Leistchamm Trilogy, Nägeliberg and Schäären

I’ve been on all three Leistchamm before but never on all of them on the same day. For this day it was my main goal and then afterwards I wanted to decide what to do depending on the weather and mood.

As so often before I started my hike in Arvenbüel going up to (Hinter- or Amdener-) Leistchamm on the marked route via Röh – Looch – First. When I got out of the bus in Arvenbüel it rained harder than expected, after 15 minutes it stopped raining, after First the rocks were almost dry and on Leistchamm the sun was shining!

From Hinter Leistchamm I went down in the east flank. Instead of taking the route, which is described in the SAC guide (the second obvious groove), I decided to take a little detour north because the mentioned groove was very wet and slippery (T4+).

While walking towards Mittler Leistchamm I saw a groove leading the way up to Mittler Leistchamm close to the west ridge, which looked “easy enough” to climb and so I did (about 20m T6, II). In fact this drop of about 20 meters which spans more or less all over the northern side of Mittler Leistchamm, can be climbed in many places, the easiest is described in the SAC guide and is pretty much in the middle, a mossy fragile matter though. Even on the east side one can climb this drop in a little couloir, which is not too difficult (see this picture). The remaining last part to the summit after the drop doesn’t pose any difficulties.

After I came down from the Mittler Leistchamm (the same way I went up) I snuck around the corner, because whenever I’ve been in this area I’ve almost always seen chamois or ibexes. To my disappointment all the sneaking and being quiet was for the birds, because today there wasn’t any game there. So I put my camera back into it’s case and kept walking up towards Vorder Leistchamm. All of a sudden I heard some noise and when I looked up towards Glattchamm I saw 3 rather young ibexes maybe 30 meters away from me observing me. (They probably watched me for a long time and were laughing at me trying to sneak around the corner…). Anyway, they were not afraid at all and didn’t even whistle (or whatever you call the sound they make when they are alarmed), they were also kind enough to pose for some pictures :-)

I then continued to Vorder Leistchamm and the Steinmannli south of it. Since the clouds started rolling in again, I decided to continue along the ridge towards the Churfirsten. The easiest way down to Gocht is not obvious when you come from above, but if you look for the last rather big knee pine on the right side before a drop of about 20m, you’ll find a moderately easy way (T5, II) down on the right side of this knee pine.

From Gocht I went up to Nägeliberg on the easiest route which is only a T4 (see picture of the route here): From Gocht I first followed the ridge for a short while then heading towards the obvious grass/rubble channel to its end, then following a grass band back to the ridge, and finally via the south flank of the foresummit to the saddle between the Foresummit and up to the cross.

On Nägeliberg it started raining again. After walking over to Schäären along the ridge, a cold wind started blowing and the rain got rather intense, so I decided to go down to Tisch in the north flank of Schäären and then walk along the Toggenburger Höhenweg to Alp Vorder Selun. Of course the sun came back out as soon as I was at Hinter Selun. Anyway since there was a Kistenbahn (Seilbahn Selun) down to Starkenbach in less than 30 minutes, I took the way down which was easiest on my knees.


Arvenbüel - Röh – Looch – First – Hinter Leistchamm – Mittler Leistchamm – Vorder Leistchamm – Gocht – Nägeliberg – Schäären – Tisch – Alp Vorder Selun

Notice: after September first the Kistenbahn only runs 3 times per day at 9, 13 and 16:30! Phone numbers: 071 999 34 87 or 079 537 77 20