UKH

Hi,

As the title states, I am looking for a bit of friendly advice. My wife and I are becoming quite keen hikers/scramblers. We have tackled several  scrambles and hikes in all weathers throughout the Lakes district and are currently planning a road trip in our camper through Switzerland for next June. We are looking to catch a glimpse of some of the iconic mountains in addition to hopefully securing some good hiking routes. Is there is anyone that is able to offer us advice on which routes to take?

We aim to summit the Barrhorn and hope to also do some routes that give us great views of the Eiger and Matterhorn.

Many thanks,

Mike

The hills on the north (opposite) side of the valley to the eiger above grindelwald are all non technical and go up to just under 3000m. there are several worthwhile hiking summits there which may also have a bit of optional scrambling (dont quote me on that)? There will be stunning views of the eiger and jungfrau massif to the south.

as for the matterhorn, you wont find many, if any non technical peaks in the vicinity which arent at least glaciated, however you could do plenty of high level walks up to various huts.

Hi Mike,

If you have some winter walking experience, my suggestion would be to do Hockenhorn - over 2 days. 

Park your van in Kandersteg, hike up the Gasterntal to Selden and then up to the Lostchenpass hut.

Stay the night up there - the food is usually really good. From memory Hockenhorn is 1-1.5 hours walk up from the hut. To complete the walk descend to the Lotschental, and catch a train back to Kandersteg from Gopenstien. In June I'd expect a fair bit of snow, especially above the hut. The trail from Selden to Lotschenpass crosses a small glacier, but check with the hut - they mark a route across and glacier equipment isn't needed.  

The Oberrothorn near Zermatt gives great views across to the Matterhorn on one side and down into the great void of the Tasch valley on the other. One of the highest purely walking routes too, you will feel the acclimatisation. Train up to Sunnegga then cable car to Blauherd. Stop at Flualp refuge on the way down, from there I recommend the full 2 hour walk through Findeln back down into Zermatt.

Mettelhorn by Zermatt will give great views of Valais peaks including Matterhorn. Easy long day of walking. 

Have you used crampons before? 

If so, I have another reccomendation for the Zermatt area - the Mettelhorn. Just a wee bit of easy scrambling and a short section of dry glacier (you may even be able to get away with not bringing crampons and cutting steps for a bit), but it is a very impressive summit with superb views of the big Valais peaks, including IIRC the Matterhorn.

My advice? Rob a bank before you go, because you’re going to need an extremely large bank balance (we have friends in Switzerland, so we get to experience it first hand).

There's a pleasant contouring/downhill path under the north face of the eiger to Grindelwald Grund - known as the eiger trail. It starts at the Eigergletscher station. so, if you spend the mega money to do the touristy thing and take the train up to the jungraujoch then you can walk back down under the north face of the eiger. Takes 3 hours or so depending on how good your knees are, it loses a lot of height.

not so expensive if you stock up from supermarkets in larger villages/towns. i noticed quite a price hike with altitude/remoteness when recently walking the haute route eg cheapest beer was 0.5CHF (40p)/can in big supermarkets, 3 in Arolla and 7/8 at mountain huts...

Wasn't too expensive when me and the girlfriend went in July to the Oberland. We flew to Geneva and used trains to get there. Then camping for a week. Mostly in campsites but with the occasional high up wild camp (leaving no noticeable trace). As long as you stay away from lifts and mountain trains it's not too bad.

www.hikr.org is an excellent resource for scrambling and hiking in Switzerland. It also features a very good 'Explore' function where you can search outings specific for region, altitude, difficulty, etc. The reports themselves are mostly in German, but you can always use an auto-translator and for identifying suitable goals, it potentially even works without.

We did a variation of this outing using the cable car system out of Grindelwald. Better value than the train and involved a gentle upward stroll to Kleiner Scheidegg from the second lift and then the glorious descent back to G’wald under the magnificent, frowning north face. So evocative of the darkest moments in the history of alpinism. Cannot recommend highly enough.

I'd say that the iconic mountains are the Weisshorn and the Dent Blanche but maybe I'm biased. The Weisshorn is very obvious from the Barrhorn - I'd recommend a traverse from St Luc to St Niklaus with a night at the Turtmannhütte so doing the Barrhorn on the second day with an early start.

For spectacular scenery it's hard to beat the view from the Cabane du Mountet - you can do it as a day trip from Zinal but it's worth staying at the hut for the sunrise on the Dent Blanche.

Two nice routes a wee bit to the west are the traverse of Le Luisin going up Les Fleuriers (SE ridge) and down the west ridge and the traverse of Le Catogne (W-E) from Champex-Lac. Both give good views over the Mont Blanc massif and you can see most of the Valais peaks.

Switzerland isn't that expensive as long as you avoid restaurants and hotels! Beer in huts is expensive as it has to be flown in by helicopter but I'm still amazed that it costs less than in central Geneva and Zurich where it's delivered by road.

In the Ecrins in June I was surprised that a beer in the Refuge du Glacier Blanc was no more expensive than a pint in London. Shameful really, given that one has to be helicoptered in!

Bloody London.

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If anyone wants to know food prices I still have my receipts from my scout camp shopping in Kandersteg in the summer. The one that sticks in my memory was 2.2CHF for a cucumber.

Thank you all for your kind suggestions. I have heard that it is quite expensive so we are hoping to stock up on food from supermarkets and spend most of our nights sleeping in the van. 

We are going to get a lot of winter hiking done in the coming months in preperation. Hopefully get more of an idea snowy conditions. 

  I can't wait to see the mountains.