swiss alpine pass route – via alpina 1 trek

I started thinking about long treks in the Alps after backpacking around the Tour Mont Blanc in 1987, with my wife Jan. Then I came across a book called The Alpine Pass Route by Jonathan Hurdle about a walk from Sargans in the east of Switzerland (close to the border with Liechtenstein) to Montreux on Lake Geneva. I leafed through it so many times, bought detailed Swiss maps so that I could see the route properly but didn’t take it any further. In 2004 I walked from Fort William to Ullapool and the Tour Mont Blanc again (in the opposite direction) with good friend Phil, an old ski mountaineering pal, and in 2005 we also walked from Ullapool to Cape Wrath to finish a lengthy series of 3 treks from Milngavie, Glasgow to Cape Wrath.

Alpine Pass Route Guidebook by Jonathan Hurdle

There was nothing planned the following year so I floated the idea of walking the Swiss Alpine Pass Route (APR) with Jan, Phil and Rob and Annie (good friends who live in Colorado). Somewhat surprisingly they all thought it was a good idea and signed up. I bought copies of the latest guidebook by Kev Reynolds/Cicerone Press to give to everyone so that they could see what they were actually letting themselves in for and then started planning in earnest.

We walked the section from Grindelwald to Montreux in 2006 and returned to complete the trek with the Sargans to Grindelwald section in September 2013. The Swiss Alpine Pass Route is now also called the Via Alpina 1 from Sargans to Lenk. This is part of the much larger Via Alpina that goes from Trieste in northeast Italy through 8 countries to finish in Monaco. In total it is over 5000 km (over 3100 miles). We saw quite a few signposts for the Via Alpina 1 in 2013 but saw none for the APR in the whole 16 days spread over 7 years. I have done a lot of treks over the years and this is right up there with the best of them. In my opinion it’s even better than the Tour Mont Blanc as the scenery is more varied, there are fewer people (apart from the busy central section around Grindelwald) and it feels like a journey with very different places to start and finish. The most challenging and exciting days included the 2 highest passes of Sefinenfurke and Hohturli, as we expected. It was a great walk! It was also very photogenic so I took lots of photographs.
I have a bad back and we agreed before we started that we wouldn’t knock ourselves out with really long walking days by trying to walk every step of the way; if there was a convenient lift, train or bus that would get us in a good position fast, without missing some key point of interest, we would use it. This allowed us longer breaks at some mountain restaurants with spectacular views and we did not need to rush the walking. In the end our longest day was 18 miles but mostly we managed to keep to 15 miles or less. We also needed luggage transfer so that we only carried daypacks. For me, as the original instigator, organiser and chief navigator of the trip, a major part of it was to take photographs to add to my professional picture library. Finally, we stayed in good hotels and were well looked after pretty much everywhere.

Totals: 209 miles, 18 passes, 16 days of walking (121h), almost 13,500 metres (44,300 feet) of ascent. Our high point was Blumlisalp hut at 2873m (9,450 feet), above Hohturli Pass.

Swiss Alpine Pass Route Map

Ordering Prints

On this web page there are 92 black and white photographs and 65 colour images for the 2 trips described here. If you are not seeing them try using a desktop computer or, if your mobile device is not showing them, try changing your cookie settings for this website to allow images to be displayed.

If you would like a black and white print as a memento of your trek, all of the black and white images are available. They were taken with a Mamiya 6 or Mamiya 7 camera on Ilford FP4+ 120 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).

They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.

Walking Team for both 2006 and 2013

Jan (my wife), me, Phil (a friend I met on a ski mountaineering trip in the 1993), Rob (we used to work with him in the 1970’s) and Annie (American wife of Rob).

Support Team

2006: Rik and Glen. We have known Rik since the 1970’s, then he ran a pub in Norfolk with wife Glen before retiring. In 2004 and 2005 they helped us in a similar endeavour as we wanted to walk from Fort William to Ullapool and on to Cape Wrath the following year. There was no luggage transfer in that part of the world so they generously volunteered, did a great job and were excellent company in the evenings. They also tour the world a few months a year in their camper van and wanted to see Switzerland so they volunteered to transport our luggage between our accommodations and be with us each evening. They were able to park close by every evening and I don’t know what we would have done without them as I wouldn’t have been able to carry the load with my bad back. Rik was also particularly good at spotting us coming and having the beers lined up for when we arrived!

