Greg and Andrea's Trip Log: multiday hikes

Showing posts with label multiday hikes. Show all posts

Saturday, May 03, 2025

Friday, May 02, 2025

Thursday, May 01, 2025

Sunday, July 14, 2024

Today starts (fairly late, the hotel didn't start breakfast until 7:45) under a cloudless blue sky. We head out of town the same way we came in yesterday and then start heading up, up the trail to the Gemmi pass. This is a nicely maintained and surprisingly popular route. It also gets morning sun, which was a bit surprising. Fortunately it's not super hot yet and there is occasional shade from trees. Up, up we go, passing hikers, getting passed by one trail runner, until we get to the pass itself. Into the madness towards the gondola station to enjoy the views (oh the views!), and then we say goodbye to the Walliser mountains and turn towards the Berner Oberland. Down the trail through the crowd, a very very nice flowy bit of running along the lake, on the improvised trail around the end of the lake (the water is super high and the normal trail is under water), our first food break with views back towards the lake, and then onwards. Pretty shortly thereafter we opt to stop for coffee and tea (and to refill our water bottles) at the Hotel Schwarenbach before starting up, up on the trail to the Schwarzgraetli (we've were here more than 10 years ago).

We're mostly alone on this piece of trail, but at the ridge we start seeing people again. After enjoying the views down to the Innere Ueschene and then continue along the trail towards Engstligenalp. Nice bit of trail under a big cliff. At a crossing point we run into a Swiss guy coming the other way who says something about a cave that neither of us understands, but that sounds interesting, so we decide to continue along to see what that looks like. Here the marked path is between the snow and the cliff. The snow gets higher and higher and the space gets narrower and narrower, but there are still markings, so we keep going. There's a bit of scrambling and some squeezing and then we hit a dead end (well, not a dead end, we probably could do some scrambling and continue, but it would be really tricky to come back), so we turn around and head back to a spot G had noticed where the snow wall was low enough to scramble over and there's a use trail. This shortly joins the marked trail, which we continue to follow, contouring under the snow field this time, across a bit more snow and then then up a bit to a trail junction (from here it's obvious that there was no good way out if we had continued between the snow and the cliff), where we turn and start heading down into the valley. This is steep at first, but steadily more and more runnable as we continue. Once things flatten out we stop to fill a water bottle (with the filters), continue a bit farther, do another food break, and then finish the last stretch down, down to Kandersteg.

Track:

Stats: 23.7km, 5:57, 1490m up, 1690m down

Saturday, July 13, 2024

Crans-Montana to Leukerbad (1/2)

We finally got a weekend with two good weather forecasts, so we decided to try something new: a multi-day trail run. The route for this first day is from Flowtrails fuer Geniesser.

We get an early start from Basel and do train, train, funicular to get to Crans Montana. We start running in a cloud, so it's nice and cool as we head up and out of town.

The route mainly follows a stream/suone (the Bisse de Tsittoret) and is a nice mix of open and forest. We would have fantastic views of the Walliser 4000ers if it weren't for the clouds, but the running/hiking is still really good. We stop and do our first food break at Le Relais de Columbire after about an hour of running (those sandwiches aren't getting any better in the trail-running pack!) Continuing on, we start to encounter more people who are out enjoying the nice day, including a fair number of trail runners who, of course, pass us. We're generally among the fastest hikers, but we are also the slowest runners. ;-)

Onwards and around the corner at the Cave du Sex. We miss a planned diversion to follow the suone into the valley and instead follow the main trail and do a bit of extra up and down (ah well...). Onward and upward, along the nice trail. Another food break at Nueschelet, past the hut at Varneralp (our high point for the day), and then down, down and around the corner. Leukerbad is now in view. Instead of continuing along the marked path for Leukerbad, we continue with the recommendation from the book and stay up high for a bit longer, climbing a bit more and following a clear, but unmarked path that leads to the back of the valley. This bit would probably be pretty good running if it were dry, but it required some care after all the rain we've had in the past weeks. At the end we come out onto the trail that leads up to the Gemmi pass (that's for tomorrow) and follow that down into town.

In town we grab snacks and protein drinks at the Migros, check into our hotel, brief nap, a very relaxing visit to the spa, dinner at a pizzeria (lucky to get a table... town is quite busy!), then some stretching and bed.

This was a really good day. It would have been super nice to actually have the amazing views, but the running was still good and the peeks we got of the peaks were fun.

