Ochsenchopf (2179 m) - bike & hike from Klöntal

Ochsenchopf (2179 m) is an impressive mountain between the valleys Wägital and Klöntal. You can hike there from either side, but the final ascent on the typical route will be the same. From the western end of Klöntalersee, the mountain looks particularly impressive, and it's hard to believe that the summit can be reached on a T4 hike.

I chose to hike from Klöntalersee, mainly because I have already been a lot at Wägitalersee, but rarely at Klöntalersee. At first I biked up the road in direction Richisau. At Schwändeli, I continued up the unpaved road to Ralli, but here I just walked the bike. I parked the bike at Ralli, and continued on foot. There is an "unmarked" path going in westerly direction just above the houses at Ralli. The path goes through the forest and comes out on another grassy field, Unter Stafel. Here it may be hard to see where the path continues. You need to walk up on the grassy field almost until the upper end, staying left at the forest. When you get there, it's very easy to see where the path continues. Some old red and white trail marks can still be seen, but it's not an official trail (anymore). I followed this path through the forest and up towards the upper Alp Ochsenfeld. Once above the forest, the path kind of disappears, but it's very easy to see where to go next to reach the pass between Wannenstock and Ochsenchopf.

Next, I headed for the entry point to the more challenging part of the hike. It may be difficult to find the right place. This photo from Ivo66 shows it quite well. The initial and trickiest part of the ascent is secured with a steel cable (T4 with the cable). After that it continues to the crack/couloir (T4, I). After that, the remainder of the ascent is a beautiful grassy field with lots of mountain flowers.

From the summit, there was a magnificent view to Klöntalersee, Wägitalersee, and surrounding mountains! There were quite a few nice butterflies flying around, but unfortunately also hundreds of flies. Nevertheless, I spent about an hour at the summit, and enjoyed every moment of it.

In general, I descended the same way as I ascended.

I refer to the attached GPS track for more details on the route.
The total time indicated for this hike includes one hour break at the summit.

Equipment:
- hiking sticks