2013: Rik and Glen were unable to join us so we paid the newly formed Swiss company Swiss Trails to move our luggage and also book our hotels. They did an excellent, faultless job for us. Unfortunately, Swiss Trails are no longer trading so you will need to find an alternative if you need luggage transfer each day.

Swiss Alpine Pass Route Part 1

Getting there 2013

Friday 30th, Saturday 31st August 2013 Tunstead Milton to Folkestone to Calais to Trier

We drove down to Folkestone and caught an early shuttle across the channel the following day. Then 6 hours from Calais we arrived in Trier, Germany, our first time here and overnight stop. It was overcast with rain showers so I didn’t rush to take photos in the town. My bad back needed time to recover anyway. We wandered around to get our bearings waiting for the rain to stop and the clouds to break up, which they did at around 6pm. The pedestrian zone in the centre has so many vehicles driving around it the name is a bit of a misnomer!
I took photos of the old Roman gate, the main medieval square and the cathedral then had a break as the light faded. We found a pub that sold Schwarzbier and reasonable food to while away the time until dusk. Shooting resumed about 8.30pm, lights were on and starting to look good but there was still detail in the sky so I took the main locations again as night shots. I was all finished by 9.45pm.

Sunday 1st September 2013 Trier to Frankfurt

From Trier we drove a few hours to Frankfurt to stay with my agent, Antje, and her family, and have a meeting the following day about new opportunities for licensing my photos.

Monday 2nd September 2013 Frankfurt to Grindelwald

From Frankfurt we drove down to Grindelwald in central Switzerland. We had a couple of days here to find our walking legs and take photos in clear, sunny weather. We were staying at our favourite hotel, The Chalet-Hotel Alte-Post. They kindly allowed us to leave the car there. We stayed there 5 nights at the end of the walk too.

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Grindelwald to Zurich to Sargans by Train

We travelled from Grindelwald to Zurich where we had a couple of hours for taking photos around the city. I took photos along the river, across the lake and around the Old Town. After 2.5h I had the shots I wanted so we returned to the station and caught the train to Sargans. We were meeting friends in the Hotel Löwen, just below the castle. Lots of catching up to do over a few pints and a few glasses of wine.

Thursday 5th September 2013. Day 1 Sargans to Weisstannen, 8 miles, 530 metres of ascent, 4h

Today we resumed the Alpine Pass Route in Switzerland that we started 7 years ago when we walked from Grindelwald to Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

It was a short day today, just 8 miles in a leisurely 4 hours. Jolly warm though. Temperatures around 27ºC. Lots of walking in forest which was much cooler than open hillside. An easy introduction to the trip. We arrived at our hotel in Weisstannen in time for lunch, I shared a Rosti with Phil and had a couple of Dunkel beers.

Friday 6th September 2013. Day 2 Weisstannen to Elm via Foo Pass 2223m, 15 miles, 1220 metres of ascent, 7h 30m

We had an early breakfast at 7am as it was going to be a long tough day today. Shortly after 8am we started walking up the valley along the river. So many waterfalls! Lots of cows with very loud cow bells for company. Easy walking for a few miles then a steep climb to the Foo pass which we reached by 1.15pm. This was the main event of the day at 2223m and clear views in all directions. I took a few photos here on my Mamiya 7 camera as well as a few on my mobile phone so that I had some images for my blog. It was a jolly steep descent from the pass and we quickly came to the Raminer farm which was selling refreshments, including beer. After a short stop for a pint we continued down to Elm, which took a further 2 hours. Elm is a pretty but quiet village and we stayed in the Elmer Hotel and were very well looked after.