More running to come tomorrow.

Track:

Stats: 24km, 4:50, 1140m up, 1220m down

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Hundsee Bivvy

We have an excellent weather forecast, so we opt for hiking from the Kiental to the Lauterbrunnental (this has been on our list for a while) with a bivvy along the way.

An early start on Saturday to do the train-train-bus to Griesalp (unsurprisingly there are loads of people out and about on this sunny August Saturday!). Then up, up, following the road to Obere Dürreberg. It's quite hot, so we're happy to find a shady place beside the stream for a nice food break (funny scene below us as some cows also cool off in the stream) and to pump a bit more water. Then it's up, up, steeply up, through the Hundsflüe on a good blue-white trail. It really is oppressively warm, and the packs are not light, so we take another break and short nap-with-a-view at around p2420 before continuing up, up to Telli. Through the rock wasteland and past the first small lake, then on to the larger lake (p2677, there's already a group here who will obviously be staying the night). One possible plan here was to head up the ridge to the Hundshore, but neither of us is particularly enthusiastic about that, so we continue on to the saddle. Here we opt to improvise and take a more direct route down rather than staying on the blue-white path towards the Schilthorn and then down (we'll be heading up that tomorrow). The first bit of this is mostly ok, then it's a bit hairy near the first set of cliffs, then ok again as we head down, down, to rejoin the trail at Hundshubel. The next order of business is to find a place to bivvy, so we head up to the ridge above the (mostly dry) Hundsee and follow that towards the Horen until we find a nice location. Ditch the packs, pump some water from the Sefibach, then spend a lazy afternoon enjoying the amazing views and watching other groups show up and find places to camp (of course we aren't alone: the weather is great, the views are great, and there is a relatively short approach from the Schilthorn). The group on the other side of the lake, who have chosen to camp in an area easily accessed by cows, are a running source of entertainment. After a nice dinner we walk up to the Horen to enjoy some amazing sunset colors on the Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger.

Sunday morning we're awake early enough to enjoy the great sunrise and packed up and underway shortly before 8. Back to the Hundshubel, then following the nice trail up, up, to the pass at p2684, where we do a short food break. From there along the ridge to the saddle at p2798, and then steeply down into the Soustal. If there wasn't someting of a use trail, this is a descent we probably wouldn't have done; the first bit is pretty hairy and a lot of it is quite steep and on fairly loose terrain. With the use trail it's not too horrible. Down, down we go into the lovely valley, which we then follow more or less to the end. We do a lunch break and then, later, a bathing break along the way. At the end of the valley we take the trail through the woods which leads us to the gondola at Grütschalp which starts us on the long (crowded) trip home.

Track:

Stats:

Saturday: 5:50, 12km, 1460m up, 540m down.
Sunday: 6:07, 15km, 600m up, 1430m down

Sunday, July 30, 2023

Ridges above the Cabane de Moiry

The weather forecast is decent and (after some effort) we manage to find free beds in a hut, so we took a long weekend around the 1st of August and went off to the mountains for a long weekend. We've got a very exciting new guidebook for alpine climbing (it's like Dani Silbernagel wrote this one for us :-), and that inspires our choice of the Cabane de Moiry as our base.

Since it takes forever to get to that part of Switzerland, we head down to Grimentz on Saturday (after a nice bouldering session in the morning) and get the first bus up to the Moiry glacier parking lot on Sunday morning. On with the packs and up the valley we go, enjoying the lovely views and the good (though definitely not empty) trail that takes us up, up to the hut. 70 minutes later we're at the hut, where drop off stuff we don't need for the day and then immediately head back out to do our first tour.

Sunday: Aiguilles de la Lé traverse

The first part of this one is finding our way up to the Col de Gardien. There is supposedly a yellow blazed path which leads up to the hut's small climbing crag, but we never end up finding that. Still, we know where we want to go, so we just take a logical route up, up across the talus. Past the crag we actually run across a few cairns that we follow the rest of the way up, up to the saddle. Here we have a quick food break and put on the climbing gear while enjoying the amazing views (particularly really nice view of the Weisshorn and friends on the other side of the valley) and watching a group do the first part of the ridge. After the break we start our way along the ridge.

