Euschelsflue and Chaellihorn

This is our first tour from Dani Siberlnagel's new Alpinklettern book. This one is also in the SAC Tourenportal.

We take the early train-train-bus combo to Schwarzsee then the chairlift up to Riggisalp. From there it's along the dirt road to Obere Euschels (lots of people out this early!), then up=up on the well done, and nicely in the shade, blue-white path up to Golmly (fair number of people underway here too). About 1:30 to the pass.

We follow the ridge on a use trail for a bit until we find a good flat spot before things get narrow and steep. Here we do a snack break and put on the gear and rope with about 30m between us (there's a 30m climb coming up). Further along the ridge and up the climbing bit (next to the metal steps they've installed) to the first mini-peak and cool cross. Here we shorten the rope to around 20m and then continue along the ridge. It's super fun and varied with a mix of walking and scrambling. There's almost always a use trail to help get through the vegetation (and show the way). A short bit of climbing at the end takes us to the peak of the Euschelsflue. Here we do another food break before continuing along the ridge to the Chaellihorn. This is mostly in the T4/T5 zone and fun. At the Chaellihorn we pack away the gear, eat a bit more, and enjoy the views before following the, now more more prominent, use trail further along the ridge and then down, down, back to Obere Euschels. Cool note: on the way down we saw two (2!) snakes: one that looked full grown and, a couple of minutes later, a baby. We almost never see snakes.

We stop at Untere Euschels for more food and drink and then continue along the trail around the corner and then down, down to Schwarzsee Bad, where we get the bus to start the trip home.

Really nice tour with a good mix of hiking, scrambling, and climbing. As Dani says in the book: it's a good one to practice the rope handling.

Track to come.

Churfirsten fun: Paliis Nideri

 Good weather forecast, but we didn't want to get too high in order to avoid snow. So we picked a tour in the Churfirsten from the SAC Tourenportal: Paliis Nideri via the "Züsler Highway".

Trains and and a bus take us to the clinic over Walenstadtberg. From there we follow the red-white markings up, up along the road to a well-used (but unmarked) trail heading up, up through the woods to the first step. Here we meet a blue-white trail which lead us very nicely through the wall (we see a chamoix defending its position and barking at us) to the next set of fields. Here we have a quick snack before heading up, up along a use trail to the next step. Here another really nice and fun path leads us up, up and through. This is definitely one of those you look at from below and think there's no way. Up at the pass we do a sandwich break before continuing along and down, across some snow, down, down.

At Rüggli we turn right along the trail towards the Schibenstoll. Towards the bottom of that climb we head cross-country until we hit a weak use-trail (with a few cairns along the way) that leads us around the corner and into the Gluristal. We continue along the use trail until we hit the red-white trail that leads us up, up to the Hinderrugg (G ran down this when we were in the area last year) and then the Chäserrugg, where it's madness). After stopping for some food at the restaurant there we head down, down along the, at time surprisingly sketchy) red-white path towards Walendstadtberg. At the hut at Chamsässli we switch the blue-white trail off to the right that leads us down to Alp Tschingla. Here we realize that we have 50 minutes until the next bus. The sign says 1:10. If we don't make it, we'll have to either wait two hours or do a few hundred extra vertical meters down to Walenstadt. We give it a bit of gas and make the bus with five minutes to spare. :-)

A great tour in really impressive terrain. We definitely have to go back and do the "Schnürl" route. :-) 

Swiss Canyon Trail 110

 G ran this, A crewed.

Long weekend in Kandersteg

The idea here was to spend a few days doing multi-pitch climbs around Kandersteg. The first day we headed to Ueschinen and bailed on the first route we tried due to the amount of grass in the route. G didn't want another two weeks of allergy problems. We realized that this was pretty likely to be a problem for anything we tried in the area, so it became a hiking weekend.

Sunday: the thought was to head up to the Golitschepass and then over the First before heading back down to Kandersteg. This fell victim to G's unwillingness to deal with snow: after the pass there was a good-sized snow field. We knew this was possible and had poles and were wearing approach shoes, but the steepness of the snow combined with the uncertainty of whether or not worse was still to come was too much.