Saturday 7th September 2013. Day 3 Elm to Linthal via Richetli Pass 2261m, 13 miles, 700 metres of ascent, 7h

Yesterday was a big day for us and jolly tiring so we decided to shorten today’s walk by 4 miles and about 700m of ascent by using the bus to the hamlet of Matt. The weather was due to close in later so this also gave us the best chance of decent weather for photographs from the high points.
The village of Elm is at about 1000m, even though it doesn’t look like it when you are there, so having to go to a pass of over 2200m isn’t as tough as it may at first appear. However, having decided to get a head start to miss some bad weather arriving later we caught the bus a few hundred yards from the hotel and were walking by 9.40am from an altitude of 1690m. It was a steady climb from the Obererbs Ski hut at Matt, where the bus dropped us off, to the saddle of Erbser Stock 2161m at 11am and there were good views and sunshine here. Then it was an easy downhill section to the bowl below and then up to the Richetlipass at 12.15pm with nice light and clouds looking back but a bit hazy ahead. Then we dropped down steeply for a long time, some of it along the top of old glacial moraines to the valley floor and another couple of hours saw us in Linthal at 4.30pm. Dunkel beer on draught aided recovery! That’s 3 dry days running.

Sunday 8th September 2013. Day 4 Linthal to Unterschachen via Klausen Pass 1955m, 17 miles, 1500 metres of ascent, 10h

Today was our first wet day – the bad weather they forecast for yesterday afternoon had arrived. Annie was unwell so travelled with Rob on the bus to Unterschächen. It was raining as the 3 of us left the Hotel Bahnhof in Linthal and it was still raining as we arrived at the Hotel Alpina in Unterschächen. The only thing that changed was the intensity. It was a bit under 10 hours and 17 miles, with about an hour of stops through the day. We started at 8.15am and for the first few hours we climbed up through the forest so we were sheltered from the rain, but it was warm and humid. Not that pleasant but some stunning cliffs to weave through. Above the forest it opened out to alpine meadows and the rain was harder. We took shelter on the outskirts of Urnerboden in what looked like a garden shed with visitor information on the walls for a lunch break at 12.30pm. I took a shot of Urnerboden but only on my phone.
It was raining too hard for me to use my Mamiya 7 camera. From here it was a steady climb to the Klausenpass, where we stopped for a snack at 2.50pm. At 1900 metres we had hoped for good views but with low rain clouds we saw nothing. After a long traverse from the pass it was steeply down on a good path to Asch / Aesch. This should have been one of the highlights of the trip with a very large waterfall immediately behind the village. Unfortunately, it was raining but I managed 4 shots on my Mamiya 7 camera and several on my Samsung Galaxy S3. Low cloud so unable to see the top. From here we walked the 2 miles or so to the Hotel Alpina in Unterschächen.
I returned to photograph the Aesch waterfall in sunshine 2 days after we finished in Grindelwald. It took less than 2 hours in our car to drive back from Grindelwald and about an hour’s walk. It took us 4 days to walk that distance! The main black and white photograph of the falls and the brighter colour shot were both taken on this day (14th September). I waded into the middle of the river to set up my Mamiya 7 camera on my Gitzo tripod on a large boulder mid-stream to take the black and white shot.

Monday 9th September 2013. Day 5 Unterschachen to Attinghausen, 11 miles, 150 metres of ascent, 4h

Today started where yesterday ended, with rain and low clouds. The Hotel Alpina in Unterschächen was good and most of our clothes were dry.We started by finding a track on the south of the river that was marked on the map as running parallel to the road. Unfortunately, it soon didn’t exist so we retraced our steps back to Unterschächen and followed the road for a mile or so. The walking was not that memorable, being mostly along or close to roads. The town of Burglen was interesting, with its claim to fame being that it was where William Tell came from. Unfortunately it was shut! I took a few photos around the church as the skies above cleared while the rest of the group searched in vain for somewhere that was open for lunch. We carried on along the river towards our hotel in Attinghausen. The Hotel Krone where we stayed was a very friendly place with good food and beer. I also took some photos of the castle ruins near the hotel. Nice light, nice sky.

Tuesday 10th September 2013. Day 6 Attinghausen to Engelberg via Surenen Pass 2291m, 15 miles, 850 metres of ascent from top of lift, 9h

Another long day on the Alpine Pass Route so we had an early breakfast in order that we could catch the small gondola lift from Attinghausen to Brusti before the rush. The lift was a bit of an antique and was very sedate but it did the job and saved a couple of hours. We were walking by 8.30am and the rain was clearing with the sun trying to break through. There was a nice little ridge as we climbed higher to the saddle of Angistock. Then we lost quite a bit of height as we avoided a slope prone to rockfall. Then it was up to the Surenenpass at 2291m by late morning. It was cold but still dry as we dropped down to a ski hut (about the size of a garden shed) to have lunch inside. Shortly after leaving the hut the rain returned and continued for the rest of the day with no views or photos after this. We made a stop at a hut for hot soup and a break from the rain. Then we carried on down for an hour or so to another hut for a beer then it was really heavy rain for the rest of the descent and we arrived at the Hotel Sonnwendhof (a modern Ramada hotel) at 5.30pm looking like drowned rats!

