Schimbrig (with Hengst)

I met up with Abi for the first time in almost a year, and together with his friend Takuya we headed to the Schimbrig (1815m), near the Glaubenpass in Kanton Luzern. The Schimbrig ridge path is a worthwhile objective, especially for this time of year. Optionally, things can be spiced up with a short but thrilling bit of scrambling on the secondary summit of Hengst.

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I say that the Schimbrig is a great objective for this time of year, because this sunny Emmental Alps summit is usually free of snow relatively early on, and makes for a tasty warm-up to the real alpine hiking season. The only reservation: you might get stuck behind an Alpaufzug on the way there. We are stuck behind a herd of cows headed for the Brüedere alp for a while, before reaching our starting point at Gründli. Parking is available at the bend in the Glaubenpass road just above the Gründli restaurant.

Our route of ascent is via Schafschimbrig, i.e. the eastern side of the mountain. This route is signposted as an alpine hiking route with white-blue-white markings, but does not live up to this grading. Up to the cabin at P. 1422 the path is in excellent condition with lots of wooden steps (T2). Higher up, the path becomes rougher, but never difficult or exposed (T3). The route follows the ridge for a while, before traversing south of the summit of Hengst. The path regains the ridge again between the summits of Hengst and Schimbrig. The points where you have to leave the ridge are clearly signposted. There is some evidence that this route used to be marked white-red-white, and I honestly don't understand why they changed it, because even if you're generous, this can't be more than a T3+.

There is a more challenging alternative though: the direct ridge route over the summit of Hengst. I leave Abi and Takuya to wait for me, while I give it a try. Coming from the west, this starts off as a wide grassy ridge, which then dramatically narrows, with deadly drops on either side. The short knife-edge grassy ridge ends in a short scramble up a crag which brings you directly to the summit of Hengst. Technically the scrambling is easy, but the exposure is still equally severe. Because of this exposure, I'm grading this as T5 / I, though this only lasts for 10 meters or so.

The east ridge of Hengst does not offer any such problems. This ridge is just slightly steeper and narrower than the normal marked route, an easy T4 maybe. It's a beautiful section of ridge. Even if you don't fancy the exposed scrambling west of the summit of Hengst, I'd still recommend going up and back down this east ridge.

After I've done my little extra loop over Hengst, I meet the others again on the summit of Schimbrig. The panorama from here is stunning, to say the least. Schimbrig is on the edge between the flat Mittelland and the Alps. Looking north, the green Mittelland with the Jura in the background alone would make this a magnificent view. But then you turn clockwise and the Pilatus range marks the change into an alpine panorama. A small stretch of Vierwaldstättersee is visible, and you can just about make out the summits of Rigi Hochflue and the Grosser Mythen. Then the white summits on the horizon that really steal the show: Glärnisch, Tödi, Spannort, Titlis... The shiny white Trift glacier appears huge from this vantage point. Through the Grimselpass you can see as far as Italy. Finally a superb view of the 4000ers of the Bernese Oberland tops it off.

We continue west along the Schimbrig ridge. The path is marked white-red-white now, and indeed most of the descent route is just T2. This is not to say that the route becomes less scenic. Indeed, I'd say that the views from the west ridge are even better than those from the white-blue-white route on the east ridge.

There is a marked path directly connecting P. 1647 and Looegg, which does not yet appear on the Swisstopo maps. At Looegg, there is a direct descent back to Gründli. We however decide to prolong our hike a little by going via Chlusmättili. There's not much to say for this route, however. There aren't many views and the path is rather marshy at times. There are just a couple of tricky stream crossings to keep things interesting.

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Even with the detour on descent, the hike was a relatively short one, but with a very rewarding ridge path. The Glaubenpass might be especially popular with bikers, but only by hiking up on a mountain you experience the real spectacle of this area on the edge of the Alps. The circular route on Schimbrig is just T3 in spite of the white-blue-white markings. The optional exposed direct route over the summit of Hengst is a thrilling extra for those confident on severely exposed terrain.