoy a very nice view down the Mariental, across to the Brienzergrat, and past that to the big peaks of the Berner Oberland. Here we also see our first other hiker, who's come up the other way.

Ober Gummenegg pass with Strick

After taking a few pictures we set off along the ridge. At the bottom of the cliffs heading up to the Strick we turn off onto the blue-white marked path (we must look unstable or something, the guy in front of us asks me "are you sure-footed?"), head around the cliff a bit, and then steeply up, with a bit of scrambling, to the peak of the Strick. We enjoy a sandwich break while taking in the views before continuing on. Here we move into the T5/unmarked route part of the hike and it gets a bit interesting/irritating. According to our reading of the book, we're supposed to follow traces of a path down through a couloir to the southwest of the peak. The only up around the peak we can find that even begins to meet the description is very steep and seems to end in air (tough to say due to the clouds). We aren't going that way. Fortunately Andrea has read some Hikr reports that provide alternate directions to the couloir. We look around a bit, find the place we want, and head on. After a big of very nice ridge walking we rejoin the path at Heftibode. Further along the ridge, past the Heftihütte, along the nice path under the cliff we go before turning off the path and heading up to the ridge again. This is some very, very nice walking: it's all limestone pavement ("Karren") with a steep drop off the right.

Along the ridge to the Heftibode

After a bit, crossing some snow fields, and some good scrambling (the last bit does require hands), we get to the Hächle, where we stop for another break and appreciate the views. If there were no clouds, this would be a great place to do an Alp panorama. As it is, we enjoy what's there before continuing along the ridge, hitting a marked trail at the Tierweid, down to the saddle at p1934, then turning back towards the valley at the Heideloch.

hands required to get to the Hächle

We contemplate continuing along the path along the ridge, but there's a fair bit of snow, it's no longer early, and our legs are letting us know that we've already done something, so it's down we go. The path down is really quite nice, at first lots of snow and rock (including some more great Karren), then more meadow, down, down, down, then trees, down, down further, and then we're in the valley floor. We've time it well, so we only need to wait 15 minutes for the bus that starts us back towards home.

limestone "Karren"

It was a great walk and it wouldn't be bad to do at least parts of again when then views are somewhat better.

Hiking the Pilatus

Text to come.

Tomlishorn and Widderfeld

More or less exactly a year ago we did a nice T5 trilogy on the Pilatus and, along the way, went up the Tomlishorn. In discussing that tour we found a hikr report about doing a T5 tour up the Southwest ridge of the Tomlishorn that sounded fun. Today we did that tour along with a bit of extra fun that Andrea found.

We start with the train to Alpnachstad and then start hiking through town and then up, up along road, forest road, and hiking path. Up, up, through the trees, through the gorge that's not really a gorge near Tiergarten, and then up some more until taking the first break near Polentablätz. We're on our own through all this and everything nice and quiet. Fun to be doing all this vertical with light packs and below 2000m! :-) Coming into the open below Fräkmünt we get our first good view of the ridge. Looks good! The ridge to the Matthorn, to our right, also looks good; going to have to come back and do that one too. Onwards past the picnic area, where we see the first people of the day, and then up, up a bit more to the alp at Tumli.

Here we leave the path and scramble up to the ridge and the bench that's directly above the alp. Nice food break here enjoying the views and quiet and then we continue along the ridge.

There's some easy and fun scrambling in this interspersed with nice walking and great views, always heading up, up, up. Someone is playing an alphorn in the area, so we've got a bit of musical accompaniment (yeah! back in Switzerland!). Towards the top, as the ridge broadens out and gets gentle, we catch up with a group of five who had clearly also just finished the ridge. We also walk past the guy who's playing the alphorn and continue up to the normal hiking path for the last bit to the Tomlishorn.

Now we're in the masses you expect on a peak like this on a lovely fall Sunday. There's barely room to stand on the peak itself.

After a short stay at the peak, we continue on our way along the ridge towards the Widderfeld (we last did this with Kristen ten years ago). Instead of following the path along the right of the Widderfeld, we turn off to the left and follow a use trail (later marked with blue stripes) that continues under the cliffs of the Widderfeld. Here we're alone again. :-)

The path takes us to a tunnel with stairs that take us up through the cliff and to the steep grass on the other side. Here we follow the use trail/markings until topping out on the trail down from the Widderfeld. We continue to the top and enjoy another food break and views across the madness on the Tomlishorn (we're alone up here). Supposedly there's an interesting direct route down from there, but we don't manage to find it, so after the break we continue along the path down the ridge, past a *really* nice bivvy spot (lacking water, but that's probably solvable) to the saddle between the Widderfeld and the Mittaggüpfi (11 years since we were last there), and then down, down, down. At Lütholdsmatt we stop for cool beverages and then continue the rest of the way down, down, down to Alpnach Dorf, where we start the trip home on trains that are as full as one would expect on a lovely September Sunday.

This was a nice long tour that's not particularly technically challenging. Since it's South-facing it might be a good one to add to the list of possible early-season training tours.

Amusing aside: two weeks after doing this tour, we found a very similar tour on the list of new tours added to the SAC tourenportal (though that one is a lot shorter since they start from the Schybach parking lot).

Track:
Stats: 23.7km, about 2000m up and down.

Stansstad to the Pilatus

This is more or less a repeat of a trip we've done before, but this time we started in Stansstad instead of Hergiswil.

This is a very nice hike. Today things were a bit overcast, and we were actually in a cloud from about the Windhorn to the Steiglihorn, but that just made things more dramatic. :-)

We didn't end up doing the scramble up the Esel since the ground was just a bit too soft. Instead we followed the (non-marked) path around the front of the Esel and joined the main hiking path up to the Kulm. The top was as crazy and packed as one would expect it to be, but the views were just fantastic: we were above the clouds and had an awesome panorama of the alps. The Matthorn, lightly sprinkled with snow, was really, really, cool looking. We need to do one of the ridges up to that peak.

The track:
And stats: 9.8km, 1885m up, 196m down. It took us almost exactly 4.5 hours to get to the Kulm, including breaks, so we weren't moving slow. :-)

The Arnigrat hates us

Today we made another attempt on the Arnigrat, after being turned away last time we tried. We started in Sachseln and the plan was to head up, past Oberschwanden and the Stucklikreuz to Stockalp and the Arnigrat. On the other side we'd then head over the Wandelen and down to Ällgi to stay the night. Sunday would then be another nice day towards Engelberg or something.

The weather forecast was for fog up to 1300-1500m and then clear skies. The Arnigrat is from 1800-2000, so that was no problem. We got to Sachseln (472m) and encountered the predicted fog. No problem! Up into the fog! At Gloters (780m) the fog cleared. Yay! But then we headed up into clouds. Clouds? Na, just more fog. Optimism!

Around about Unterschwanden (967m) things started to get muddy, and by the time we got past Oberschwanden (1100m) the path was really quite muddy. Still... onwards and upwards. Eventually we'll get above the fog! That illusion lasted until we hit the Stucklikreuz at 1800m. There we had lunch looking out over nothing and decided that doing another 2.5 hours through the clouds only to end up at a hut in the clouds was senseless. So we turned around and headed back.

This is about as good as it got... that's a bit of the Pilatus peering out between the fog layer and the cloud layer.

MUDDY!

1400m up in four hours, 1400m down in 2.5 hours. Five hours total of train riding... we're back home. Turned back, again, by the Arnigrat.