Wednesday 11th September 2013. Day 7 Engelberg to Meiringen via Joch Pass 2207m, 11 miles, 450 metres of ascent, 7h

Another good start to the day, being dry but cold with clouds on the tops. We started in the best way by catching the cable car to the top! There was a good view behind us over Truebsee Lake. We walked past the lake to another lift, to Joch Pass, but the base of the lift area resembled a building site so we quickly moved on. It snowed overnight so there was fresh soft wet snow above 1800m and it looked like winter. There were good views with nice skies at the top but no mountain tops. After Engstlensee lake and Engstlenalp we climbed to Tannalp and on to Balmeregghorn (2255m). The weather was closing in here with low clouds and snow. The next section should have been spectacular along a narrow traverse up to Planplatten but we saw nothing as the snow was falling harder and it was windy. Annie wasn’t feeling well and the weather was dreadful so we took the quick way down; a convenient cable car from Planplatten to Meiringen from 2100m! We were down before the forecast rain in the valley and testing the local beer before reaching the very comfortable Parkhotel du Sauvage.

Thursday 12th September 2013. Day 8 Meiringen to Grindelwald via Grosse Scheidegg 1962m, 17 miles, 1400 metres of ascent, 6h 30m

Our last day walking for this trip and completes this half of the Alpine Pass Route. It was also our last day on the entire walk from Sargans to Montreux as we walked from Grindelwald to Montreux in 2006.

The day started wet in Meiringen as we made our way up past the impressive Reichenbach Falls, the place where Sherlock Holmes met his fate. It was a steady climb up through the trees and meadows to Schwarzwaldalp (1456m) where we stopped for a short lunch break. The rain started again before reaching the Grosse Scheidegg for another break. It was just a stroll from here for a couple of hours following Via Alpina signs on footpaths, tracks and small roads, below the impressive lower cliffs of the Wetterhorn, to our finish at the Alte Post Hotel in Grindelwald.

Friday 13th to Monday 16th September 2013 Grindelwald

Jan and I stayed at the Grindelwald Chalet-Hotel Alte Post and walked the local paths around and above the village.
On 14th September we drove almost 2 hours back to Unterschächen, walked for under an hour to return to Aesch. There were sunny spells throughout the day, I finally took the waterfall shot that I couldn’t do on the trek because of rain and low clouds.

Tuesday 17th September 2013 Grindelwald to Luxembourg

We drove from Grindelwald to Luxembourg and stayed in the centre of the city. It was mostly wet so I took very few photos.

Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th September 2013 Bruges Photography

We drove from Luxembourg to Bruges where we stayed 2 nights in order to take photographs.

Friday 20th September 2013 Bruges to Ostend to Calais to Folkestone

We drove from Bruges to Ostend for a brief walk around before continuing to Calais where we walked along the beach while we waited for our Eurotunnel slot. Finally, we stayed the night at the Folkestone Premier Inn.

Saturday 21st September 2013 Folkestone to Home

Our last day of the trip was driving back from Folkestone to Tunstead Milton in the Peak District.

Swiss Alpine Pass Route Part 2 2006

Getting there 2006

Originally we planned to fly to Geneva and catch the train but a few weeks before the trip there was a massive security alert for air travellers with a plot to blow up several planes with explosive liquids carried in hand luggage. The new hand luggage restrictions would have prevented me from carrying any film onto the aircraft so we changed plans and drove instead. Any film in hold luggage would be ruined by the powerful x-rays used on such luggage, much stronger than those used for hand luggage. We cancelled our flights and lost the air miles that we had used to book the flights. British Airways did not seem to care about our situation or value our future business.

Friday 25th August 2006 Home to Harpenden

We drove down to stay with relatives in Harpenden so that we could drive to Dover early the next day.

