Schnebelhorn

The Schnebelhorn is with 1292 meters the highest point of canton Zürich. Tom and me reached it with a hike that was ironically almost entirely within the canton of St. Gallen. Tom had contacted me spontaneously through Hikr the week before, thanking me for my supposedly nicely written reports and suggesting that we do a snow shoe hike together at some point. I'm of course not someone to decline such a nice suggestion.

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From Zürich, the Schnebelhorn is most conveniently reached from the Tösstal in the west, but we drive around to Libingen to attack the mountain from its eastern side. There is free parking (as well as a very clean public toilet) at the "Mehrzweckgebäude" down a small cul-de-sac in the village. It has snowed the day before, a little less than originally forecasted unfortunately, but just enough to make taking snowshoes on the Schnebelhorn worthwhile.

From Libingen we walk up some farm roads with treacherous spots of black ice. After Unterstein, the path becomes more snowy and more enjoyable. As we head to the ridge at P. 1116, we have to break the trail. The snow is up to 20 cm deep, but very light and powdery. It's hardly any effort to break the trail, even without snow shoes.

From P. 1116, we follow the very enjoyable ridge west across Laubberg towards the Schnebelhorn. Be sure not to forget to summit P. 1177 of the Laubberg. The path traverses just north of it, but it would be a shame to miss the pleasant little summit. The route is a easy WT2 until the final ascent of the Schnebelhorn, which is considerably steeper and possibly more like WT3.

At 1292 meters the Schnebelhorn would be the fourth highest mountain in the UK. With its forested slopes however, its character is much more akin to - say - the Otley Chevin than to a rugged Scottish Munro. Winter seems to be the perfect time of year to climb the Schnebelhorn. The snow provides a little extra challenge on an otherwise easy route. But more importantly, the winter sunlight and the fresh snow provide a postcard-perfect scenery. The visibility is perfect, with views ranging from the Alpstein and Churfirsten in the west, over Tödi in the south, towards the Berner Oberland and Pilatus in the east. Only in the north, clouds envelop the poor people in the cities of the Mittelland.

We have lunch on the picnic bench on top of the Schnebelhorn. Afterwards we continue south past Schindelegg and over Rossegg. We decide to descent back towards Libingen via the "Helenachappali". The actual chapel here was destroyed centuries ago by the French army. A memorial cross now takes its place. The descent upgrades the routes to a definite WT3. It's a steep descent on a forest path, with often rather steep drops alongside. The snowshoes finally prove to be actually useful here, though not because of the depth of the snow. Rather, they stop us from having to worry too much about slippery roots and other obstacles hidden under the snow.

As we arrive back at Libingen, bad weather is slowly moving in from the north, and the summit of the Schnebelhorn is disappearing in the clouds. Too late to ruin our perfect hike.

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Looking back at the photos now, I realize even more than during the hike what a perfect winter scenery we were blessed with. So many photos that could go straight onto a postcard. And so much fun trying to tag all the other mountains on the Schnebelhorn summit photos (with a little help from Gipfel der Schweiz). A secret tip is the ascent over the Laubberg ridge: relatively little frequented, but it actually provided the best views. I'm looking forward to more hikes with Tom, or with other interested Hikr readers (do get in touch!).