The first bit of ridge takes us easily, with some light scrambling, up to the south peak of the Aiguilles de la Lé (p3158). On the way up we pass the other group (five guests and a guide) on their way back to the col. The ridge continues, descending, until we get to the Col des Aiguilles. We're not super efficient on this first part: we've got a bit too much rope out and it takes a while to get into the flow of where and how to keep ourselves safe while still making progress. From the col the ridge heads steeply up. The next bit is more climby, so we let out the rope and do a couple of easy pitches before taking up coils again and shortening the rope to have about 15m between us and moving on. The ridge is now narrower, more exposed, and more scrambly. It's super fun. Along the way we end up with a cloud coming up from the E side which makes for dramatic pictures but robs us of the long view along the ridge. According to our topo, we're supposed to leave the ridge after the N peak (the SAC description continues along the ridge to the next saddle, but our book says that the last piece is dangerous), and at some point we figure that we've past the peak and are approaching the yellow tower which marks the descent to the next pass. So we head back to the peak we've just passed and take a food break while looking around for the descent, which isn't obvious (even though it's supposed to be). Meanwhile another team of two catches up to us. After looking at the map we decide that we aren't on the actual peak yet and continue along the ridge. More fun ridge scrambling (yay!) and then the actual peak (including a sad cross) comes into view. We do the last bit up, take some pics from the narrow peak, and then head down to the W "ridge", which is obvious at this point. The other two opt to follow us down instead of continuing along the ridge. The descent is steep, but not hard and it's pretty easy to follow a mix of cairns and use trail down, down to a small saddle where we leave the ridge to the N. More scrambling and descending and we end up on a big talus field with the final descent couloirs in view. Down, down we go across the talus to a nice green nob where we have a quick food break and pack the climbing gear away. We realize that we've come down to the wrong couloir, so after the break we head back up 50m or so and traverse to the correct couloir. This is an easy steep descent and we're back down on a more normal slope in no time. Across the grass to the path to the hut we followed earlier in the day and then up, up to the hut. Dinner, some view admiring, and then we're off to bed.

We were a lot more efficient on the second part of the ridge. We had a bit less rope out (maybe 12m) and focused on placing slings or cams to try and ensure that there was always one piece of protection between us instead of always using rock spikes and really minimizing the amount of time with both of us on the same side of the ridge (we still did some of that, but tried to keep moving as much of the time as possible).

Track:

Stats: 6:40, 7.8km, ~1030m up and down

Monday: Couronne de Breonna traverse

We're underway at 7:15 after a good breakfast. Today we're both a bit nervous about the approach to the planned route since it's not obvious how straightforward it's going to be to get off the (easy) glacier or to manage the last steep bit up to the Col de la Couronne. We follow the marked path down to the glacier, put on the crampons, cross the dry glacier (we come off near a big cairn with a pole sticking out of it), stash the crampons and ice axes under a rock, and then follow the clear use trail easily up to the top of the moraine. A bit along the moraine and then another (less clear) use trail takes us off to the left and up, up towards tht col. We end up being able to follow this more or less all the way to the top (we lose the trail in the talus fields, but it's always possible to find it again).

At the col we have a quick snack, enjoy the views, put on the gear, and start the climb. Another team shows up as we're leaving, but they end up being considerably slower than us. We start with two pitches for the first steep bit and then use the same efficient ridge technique as on Sunday to do last bit up to the Clocher de la Couronne. We find the abseil anchor, do the 5 abseils down to the saddle, and then continue along the main ridge. This has six towers, some of which we go over and some we go around, the topo is good and there's almost always a use trail indicating the right direction. Plenty of scrambling fun on the ridge with a bit of easy climbing mixed in. We do another food break and enjoy the views before the last steep bit of climbing (there's even an actual bolt in this part... crazy!) and then at some point we reach the peak. This isn't totally obvious on the ridge, but that's not so important anyway... we're just continuing along the ridge and down to the Col de Breonna. :-)

There are apparently one or two places where you can abseil, but we end up just downclimbing everything and have more fun scrambling the rest of the way along the ridge and to the col. Another food break, pack away the gear, plan our strategy for heading back down, and then off we go. We take a distance-efficient route back down to the blue-white path which will lead us to our gear... this is a nice walk, but it probably would have been more time-efficient to head more or less directly along the use trail to the blue-white path. Anyway... once on the trail we follow it along the moraine. There are a surprising number of day trippers on this trail; likely they are all just taking advantage of the relatively easy apporach to get close to a glacier. Back at our gear we put on the crampons, re-cross the glacier (now there's a group doing crevasse rescue practice), pack everything away on the other side, and then head up up to the hut.

