Another sunny September weekend gave me the chance to tick some more via ferratas off my list. I made use of an open invitation on CouchSurfing from Eloïse and Patrick, a friendly couple living in Hauteville on the shores of the Lac de la Gruyère. Together, we made our way to the most famous mountain in the area: Le Moléson....

So... my first "official" T6. As always when taking things to a new level, there is the anxiety of the unknown: "how hard will it really be?" With T6 especially, there still seems to be a lot of variation in difficulty. Sometimes it looks "just like T5, only a bit more exposed"; yet other T6 routes appear more like "bloody...

With a fabulous weather forecast and not really feeling like doing another solo hike, an event on the meetup.com group "Zürich Hike & Outdoor" headed for the Engelberger Rotstock came at the perfect time. I signed up for the opportunity to meet some new hikers and do a route that was on my wish list anyway. In a group of...

If you wanted a quiet a quiet hike on Sunday, you might as well have walked up and down Zürich's Bahnhofstrasse. There could not have been many people left in the city, so many went into the mountains to enjoy the weather!   Back in July 2013, the Rigidalstock was my first Swiss via ferrata. It's also the first one...

"Wintereinbruch" and the definite end of the alpine hiking season? I wasn't having any of that. With less snow in the Valais, I even set my sights on an easy three-thousander: Le Toûno (3018m). With a heavy rucksack prepared for all eventualities (ice axe, crampons, emergency shelter...) I arrived in Saint-Luc early on...

I had met up with Eloïse and Patrick again, my companions from the via ferrata at Le Moléson. After a night out in Lausanne, we set out in gorgeous autumn weather for Leysin. Leysin has two via ferratas, one high up on the Tour d'Ai, the other one ("Plan Praz") near the village. Due to snow higher up, we stick to the second one....

Through CouchSurfing I met up with Michaela enjoy the fabulous autumn weather, which is now lasting even into November. Michaela picked me up at the Ziegelbrücke railway station. We drove up the winding single track road to Matt, where we parked the car at almost 1100 metres altitude. ---- We follow the hiking path to...

I had to be back in Zürich by mid-afternoon, so I had to choose a relatively short hike this Sunday. I selected the Rigi Hochflue, taking advantage of the Urmiberg cable car, which was open for the final day this year. I wasn't the only one with this idea... ---- A queue isalready forming ten minutes before the cable car...

The Tichodrome via ferrata is closed each year from the start of January until the end of July to protect the birds nesting in the rock face. On the other hand, the route does remain open until the end of the year. The route follows a band in the wall that is exposed to the sun and well sheltered from snowfall. Hence it even...

With extremely mild and sunny mountain weather for the weekend, I immediately went looking for regions with little snow. The Alpstein seemed to offer best conditions for an unusual late-November alpine hike. The only thing worrying me about the weather forecast: it was just too warm. I was hoping for hard snow in the morning,...

The Wägital offers an unusually high concentration of exciting alpine hikes, and this just a stone's throw away from Zürich. As such, it's almost scandalous that I hadn't explored this valley much so far. The continued superb mountain weather this autumn and a confident hiking partner - Hikr's madu - provided an unexpected...

This report has been lying around since the 21st of December. What should have been the first day of winter, turned out to be one of the last days of summer. Sunshine, hardly any snow, and even the forecasted strong wind was nowhere to be found. A great day for a solo hike across the Entlebuch summit Beichle. --- I've hardly...

The Stockberg (the one near Siebnen at the entrance to the Wägital) has been described about as often as can be expected here on Hikr. With a modest altitude of 1212m and no particularly interesting ascent routes, the alpine hiker rather looks higher up the valley where many fabulous mountains await. The Stockberg has two massive...

The Sibe Hängste is a mountain in the Entlebuch-Emmental region, an area that I've come to love for its selection of interesting, "day hike sized" mountains and for the great views on the transition from Mittelland into Berner Oberland. Though there are no official hiking paths on the Sibe Hängste, the traverse of the whole...

I still had an account to settle with the Chüemettler. Already back in April, I wanted to climb the summit at sunset. I had come prepared for some snow, yet I had still expected much less snow than there actually was. I got stuck before the Furggli, but still managed to get high enough to see the sunset. The descent towards...

With a last minute change in the weather forecast predicting better weather in the afternoon, rather than in the morning, I allowed myself a lie-in and only started for the Murgtal relatively late. After some issues with navigation (the Murgtal is not signposted anywhere), financials (a rather heavy 10 CHF has to be paid at a...

After many cancelled plans due to different "personal circumstances" and the weather, I finally found a few dry hours to go out on Sunday afternoon. With David and Franziska I headed for the Vitznauerstock / Gersauerstock, on the border between Luzern and Schwyz. It is claimed as a "Hausberg" by both the Luzern village of Vitznau...

I've really come to enjoy my after work sunset hikes this spring. The time had come for another one: Grosser Mythen via Schafweg and Rot Grätli. It's hardly a secret route. There are tons of reports here on Hikr (excellent descriptions in German e.g. by Chrichen,Bergmuzz, أجنبيand HBT), some of which also at sunset. The...

After having done the via ferrata of "the face" on Le Moléson last year, I went back for the via ferrata of "the pillar". The two routes run next to each other up the north face of the Moléson. Le Pilier is slightly easier (K4-) but the difference is not massive. The via ferrata du Pilier is a mix between rather mucky ledges and...

The Niederbauen-Chulm was my first proper Swiss summit after I moved to Zürich in 2013. Two years later, I came back for the continuation of the mountain chain. ---- After taking the Niederbauen cable car, we head for the Oberbauenstock. There are no signposts at P. 1758, where the Oberbauenstock route leaves the main...