Saturday 26th August 2006 Harpenden to Dover to Dahn

We drove to Dover and caught the 9.30am ferry to Calais. Then we drove northeast to Belgium and southeast around Brussels and Saarbrucken, eventually reaching the Hotel Pfalzblick in the village of Dahn in the Pfalzerwald Nature Park in Germany (northwest of Karlsruhe).

Sunday 27th August 2006 Dahn to Schluchsee

We decided that we would find somewhere to stay in the Black Forest and stopped at the Hotel Schiff in Schluchsee, a lovely old hotel on the lakeside.

Monday 28th August 2006 Schluchsee to Lucerne to Grindelwald

After a short walk around the lake shore we loaded up the car, checked out and drove to Lucerne for a look around and a few photos before continuing to Grindelwald. Jan and I arrived in Grindelwald near Interlaken in Central Switzerland. We stayed in the Chalet-Hotel Alte Post, a hotel we have used several times in the past. It has a great restaurant attached and they are very friendly and welcoming. They also kindly allowed us to leave our car in their car park.

Tuesday 29th August 2006 Day 9 Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen via Kleine Scheidegg 2061m: 13 miles, 120 metres of ascent, 6h

The Alpine Pass Route goes down from Grindelwald to Grindelwald Grund and then up to Kleine Scheidegg pass. Jan and I had previously walked from Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald along the Eiger Trail, under the North Face of the Eiger. We thought it would make a change to take the cable car to Mannlichen and walk down to Kleine Scheidegg for the fantastic views of the Eiger and Monch mountains. All 5 of us walked the 2 miles down to Grindelwald Grund where we split up as Phil wanted to walk to the pass, a route that follows the railway line most of the way. The rest of us caught the 10am cable car to the top station, it took about 20 minutes. From here we walked up Mannlichen (2343m) for photos from the top with Lots of clouds hanging around below the tops. Then around the balcony route to Kleine Scheidegg (2061m). This is a great path with views straight ahead to the north face of the Eiger. We walked down to the bustling Kleine Scheidegg at 12.20pm where we met up with Phil. The weather was closing in and it started raining heavily as we walked down to Wengen, reaching it at 4.15pm. We were quickly soaked and decided to take the train down to Lauterbrunnen and the Hotel Silberhorn.

Wednesday 30th August 2006 Day 10 Lauterbrunnen to Griesalp via Sefinenfurke 2612m, 11 miles, 1000 metres of ascent, 8h 30m

We left the hotel and headed for the bus stop down the Lauterbrunnen valley to the Schilthornbahn at Stechelberg where we caught the cable cars to Murren, changing part way up. Murren had 4 inches of snow on the ground; the rain we had yesterday had turned to snow as the temperature dropped in the evening.

We started walking at 9.30am. The clouds were down so we saw nothing for the first hour or so. We headed for the Rostock Hut where we stopped at 12.10pm for a bowl of soup. A half hour later we were off again up the snow slopes to the pass. We reached the Sefinenfurke pass (2612m) at 3pm, there was about 15 inches of fresh snow here and we had been having snow showers and short sunny spells through the day. To help us reach the top of the pass there was a cable and rope hand rail attached to the rock, as well as snow-covered steps. On the descent we could use the cable for a sort of abseil and it made it easier than it would otherwise have been.

We arrived at the Berggasthaus Golderli on the edge of Griesalp at 6pm for a quick shower and dinner at 6.30pm. We had booked a room for 4 and a place in the dormitory for Phil but in the end we had 2 rooms since there had been a couple of cancellations with the bad weather.

Thursday 31st August 2006 Day 11 Griesalp to Kandersteg via Hohturli 2778m, 10 miles, 1434 metres of ascent, 10h 30m. High point for the entire route of 2873m

We left Griesalp at 8am (breakfast was at 7am) with a clear blue sky above. What a contrast to yesterday. There was frost on the fields and snow on the ground above 2000 metres. A good track led up to the pass and there were cables, ropes, chains and steps to aid our ascent and descent from the Hohturli, the highest point on the entire Alpine Pass Route at 2778m. There was about 18 inches of soft, fresh snow at the pass. The views were spectacular and we decided to climb up the snow to the Blumlisalphutte (2834m) for a beer and a snack. It was about a half hour up to the hut and after a break of an hour we were off again. There was steep snow on the descent and the cables made it really easy. Impressive glacier fingers from the high peaks on our left (Blumlisalp, etc). The snow petered out below the 2000m level and we were back to summer meadows (alps) with cows grazing. We stopped at the Ober Bergli on the crags above Oeschinensee (lake) for another beer. Then we followed a steep track down a couple of small cliffs to reach the trail beside Oeschinensee. It was a very easy walk out from here to the Hotel Adler in Kandersteg which we reached at 6.25pm.