Back at the hut we have some cake and spend a relaxed afternoon enjoying the nice weather, views, and chaos on the terrace. Dinner, more views, and off to bed.

This was another really good day of climbing and scrambling. It felt like we were pretty efficient for most of the day and didn't spend too much time messing around with the gear or doing unnecessary pitches.

Track:

Stats: 8:35, 10.8km, ~1200m up and down

Tuesday: Zinal via the Col du Pigne

The weather forecast is a bit dodgy, so we aren't clear what we're going to do until after we've had breakfast and checked the radar. Things look stable enough to take the more interesting route, so after packing up all our stuff we follow the blue-white path up up to the Col du Pigne. It's only a short bit along the ridge to get to the Pigne de la Le from here, but we opt to skip that and just head down the other side towards Zermatt. The first bit of the descent is in terrain where it's nice to have the trail there (steep, not great footing) but then things flatten out a bit and the walking gets easy. Great views of the other side of the Aiguilles de la Le and what would be great views across the valley except for the low clouds. Down, down we head, with a very small amount of rain and hail along the way. Down in the green we pass a couple of groups heading up towards the hut. We go past a big group of ibexes just hanging out and chilling in a group of rocks (boy do they not care about us being there!). Down, down we go until hitting the red-white path which takes us the rest of the way down to the valley floor. There are tons of people down here! The last bit is flat along a trail/road next to the river until we get to the edge of Zinal. Here we head to the bus stop and start the long trip back to Basel.

Stats: 3:50, 10.6km, 360m up, ~1500m down

Track from the whole trip:

Saturday, July 09, 2022

Becs de Bosson Bivvy

text and track to come

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Klosters to Chur

Great forecast for this weekend, with a chance of showers on Sunday afternoon but otherwise clear, so we opt for a trip with the bivvy bags.

We take the early train to Klosters Platz, get the gondola up to the Gotschnagrat, and then start out along the red-white path under a lovely blue sky. Up and over the Casanna we go, down to the Parsennfurgga, past the lovely (and popular!) Grüensee, and along the very nice path (lots of wood walkways) through the moor landscape towards the Strassberger Fürggli. Along the way there we stop for a food break and enjoy the nice weather and views.

From the pass we continue along the ridge along a path which is newly marked, not on the map, and not frequently followed. This leads us under and around p.2430, then we kind of lose it and end up traversing a big patch of stinging nettle (yay) before redoing the ridge and heading to the Mattjisch Horn. Here another food break to enjoy the fantastic views and then we continue along to the Arflinafurgga and then to the Faninpass. We’re expecting to have improvise again here, but it turns out that there are old trail markers along the way we’re planning to go; easy progress! Onward along the ridge we go.

It’s time to start thinking about water, so we head off the ridge below the Dängelstöck with the idea of traversing to the Guotiger Brunnen spring indicated on the map. Fortunately, there’s a trough with a pipe we can access at the start of the spring just below Furgglis and we can get water there. After drinking our fill and pumping a couple of liters, we head back up to the ridge and continue past the Dängelstöck. Onwards along the ridge we encounter a herd of horses (very unusual) and take another break to appreciate the views before heading up and across the Ratoser Stein (which we’ve been calling "Ratloser Stein" all day). Down the other side and now we can see the Hochwang, which is our current planned stopping point. Up, up the last bit to the peak, some scouting around to find a good place to sleep, and we ditch the gear.

The next step is collecting water; we take Andrea’s empty backpack and the bottles back down, down to the beginning of the valley under the ridge and find a good pool to pump from where the path crosses a stream. 6 liters of pumping later and we carry the water back up to our campsite. After getting a bit of setup done we head up to the peak to make dinner. Surprisingly, a couple shows up as we're making dinner; they've come up just for the sunset. It’s a bit windy but the views are fantastic and we enjoy dinner with views and then a bit of a post-dinner stroll around the peak before heading to bed and appreciating the (mostly) full moon rising and moving in and out of the clouds.

Clouds move in overnight and it's pretty clear when we wake up that the planned continuation of the ridge wouldn't be a great idea. By the time we're done with breakfast we are basically in a cloud and it's starting to lightly rain. On with the rain gear and down we go. Down past where we pumped water, down, down into the valley towards Triemel. Along the way the rain stops... yay. At Triemel we opt to stay up reasonably high and traverse on the path to Bargun, then it's down, down to Castiel. Here we do a food break at a nicely situated picnic table above down, then continue along the road (unfortunately) to Calfreisen. Next it's up a bit more, around, and then down, down to Maladers. From there it's easy and efficient down to Chur, where we arrive with time to grab a beverage before getting the direct train back to Basel.

