Wildhuser Schafberg (Alpstein)

Hike classification: 3 stars (nice)

Today a cold front was expected and according the model calculations around 15h-16h start of the rain was to be expected in the Toggenburg. With this I mind I nevertheless hoped that the weather would be good enough to go up to Wildhauser Schafberg and continue along the blue-white marked route to Jöchli/Nädliger, and then go down via Zwinglipasshütte or Rotsteinpasshütte (with Altmann).

The ascent from Wildhaus through Flürentobel is nice (it is a former creek, that is dry now). The further ascent to Wildhuser Schafboden was pleasant as well, although clouds and wind made the weather not very comfortable. At pt. 2069 I decided first to climb the Wildhauser Schafberg, which is easily reached over steep schrofen terrain with a fixed rope installation between the first peak and the main peak (T3). Unfortunately, there was hardly any view from the peak, and a lot of wind. At this moment I decided not to go in the direction Jöchli/Nädliger as there was quite some fog in this area. In some hours the rains from the cold front could come, so it would not be good to loose time due to the bad visibility in this karstic area, given the posterior rain and temperature drop. However, this is certainly a tour that is on my list, probably together with a night in the Zwinglipasshütte and the crossing of Saxer First and Chreialpfirst. This is a wilder area of the Alpstein, where I have not been yet.

The descent towards Wildhaus was along another way as the ascent. The ascent road was nicer in fact. It was nice to be again in the mountains after three weeks of work related abstinency (longest period without being in the mountains since March-April 2006 (then four weeks)). After a meal in Wildhaus rain started at 15h30 ;-)

Route: Wildhaus- Hinter-Bannwald- Flürentobel- Pt. 1389- Wildhuser Schafboden- Pt. 2069- Wildhuser Schafberg- Schäferhütte- Gamplüt- Stalden- Wildhaus

Wetter: Wechselnd bewölkt, Wolkenbasis 2000-2500 m. Später zunehmende Cirren. Viel wind. Kaltfront gab regen in Wildhaus ab 15h30.

Alleingang