So we continued on hiking down, down, and then up, up to the Elsighorn (food break), then down through the crowds to the restaurant and gondola station at Esligenalp. From there we followed the red-white trail under some really nice looking (but steep!) climbing routes and then down, down, down to Frutigen, where get the train back to Kandersteg.

Monday:

Up, up and through the lovely Ueschenental. Then up, up to the ridge at the end of the Gällihore. There we have a food break and opt to skip the last bit to the peak. Down, down, under the really nice looking face (definitely need to do some of the multi-pitches here!), past the climbing hut, down down (cooling along the way by scooping up snowballs and carrying them with us) until we get to town. There we pick our stuff up from the hotel and then head back home.

We definitely need to go back in the fall and do some of the planned climbs without the risk of allergies.

Biel/Bienne to Moutier

We started with the idea of hiking through the Taubenloch from Biel/Bienne (a gorge we hadn't hiked before) and then figuring out what comes next.

From the train station there's a bit of walk through town before getting to the beginning of the gorge. Then up through the gorge, which is really nice. After the gorge it's up to the ridge and then along that for a while. While stopping for a food break we realize that it's not incredibly far to just hike to Moutier. So we set that as a possible goal (we can always stop at Court or another town along the way) and continue.

Down to Vauffelin, over the next ridge and down and through Court (saying hi to the slabs there!), then through the gorge (symmetry for the day: starting in a gorge and finishing with a gorge) to Moutier.

This was a good long hike without a ton of vertical. Great weather and good wildflowers throughout.

For future reference: this could "easily" be extended to be a ~60km trail run from Biel/Bienne to Basel: Biel/Bienne->Moutier->Delemont->Soyhieres->Kleinlutzel->Basel. There are towns to stop along the way for resupply and it wouldn't be massive vert.

Not really a long weekend in the Mythen

 The plan was to take advantage of the good weather and long weekend to have some fun around the Mythen, so we booked a couple of nights at Holzegg and headed out on Friday morning.

Friday: trains and bus to Brunni, chair lift up to Holzegg, drop off the extra bag and then head to the Adlerspitzli. The route is now marked (or maybe it was marked before and it's now better marked?), so it's pretty easy to find. This is, as always, a fun climb. Up top we eat, then follow the Ruchband until we get to the beginning of the Wysswaendli. Here we put the ropes back on and follow that route. The very first bit of this (across the slab) is a bit sketchy, but it's otherwise technically easy and super fun. Requires a bit of route finding and has some fairly long run-outs (again, technically easy, so ok). Up on the Mythenmatt we pack the rope away and then follow the trail up, and around to the Rotgraetli. This is easy fun scrambling with awesome views and lets us out right in the crowds at the top of the Gross Mythen. 

Another food break and then we head down to the hotel. The way down still has some snow in it, but there are plenty of steps kicked in that since loads of people are heading up and down each day.

After dinner we do a quick hike up to the Furggelenstock to enjoy the sunset and the great views. We had hoped to also see the moon rise, but that happened too late for us.

Saturday: G woke up with what was clearly about to be a bad case of his grass allergy. He did at least some of the climbing on Friday with gardening gloves on, but those had to come off in order to do anything real with the rope and he clearly ended up in contact with plenty of grass. There was also a lesson learned here about the rope picking up whatever oils cause the allergy (he had rash on his neck from where the rope sat when took up coils and a bunch on the palms of his hands from handling the rope). So after a morning long run and breakfast together, G took the train back home so he could at least suffer at home. A did a day hike and then came back too.

G needs a different plan for how to protect himself from the grass, and we need to go back so that we can play more in the Mythen.

Chöpfenberg S ridge

 This was Marc's idea and we did it together with him.

We start at Innerthal and follow the hiking path up, up, past the super impressive and appealing cliffs of the Bockmattli (the climbing there is manageable, but the approaches seem to be pretty epic) until we get to the turnoff towards the S ridge of the Chöpfenberg. At the base of the route we put on the gear and then do the first few (4?) pitches with swapping leads. Once we get to the easier bits, we all move together with M leading. We're moving fast, so we pass a couple of other groups. The last bit to the peak we do direct instead of going around. There's a slightly dicy start to this, but then it's easy and nice.

Up top we have some food and then, since it's late, opt to take the normal route down instead of continuing along the ridge.