Day two wasn't what we planned, but it was a nice day of hiking. We'll have to go back and do the planned route for day 2... it looked pretty good! :-)

Track:

Stats:

Day 1: 8:20, 22.2km, 1330m up, 1100m down
Day 2: 5:00, 19.3km, 130m up, 2000m down

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Hiking around the Capanna Cristallina

The forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms on Saturday night, but we want to camp, so we take our new tent with us and head off to Tessin.

The usual early start from Basel and the train through to Airolo. Bus to the gondola and then the gondola up (with tons of bikes) to save ourselves the first 600-800m of climb. Good to do given the humidity and coming heat.

From the top of the gondola we follow the path for a bit and then head off along one of the service roads for the ski area. Up up and back and forth for a bit until we hit the old marked path leading towards the cliff. Now more steeply up, taking a food break along the way, until getting to the wall itself, a short bit of not-so-nice crossing of a gravelly slab, and then we are on a pretty easy to follow and occasionally marked trail that follows a weak spot in the wall to the top. Nice!

Up on the ridge we enjoy the views and then decide to follow the "trail” down, down the other side towards a herd of cows. Past the cows, another food break, and then onwards to a blue-white path which takes us towards the dam. This heads up a bit and then contours easily along the valley side. A short break at Lago del Forna to appreciate the loveliness and then onward to Lago di Val Sabbia where we pump a bit of water and scope out potential camp sites. Continuing seems more promising, so on we go. Down towards Lago del Naret (there is a road up to this and it is pretty busy), along the edge, and then up to Lago del Corbo. Here there are two tents right next to the path, but we continue to the end of the lake and start looking for spots above it. Plenty of good tent sites here! After some scouting we take a promising one and get the tent set up. The rest of the afternoon is spent enjoying the sun and views, pumping water, etc. By this point the weather forecast has changed and there’s no more rain in the forecast. yay!

After a good dinner we walk up to the next lake and do a bit of sunset-color appreciation and tidying up before going to bed. The plan had been to leave the tent fly rolled up, but given the amount of dew that immediately starts condensing after the sun goes behind the mountains we decide against that… next time!

On Sunday we get take advantage of the early sun (planned for!) and are underway shortly before 8:30 even after a leisurely morning. We rejoin the red-white path and follow it up a bit onto the ridge and then towards the Lago Negro. Nice trail followed by a particularly nice stretch of talus hopping (what a great surprise!) and then we are at the pass and enjoying the views down to the lake and across to the Basodino. Along and down the nice path above the lake and then a food and planning break with views.

After the break, we’ve decided for the blue-white path along and behind the Lago del Cavagnöö, onwards and upwards towards the Cap. Cristallina. When we get to the pass above the Lago Sfundau and see the hut sitting above it, we decide for a change of plans. Up, up to the hut we go, have a nice lunch at the hut, and then continue down the other side of the pass. On the other trip to this region we went straight down to Ossasco, but this time after the walk down through the lovely valley we turn off to the right and traverse the valley side until we arrive back at the gondola station.

Gear note: this was the first trip with our new tent, a Sea to Summit Telos TR 2.

Track:

Stats:

Day 1: 6:41, 14.1km, ~1300m up, ~600m down
Day 2: 7:24, 21.2km, ~800m up, ~1400m down

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Four days in Tessin: Cap. Cadlimo to Gotthard pass

Breakfast at 7:00 (and a good one) and underway by around 7:45.

It’s lovely and blue sky again; still a bit cool.

We start along the blue-white path behind the hut towards the Passo Bornengo. Nice going along the rocks, around some hard frozen snow fields, past a mostly frozen lake, and then up, up, past another lake, up, over snow, up up to the ridge. Fantastic views! This is a really nice block ridge with a bit of exposure, a bit of balance, and a bit of scrambling. Oh, and great views! The spicy bits all have chains and/or steps, which is nice given that we are mostly downclimbing. The pass comes sooner than it needs to and we rejoin the red-white hiking path and start down, down into the nice valley towards the Maighelshütte. Over some snow fields, along the flat bottom, past a forest of cairns, and then lightly off to the left and up to the Maighelspass. Here a food break while enjoying the views and then we start the long descent down towards the Vermigelhütte.