Friday 1st September 2006 Day 12 Kandersteg to Adelboden via Bunderschrinde 2385m, 8 miles, 800 metres of ascent, 7h

We left the hotel at 8.15am and headed to the cable car which started running at 8.30am. From Undere Allme at the top we headed uphill then left for the Alpschelegrat, the last section of the track was narrow and quite exciting with a steep drop on our left. This is clearly not a well trodden route! Time for photos from Alpschelegrat then we headed up the last section to Bunderchrinde pass (2385m). 

We spent quite some time at the pass in the sunshine with clear blue skies all day. Then it was down to the lush green meadows on the Adelboden side of the pass. We stopped for a few beers and Rosti at the Berghaus Bonderalp at 2100m. An elderly couple ran it and the husband brought out his Alpenhorn to give us a demonstration. We were here for 2h 30m – quite a long break! Good view of the nearby Wildstrubel (skied in 1999 on Western Bernese Oberland traverse ski mountaineering trip) and lots of other big peaks. The track went steeply across some fields below the Bonderalp and as we were walking along we started to hear the Alpenhorn again from over a half mile away, we were being given a send-off! We enjoyed our time at the Bonderalp and were well looked after. 

At 5.30pm we reached the Hotel Baren in the narrow main street of Adelboden, right in the centre of the busy little village. It was a traditional wooden chalet but with all that you would expect from a modern hotel. Our rooms were very large with balconies over the street and views to the mountains that we had just crossed. Our room had a double bed and a mezzanine floor with another bed up there.

Saturday 2nd September 2006 Day 13 (day 5 2006) Adelboden to Lenk via Hahnenmoos Pass 1950m, 14 miles, 500 metres of ascent, 9h

It was a grey day and we reluctantly left the Hotel Baren (it was very comfortable and the food and service was excellent) at 8.50am walking down to the river and then up to the Geilsbuel cable car station. We decided to save some time and take the cable car to the Hahnenmoos Pass (1956m), reaching it at 11am. 

We made our way down a good track to a road with waterfalls where we diverted to the Siebenbrunnen waterfalls. Very impressive falls flowing over rocks from several directions with the tops of all the falls completely overgrown making it look as if they were issuing from below some scrubby bushes and small trees. It was raining here so after a few photos we retired to the restaurant for a beer. 

We then went down to the Simmenfalle waterfalls for more photos (one later sold to the International Graphics Walmsley (IGW) publishing company in Germany) and then to the nearby restaurant for a beer. We left a bit after 5pm and reached the Alpenhotel Residence in Lenk at 6pm, our home for the night.

Sunday 3rd September 2006 Day 14 Lenk to Gsteig via Truttlisberg 2038m and Krinnen Passes 1659m, 13 miles, 700 metres of ascent, 6h 30m

We left Lenk at 9.10am and walked to the cable car to Betelberg. From here we were able to spend some time walking along a really interesting ridge. It was criss-crossed by huge limestone crevasses and holes, quite narrow in places with steep drops to the side. 

At 11.30am we reached the Truttlisberg Pass (2038m). From here it was downwards across meadows to the village of Lauenen where we stopped at the Hotel Wildhorn for lunch at 1.15pm. I had Rosti Speck (bacon) and a couple of beers, it was excellent. 

We left after 1h 30m (no point rushing!) and headed through the village and up to the Krinnen Pass (1659m) at 3.50pm, then down to what looked like a really old traditional wooden chalet-style Hotel Baren in Gsteig, just behind the shapely church by 5pm. It was overcast quite a bit but we had some sunny spells and it was warm most of the time.