Very fun, easy alpine climb, definitely worth doing again.

Trailrun / hike in the Fricktal

 run run/hike together, first fog, then views, Andrea stopped early, Greg went all the way back to Frick

Amden Climbing Weekend

Saturday: we get a somewhat later start since G wanted to do a long run in the morning. 

We drop our bags at the hotel (thr Rössli is closed! Outrageous!) and take the chairlift up. 

There are a fair number of people up at the crag, so we opt for Gimmi (5c), with A starting. The first pitch is an adjustment (slabs and wasserrillen in limestone is cetainly different), but after that things are pretty chill. The 5c last bit has a short, hairy traverse at the very beginning that G does by using the shrubbery to get to the first bolt. The steep bit is no problem, and then we are done. Some lunch and then across to the abseilpiste and down without drama. Fun route, perfect weather (t-shirt climbing in October!), yay! We eat a bit more and then walk down all the way to the hotel. A drink in the sun, a shower, a short nap, dinner (Indian buffet… not bad), and then bed.

Sunday: breakfast is at 8, so we are a bit later than we would like, but we still make it to the chair lift shortly after 9. Up, up to the crag, get set up, wait for the pair before us (climbing the route to the right of ours, but from the same start, we end up chatting with them throughout the climb), and then we get started climbing Variante. G starts today.

Getting started on the slab isn’t quite as dramatic as Saturday, but he is still very happy to clip the first bolt. A ends up leading both of the 6a pitches (I guess we knew this? It was definitely G’s turn to start), which she does without problems. It’s mostly overcast, so definitely cooler than yesterday, and we climb in our jackets, but aside from the first couple of pitches neither of us is actually cold. After the five pitches we have a quick food break before traversing to the abseilpiste. Today the rope pretends to snag a couple of times on the way down, but it’s just pretending. :-)

At the bottom we have a relaxed lunch before packing everything up and walking back down to get the bus.

Mattstock climbing is a very particular style; a style we like. And the rock is really good. Too bad that there aren’t more routes for us to try out. I think Variante, and the 5c version of Gimmi were the last 5th grade routes we hadn’t done. Ah well… repeating nice routes is also not bad. :-)

Grimsel Climbing Weekend

Perfect forecast for the whole weekend, so we decide to head up to Grimsel on Friday night. This time we stay at the hotel at Handeck (a first for us). After a really nice meal we head off to have a good night’s sleep. 

G gets up early on Saturday morning to go running (up to Grimsel Hospiz and then back… very nice), then we have breakfast and hike up to Gerstenegg. The plan for today is to do Letzter Tango (we did this last time too); after not having done so much climbing this year it seemed smarter to start somewhat easier. The climbing went really well, the conditions were just ideal (aside from having to belay from a patch of snow on one pitch), super fun. We simulclimb the 3er pitches in the middle, but belay everything else.

Up top we pack away the gear and eat something before doing the hike back down to the hotel (that first bit from the Dom to the Bächlitalhütteweg  really is nice).

Showers, a short nap, another very good meal, and then off to bed.

Sunday morning we hike back up to Gerstenegg and climb Ameisenrennen. We did the first three pitches of this a couple of years ago. G starts and it is super climbing from the beginning (the first 5c forces you to pay attention). More varied in style than the other routes we have done here, and super fun. Only one snow patch. We simulclimb the two 3er pitches and belay everything else normally. It’s over too soon, which is saying a lot for a 17 pitch route!

Up top we eat something and then do the fun hike back down to Handeck where we pick up our extra bags and then get the bus for the long trip home.

What an awesome late-season climbing weekend/mini-vacation! 33 pitches of Grimsel granite and blue skies and sunshine throughout!

Thing to remember: more busses run to/from Handeck than higher up and the approach to Gerstenegg from there isn’t super long; it’s a nice alternative.

Sigriswiler Rothorn hike/run

placeholder

Hiking near (not to) the Gross Walenstock

placeholder

Acclimatization Days in Belalp

 A few days of "high-altitude acclimatization" in Belalp, including hikes to the Foggenhorn and Sparrhoru.

