Happy New Year, Muntaluna!

What is better than starting the new year with a mountain hike in wonderful weather?! I had never before been to the Tamina valley, so it was exciting to see a new area as well. The Muntaluna south ridge was still nearly free of snow, so the conditions were really favorable.

I started out at the parking lot at the valley station for the aerial gondola which goes up to Vättnerberg. The trail to Vättnerberg is marked white-red-white, but it is quite steep and exposed in some areas. The exposed sections are safeguarded with ropes and chains. In many places, there was a lot of leaves on the ground, which made it more difficult to ascend. It was all dry though. Overall the trail up is a T3. After about an hour with good pace, I reached the plateau.

From Vättnerberg, I continued up towards the forest area, and traversed to the right side below the forest (T3+). This was a bit tricky with the brown old grass on the ground. Afterwards, I ascended on the east side of the forest. After some time I reached a more rocky area, which I followed. It seemed like a good idea to stay off the grass. But higher up the terrain became steeper, and it was more difficult to ascend (T4, I). However, it would have been easily possible to ascend to the left of this rocky area, and avoid it (T3+).

For the remainder of the ascent (above elevation 2000 m), I basically followed the south ridge (T3). The view from the summit was magnificent, and I took quite a few pictures. According to the summit book, Muntaluna had received visitors every day for the last four December days of 2016!

At the summit, there was a bit a cold wind, so I soon started my descent - more or less following the marked trail. The SW side had a little bit of snow. Unfortunately, it was of unpredictable quality. Sometimes really hard, and sometimes very loose and soft. But it was no problem to descend. Further down below Hächlenchöpf at elevation 2050 m, there was no wind and it felt much warmer, so I found a spot to enjoy my lunch.

Finally I headed back to Vättnerberg, and on the way there I called the guy in charge of the aerial gondola, and half an hour later I was able to get a ride down even on New Year's Day. Great service! And thanks for the tip Bergamotte!

Equipment:
- Hiking sticks
- Gaiters
- Crampons (not used)
- Ice axe (not used)

Total tour distance: 10 km
Please attached GPS track for more details.