Monday 4th September 2006 Day 15 Gsteig to Col des Mosses 1444m via Blattipass 1900m, Col de Vore 1918m and Col des Anderets 2034m, 15 miles, 1050 metres of ascent, 9h

At 8.50am we were on our way back down the valley, then heading up to the Blattipass (1900m) which we reached at 11am and on to the Col de Vore (1910m) at 1.15pm and a short while later we stopped at the Chalet Vieux for a beer stop. A half hour later we were on our way to the Col des Anderets (2034m) and quite a trek around the hillside and down to reach the wide, busy Col des Mosses(1445m). 

We had sun and hot weather all day. The Col des Mosses is a main route from Aigle to the Gstaad region. We stayed at Le Relais Alpin, a modern sterile hotel more used to coach parties than small groups of walkers such as us. The Col is also a bit of a bleak place, there is not a lot else here.

Tuesday 5th September 2006 Day 16 Col des Mosses to Montreux via Col de Chaude 1621m and Rochers de Naye 1999m, 13 miles, 1020 metres of ascent, 9h

Our last day started at 8.40pm with us striding out towards a large reservoir and dam which gave us a different sort of view. We could also clearly see the Tour de Famelon and the Tour d’Ai that we had climbed in 1994 (training peaks before going to Zermatt to climb the Breithorn and Monte Rosa Signalkuppe – both 4000m peaks). 

By 11.15am we reached the Barrage de l’Hongrin. We had a couple of hours climbing uphill to reach the little Chalet Alp Chaudes where we stopped for a beer for a half hour. Then it was up to the Col de Chaude (1621m) by 2.30pm where we left the road and headed steeply to the Rochers de Naye (2042m) and the railway. 

This was the end of our walking trip; we had walked 18 miles already so we decided to avoid the walk down but instead to enjoy the view from the luxury of a train. We reached Montreux at 5.40pm and the Hotel Elite at 6.20pm after another sunny hot day. We met up with Rik and Glen and all 7 of us celebrated with a very nice dinner at a restaurant on the shores of Lake Geneva and copious amounts of beer and wine.

What a great walk! No route signposts on the 2006 trek but lots of Via Alpina 1 signs (similar route to APR as far as Lenk) for the 2013 trek. Few people most of the time. Great scenery, very photogenic so lots of photographs taken.

Ordering Prints

All of the black and white images are available as hand made darkroom prints. They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email using the Contact page form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.

Cameras

2006 Trip: Mamiya 6 with 50mm and 150mm lenses, Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens. 

I was used to using Mamiya 6 cameras before the 2006 trip (since 1993 in fact) but Mamiya UK loaned me 2 Mamiya 7 cameras and 3 lenses (between 2006 and 2008) and I started trying them out on the 2006 trip. I used both Mamiya 6 and Mamiya 7 cameras in 2006. A spare camera body and lens stayed in our luggage that was moved between hotels. In 2008, when Mamiya asked for the cameras back, I was convinced that I needed to switch permanently and bought my own Mamiya 7 cameras and lenses and I have used these exclusively ever since. 

2013 Trip: Mamiya 7 cameras with 43mm, 65mm and 150mm lenses.

The colour photos for the 2006 trip were taken by my wife Jan on her Canon EOS 500 film camera using Fuji Sensia 100 film. I scanned these with my Epson Perfection V800 scanner and edited them in Photoshop to present them here.
The colour photos included in the 2013 trip were taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone and edited in Snapseed.

Mamiya 7 II Camera and 80mm Lens

Tripod

Gitzo Mountaineer 1028 carbon fibre with Manfrotto quick release head, weight just over 1 kg.

Film

Ilford FP4+ 120 which gives 12 negatives to a roll with Mamiya 6 cameras and 10 negatives with Mamiya 7 cameras. On the 2006 trip I exposed 69 rolls of film of which 46 were taken on my Mamiya 6 camera and 23 were taken on a Mamiya 7, on the 2013 trip I exposed 13 rolls of film using my Mamiya 7 camera.