Down, down, down until we hit the road, up a bit to the hut, quick decision that we want to stick with our original plan, quick water bottle filling, and then up, up, up through the gentle, round, green valley towards the Sellapass. Steadily up, enjoying the breeze and the views and the walking; nice food break, and then up some more. Where it starts to get steeper we run into a young woman who asks if we are going through the pass and, once we confirm that we are, asks if she can come with us, she had turned back at a snow field before but would rather go through the pass than back down through the valley. of course we agree, so we continue up as a group of three. There are some steep snow fields along the way, but the snow is good for making steps and with a bit of creativity and care we make our way through the tricky bits and then further up to the pass. More great views, a bit along the ridge to the buildings, a photo, water, and view break, and then we start our way down.

Down, down, down, along an easy path with a few snow fields, down, down, saying goodbye to the long views, down down to the lake above the dam. From here it’s easy, mostly along the road, to get to the Gotthard pass. We have a bit of time, so we enjoy a bratwurst in the sun (and wind!) before getting on the bus down to Airolo.

Another really nice day!

Track:

Stats: 7:50, 21.0km, 1170m up, 1620m down

Monday, July 19, 2021

Four days in Tessin: Gorda to Cap. Cadlimo

Breakfast at 7:00, not particularly satisfying (matching expectations, but one can always hope), and we are underway at 7:45. The weather is perfect, the clouds from the days before have all blown away (we can actually see the Rheinwaldhorn) and there’s a nice breeze to keep things cool. We start out going up, up, up along a nice path towards the Capanna Nido d’Aquila. Once we hit the broad ridge we turn off to the left and climb gently through a really, really nice landscape. There are beautiful places one could bivvy, a couple nice looking lakes, some ponds, nice views, etc. Along the ridge for a bit before turning off to the right and starting to head down towards Acquacalda.

Down down along a nice path, crossing some streams (this is something of a theme for the day), one wet foot crossing (g has his Merrills with him, A gets wet shoes), along we go. Food break along the way, meeting another path at Brönich; now we start to see some other people. Onward and onward until hitting the larger trail at Lareccio. This one is way more popular, particularly with bikers coming the other direction (probably they have taken the gondola up from Airolo and are then riding down?). Anyway, now we start to head up, up again into another really pretty valley. Up up, enjoying the views and the breeze, another food break on a big flat rock, up, up to the Passo del Sole. New views!

Now it’s down from the path, turning off towards the Passo dell’Uomo, and then along a new valley, with new views for a bit. We turn off this busy trail (heading towards the Passo del Lucomagno) and contour around towards the Val Cadlimo. A food break and some water pumping along the way and then we head into the valley. This valley is surpassingly lovely, which is good since we walk the whole length of it. ;-) Lots of nice things too see as we go up, up . One of the more unusual of these is a herd of yaks(!) being driven by a shepherd, 6 dogs, and his family. That was weird. At the end we turn right and head up, up, taking in more amazing views, to the Capanna Cadlimo. We have time to get checked in and have a cool beverage before dinner, yeah!

The hut is pretty full (at least given the Corona restrictions), and many of the visitors aren’t the usual hut visitors, but things are well organized and everything works. We have a good meal, play a game, then head off to bed to process all of the many memories and mental pictures from what was a quite long, and really nice, day.

Track:

Stats: 9:40, 27.7km, 1730m up, 970m down

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Four days in Tessin: Anzonico to Gorda

Breakfast at 7:30, and a surprisingly good one, and we are underway by 8:30. We head up, up out of town and through the woods to Monte Angone. There’s a village fest here today, but we’re too early for it, so we continue up, up, through the woods some more, through Frageira, up up. A food break for strength and then we finish the last bit of climbing to hit the ridge at Passo Crastumo. Hoo boy is it windy up here! Nice to keep things cool. The views probably would be pretty good in both directions, but off to the East there is still a solid layer of clouds at around 2500m.

Along the ridge we go, ascending up to Motto Crostel and then further, past Mottarone, until we head down to the Bassa di Nara. We find a wind sheltered place for a food break and plan our next step. Rather than doing the scrambly ridge to the Poncione di Nara and continuing to the Pizzo Molare (definitely attractive looking ridge fun) we take the "let’s save our legs a bit for tomorrow" approach. Up to the Pizzo di Nara and then along the ridge until we re-join the red-white hiking path. Down a bit more, contouring around, gently up and down, sometimes in the forest, sometimes the open, until we hit the Capanna Gorda, our destination for the day.

