New paths on the Goggeien - a spontaneous tour to good old Toggenburg and how it made my day

I kind of hated myself on Wednesday morning when I got up and saw how nice the weather was. Not because the weather forecast wasn’t quite right, but because I decided to not go on a hike due to the fact that there might be rain on and off and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Shortly after 10:30 AM, I couldn’t stand it any more at home and decided to something anyway. Whenever I don’t have concrete plans for something in advance, there is always the Toggenburg which I can fall back to. Today I decided to visit the Goggeien once again.

When I changed from the train to the bus to Arvenbüel in Ziegelbrücke, I kind of doubted my decision to go hiking again, because there were already a few raindrops falling on my head there. Fortunately those were the only ones and I didn’t get wet all day, except in the evening on my bicycle on the way back home from the train station.

From the bus stop  Arvenbüel, Arven I walked via Altschen to Vorder Höhi and down to Schönenboden and Schärsboden. There I left the path and headed towards the saddle between Rotberg and Schär Südgipfel. From this saddle there are clear path traces leading to the bottom of south west ridge of the Schär Südgipfel. The crux up to the summit is right there a little west of the actual ridge, a 10m channel (T5, II) leading the way up. After this channel it isn’t too difficult any more; you turn left below the little wall and then pretty much straight up to the summit always more or less along the ridge.
Ahhhh, it felt good to be here instead of getting my panties in a bunch at home, the Schär Südgipfel already made my day.

What next I thought? I shortly looked at the north east side of the Südgipfel (there is a short rope attached to a tree there), but it seemed unhealthy to go down that way, so instead I went back down the way I came up. I somehow remembered that Delta and Alpin_Rise described here on hikr, that they went down the Mittler Goggeien via south ridge (T6, II or something like that), but I couldn’t remember any details and of course didn’t look it up beforehand. The south ridge of the Mittler Goggeien is mentioned in the SAC guide, not really described in details, but it talks about 1 pitch of climbing. So, I decided to go and inspect it.

From the bottom of the Schär Südgipfel I first crossed west, to below the saddle between Süd- and Nordgipfel (very steep grass and rubble), further to Jöggelisberg and then up to the Goggeien Hauptsattel. The south ridge SWW ridge of Mittler Goggeien looks rather easy from here except the first drop after the Hauptsattel, which in my eyes definitely requires climbing equipment (this is most likely the pitch mentioned in the SAC guide). So how did Delta and Alpin_Rise get down here from the summit of Mittler Goggeien? (see comments to the report for the clarification) I then decided to look on the northern side of the ridge to find out whether there is a way through to the ridge from there.

From the main Goggeien saddle I first followed the path traces leading to the Mittler Goggeien via northwest flank. If you look up to the south ridge SWW ridge from there you see a gap after the first drop. To the left of this gap there is an extreme climbing route and currently there is even a rope hanging there (see here). This cut actually looked feasible to climb up to the ridge for me. However, when I got to the rock (right next to the rope in the picture) it seemed a little too hard for me, in particular since I didn’t know what would come further up and in case I had to climb it down again. (In retrospective and after consulting Alpin_Rise’s report: “Abstieg über den wenig ausgeprägten "Südgrat", den man ca. 50m verfolgt, bis man rechts über eine Felsstufe (II) auf ein Rasenband absteigen kann”., this was most likely where him and Delta came down. However, I’d say it’s more than just a II -> again see comments, they didn't come down here, and yes it's more a IV than a II...)

I didn’t give up yet, but looked for another way up to the ridge. On the right hand side, a little lower, there was a mossy and rather exposed band first leading downwards a little bit, and then steep up through grass and knee pines to the ridge. It looked feasible and actually turned out to be easier than expected (see this picture for the exact route). It is rather exposed, but technically not all that hard. I was glad though that the moss/grass tufts actually held my weight (I’d rate it a T6-). Once up on the ridge the rest all the way up to the summit is peanuts.

From the summit I went down to the saddle between Mittler and Vorder Goggeien via the north ridge. The one and only difficult stretch is where a steel rope helps you to overcome a little climbing passage. The root where the rope is attached to was dead quite a few years ago already and I wonder how long it will still hold… The way up to the Vorder Goggeien then is not really difficult. Once you have to use your hand, and, it is a little bit exposed, but nothing serious.

In the summit log I not only saw Bolivar’s entry who seems to have been the last person before me up here, but also an entry from last November, where a group of skiers came up here via the east couloir. I didn’t know about this access to the Goggeien and it isn’t described in the SAC guide either, but I thought “if somebody can come up this way with skis, I should be able to go down by foot as well.”

No sooner said than done, I went back down to the saddle between Vorder and Mittler Goggeien and looked down the east couloir. It looked steep, but nothing impossible (T4). I went down there to an altitude of about 1450 meters turned right, stayed on the same altitude for a few hundred meters and then went all the way down to the Dürrenbach near the Badhus. For the last part to  Stein SG, Gemeindehaus, I followed the marked path next to the Dürrenbach.


 Arvenbüel, Arven – Altschen – Vorder Höhi – Schönenboden – Schärsboden – Schär Südgipfel – Jöggelisberg - Goggeien Hauptsattel – Mittler Goggeien – Vorder Goggeien – Dürrenbach – Eggli –  Stein SG, Gemeindehaus