Filters

B+W Dark Yellow (2006 only); B+W Yellow and Orange (both trips)

Light Meters

2006: Sekonic 508 Zoom Spot Meter
2013: Sekonic L-758D Spot Meter

Camera Cases

2006: LowePro Specialist 80AW + chest harness, with built-in waterproof cover, for 2 cameras, 3 lenses
2013: LowePro Inverse 200AW + chest harness, with built-in waterproof cover, for 1 camera, 2 lenses

Guide Book, Maps and GPS

The route is described in the Cicerone Press guidebook Alpine Pass Route by Kev Reynolds. We all had copies but I didn’t carry mine during the hikes, there was always someone in the group with a copy if we needed it. For me it was most useful for reference at the start and end of the days.
We used Swiss Topo 1:50,000 maps for both trips, sheet numbers:
5015 Toggenburg St Galler Oberland (Sargans to Weisstannen) or 237T Walenstadt
247T Sardona (Weisstannen, Elm to near Richetli Pass)
246T Klausenpass (near Richetli Pass, Linthal, Unterschachen, Attinghausen)
245T Stans (Attinghausen to Engelberg)
255T Sustenpass (Engelberg to Meiringen)
254T Interlaken (Meiringen to Lauterbrunnen)
264T Jungfrau (Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Golderli, Oeschinensee above Kandersteg)
263T Wildstrubel (Oeschinensee, Kandersteg, Adelboden, Lenk, Lauenen, Gsteig)
262T Rochers de Naye (Gsteig, Col des Mosses, Col de Chaude, Montreux)
N.B The T after the sheet number signifies a special hiking map with trails and footpaths shown in bright red, very easy to follow!

Swiss Alpine Pass Route Maps and Guidebook

GPS GPX File: I have the GPX file (the universal GPS route standard for files) of the GPS route from Sargans to Montreux. If it could be of use to you just send me an email using the Contact page of this website and I will send it to you.

GPS 2006: Magellan Explorist XL. This had a big screen but only very basic maps of roads, railways, towns and cities, everything else was just white with no details at all. However, I bought the Swiss map CD for the area and using that with my PC I could program the GPS to keep us on track without too many headaches. I programmed every major junction, village and the main mountains on the route, several hundred waypoints.
We had 2 sets of maps and compasses between us too, so we didn’t rely on new technology completely. The maps were necessary as the GPS display showed little detail (see photo below). The GPS was particularly useful at forks in the track, large changes in direction were obvious no matter what technology was used. We also knew what the neighbouring peaks were without unfolding the map and our general direction at all times. It proved to be a good addition to the navigation tools and removed some of the stress of route finding in bad weather but couldn’t be used on it’s own.
The Magellan Explorist XL map screen as used on the trek is shown below with the section of the Alpine Pass Route between Lauterbrunnen and Griesalp. I programmed all of the points except for the railways shown top right.

GPS 2013: Satmap Active 10. This also had a big screen and I had bought Swiss Topo maps for it on SD cards that plugged into the unit. Looking at the screen was like looking at a small section of a paper map but with a symbol marking our exact position on the map. I used the Satmap Xpedition online software to program the entire route, all we had to do was follow the blue line on the screen! The route planning software is available at no cost but I pay a small fee each year for access to high quality topo mapping, including the Swiss Topo 50k maps, UK OS 25k and 50k mapping and lots of others. It had rechargeable batteries and lasted a full day on the trail and was recharged each night. This was a giant step forward in terms of navigation. It took away the stress of following the map and compass continuously for hours and let me look for photographs and talk to the others. I have stuck with the Satmap system buying my first unit in July 2013, followed by the Active 12 and now the Active 20 units.
I don’t have pictures of the Active 10 but the screen was similar to my current GPS, the Satmap Active 20 shown below. The screen shows full Swiss topo 50k map details as used on the Alpine Pass Route – I had the Swiss equivalent to UK Ordnance Survey maps on the screen with our route superimposed on the map as a blue line (shown green on the Active 20).

Rucsac

We had luggage transfer on both trips so didn’t need to carry huge rucsacks.

In 2006 I used a POD 50 litre rucsack which was much bigger than I needed but it was big enough to take the camera case with the camera inside if the weather was really bad. It had a good harness and padded hip-belt and it was comfortable to carry. Even though it was 14 years old it was still a good rucsack – in 2020 I still use it occasionally. There was always lots of spare space.

In 2013 I used a Mountain Equipment 35 litre Solstice rucsack. This also took the smaller camera case if needed in bad weather. It had a good harness and padded hip-belt and was about 1 year old.