Trailrun/hike across four (andrea) or six (greg) passes

 more to come (maybe)

Ridge hike to Pischahorn and Gatschieferspitz

 more to come (maybe)

Work and play in Davos

A week of fun and work at altitude, including

- Ridge hike to Pischahorn and Gatschieferspitz

- Trailrun/hike across four (andrea) or six (greg) passes

2025 Summer Vacation Day 12

Actual decent weather this morning... wow!

We have a good breakfast, check out from the hotel, and then take the small cable car up to the Grimselpass. The plan is to go up the SW ridge of the Hohhoren (a tour from Best of Keep Wild Climbs). We start up along the red-white path, stopping after a bit up to stash some of the stuff in our packs that we won't need, then continue up, up. Along the way G realizes that his lacking motivation isn't going to improve, so shortly after p2481 we decide to just do a hike, stash the climbing gear, and continue along the really nice red-white path to Bim grosse Stei. Here we do a lunch break while enjoying the (admittedly somewhat depressing) view out over the Rhone glacier and then head back along the same trail to the Pass (picking up our stuff along the way). Really nice views towards the Berner Oberland (and Baechlitalhuette and Gruebenhuette). With a small amount of hurrying we get there in time for the bus that starts the long trip back home.

2025 Summer Vacation Day 11

 After breakfast we head back down to the Raeterichsbodensee. Stop at the first point with phone reception to move our Friday night hotel reservation to Thursday (one of the couples we ate with is doing the same thing), then down, down to Azalee Beach for some more slab climbing.

We do the first set of easy routes (just the first pitches of these routes) in the big boots for practice:

• Moritz (3b)
• Kristall (3c)
• Felix (4a)
• Rostmarie (4a)
• Hopp Riss (4b)
• Ernstli (4b)

Then move over a bit to the right and do the first pitches of a couple of 5a's in climbing shoes:

• Haerdoepfel (5a)
• Traverse Stupid (5a)

Climbing in the big boots went amazingly well once we got into it and was really good practice, but switching into the climbing shoes for the last two was a total delight.

At this point we probably could have still climbed some more, but it was pretty hot in the sun (finally sun!), so after a snack we hiked up to Grimsel Hospiz and checked into the hotel.

It was so nice to be back at the Hospiz! After a shower we had a quick drink out on the terrace, then had a bit of a rest before doing a 5 course fancy dinner. Yay Grimsel Hospiz! :-)

2025 Summer Vacation Day 10

By the time we're up (before 7), the others in the hut have already left for their tours. We head down, down, down (passing a couple of groups on their way up) to the bus stop at Handegg again. Grab the next bus up towards Grimsel, get off at Kunzentaennlein, and then head over to the lovely slabs.

We put on the gear, throw our big boots in the packs (packs too full and heavy!) and then climb the route Kruemel (5b, 4b, 3c, 4b, 4c, 3b, 5a, 5a, 3b, G starts). It's been a couple of years since we climbed at Grimsel, and the packs are heavy and awkward, so things are tricky at first, but we get into it by the end.

At the top of the route we change back into the big boots (A runs ahead a bit in her climbing shoes in order to escape the ants), then head down to the hiking path that takes us up, up to Baechlitalhuette. This is, of course, a nice hike up (even though the packs are heavy). The hut is less than half full, but they have organized things to minimize the amount of work they have to do, so the few sleeping rooms in use are completely full. We ask about changing this, but the hut warden says no, so we cancel our second night there. (Other fun "optimize to minimize work" strategies: the tables they assign us to in the dining room are all full, and the bathrooms are half closed). Decent dinner, some cards, then off to bed.

2025 Summer Vacation Day 9

trains and bus combo to Handegg, then hike up, up, up (with the heavy packs) to the Gruebenhuette. G's motivation/energy levels are quite low, but the hut and surroundings are still amazingly cool. We settle in to the hut, chat for a bit to the two new arrivals (guide and guest), do an exploratory hike just following the blue-white marked (but not on any map) trail above the hut, the come back down. In the meantime, the other four we expected were coming have arrived (four quite young guys). We do dinner outside enjoying the views, play some cards, then go to bed. Two more arrive while we're playing cards, but they opt to sleep down in the boulder bivac.

It was really nice to be at this hut and have things quiet.

Memo to ourselves: the Gruebenhuette has a fire ring... so one could bring up stuff to throw in the grill. :-)