The Brüggler Quickly

This was a very fine day with a lot of sunshine and just a bit of haze, but no clouds in the sky. Driving up to Schwändital on the switchback road from Näfel town centre is a bit tricky but there is a climber-made signpost for "Bruggler" where the road divides. From the car park you can see the ridge of Brüggler and there is no one there on a weekday to collect the 5 francs fee to park.  Quickly, I prepare for the solo because I have a time limit of 3.5 hours starting at elevation 1240 m.  First following the gravel/concrete block road to reach the Bruggler hiking trail near the cow barn/bar.  Then following a red stripe marker the trail heads up across cow pastures with increasing slope.  Then after about 1 hour hiking I am at the bottom of the Brüggler south face where several groups of climbers have started on the rock face. The trail continues at the base of the west ridge of Brüggler reaching an easy crux to scramble up to the col (P. 1711) between Chöpfenberg to the West and Brüggler.  The slope eases and alternates grassy mud and rock reaching the summit of Brüggler at 1777 m after 1.5 hours total.  At the summit I meet three pairs of climbers having lunch, and then hike back down reversing the ascent.  This is a nice day trip hike, or for the easy to moderate rock climbing, coming from Zürich, and you can see much of Lake Zürich and a fantastic panorama of the Glarus Alps from the top. The trail passes through a lot of meadows in the most difficult part which could become very muddy and slippery in the rain although I did not experience this.