Cool drinks and a cheese and salami plate in the sun, check in, a short nap, a bit more enjoying views, some games, a really good meal, and then we head off to bed.

We kept the day intentionally a bit light(er) since Monday’s a big one, but it was still really nice.

Track:

Stats: 6:55, 16.7km, 1515m up, 831m down

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Four days in Tessin: Poleggio to Anzonico

We take the 6 am train from Basel and after a couple of trains and a bus are ready to start hiking from Poleggio at 9:30. The first part of the day was part of G’s very long run last year, so some of the nice up, up, up, through the woods is familiar to him. It’s pretty warm and humid, but fortunately we are under trees as we head up up and along the Via Alta. The plan is to take a trail up towards the ridge from Bodengo, but it turns out not to be trivial to find this one and we don’t want to spend our time fighting uphill through the woods, so we continue along the via Alta until we hit the trail up just past Bidre.

A food break and then more up, up, up to the ridge. This bit is really nicely graded and G has to watch himself to avoid going faster than he should. Through the lovely few houses at Tenciareu (they even have a gondola up!). Once on the ridge (still in trees so no views) we do another food break and then continue onto the other side, past the Capanna Plan d’Alpe, then up and back to the ridge. Once there we follow the ridge along and up, up to the Matro. This has a horrible structure on it but otherwise nice views (too bad about the clouds to the East).

It’s running late-ish, so we opt to head down from here. There’s and unmarked use trail with some cairns (and the occasional faded old red/white marking) that leads us efficiently down to Puscett. Here we pick up a marked trail/road which we follow, mostly flat, along the slope until hitting Suaggia, where we pick up another unmarked trail which leads us down, down, down to Anzonico.

We find the hotel, check in, have showers and a rest, enjoy a good pizza, have a walk through town, and then go to bed.

This was a long day, but it felt longer than it was. There’s loads more to come, so those legs better wake up! ;-)

Track:

Stats: 8:04, 22.4km, 2050m up, 1390m down

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Climbing the Chli Windgällen

A trip with the Basel SAC. Saturday's not a long day, so we start the long trip fairly late. We end up having to wait in line for a while to take the teeny gondola up to Kilcherberg (this is where we came down after the Burg bivac).

teeny gondola up to Kilcherberg

From the top of the gondola we follow a nice path, mostly through the woods, gently climbing with the occasional super view of the Bristen (whose top is, unfortunately, in clouds). At Golzeren we stop for a swim in the lake (ahhhhhh, soooooo nice!) before heading up, up, up to the Windgällenhütte. The clouds are low, so we unfortunately don't have the nice views up to the Chli Windgällen or much of any views once we get to the hut. Once there we check in and then hang out a bit before dinner. Good food, a bit of planning for the next day, and then off to bed.

Swim in Golzeren Lake

Sunday we start at 7 under a clear blue sky with great views. First along the blue-white marked trail up, up, past the llamas, up to the Unteres Furggeli. From here we have a great view of the Chli Windgällen, which seems curiously far away, and our route over to it.

view of the Chli Windgällen from Unteres Furggeli

Further along the blue-white path to where it starts to get a bit steeper. Here we deposit some stuff we won't need and then start up, up towards the peak. At first we're on a clear use trail and then when things get a bit rockier there are clear cairns to follow. Up, up, with a bit of scrambling to the ridge, then around into the South face, then up, up again until we hit the top. Here a brief bit along the ridge to the Vorgipfel, where we drop our packs and then the 20m to the actual peak. Great views, though the high mountains to the S and SW are mostly covered by clouds. After a break to enjoy the views we head back down the way we came. Another break when we get to the bottom, and then we start the descent along the blue-white marked trail. Down, down, down at times steeply, finally through the woods and we come out back in Golzeren. Quick, quick to the lake for another very refreshing swim and then to the gondola down and the long trip back.

Scrambling to the top

In order to avoid a bunch of train-changing, Andrea and I say goodbye to the group in Erstfeld, have some marginal pizza, and then catch a later train where we can sit all the way back to Basel. The book at the hut had lots of ideas for multipitch alpine routes that looked interesting... definitely worth thinking about going back.

This was a nice tour with great views in a cool area.

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