It's been almost two years since my last proper 'challenge hike', the Lakeland 50 in the English Lake District. That was 50 miles with a total ascent of 3000 meters. So the Rigimarsch (http://www.rigimarsch.ch/), with its 50 km and total ascent of 1550 meters should be easy, right? The fact that all of the ascent is concentrated...

I was looking forward to a quiet weekend, recovering from the Rigimarsch. But if the weather is good at the start of the summer hiking season, then that just needs to be taken advantage of. This hike marked exactly one year since I moved to Switzerland, and it's a route that's been on my wish list since day one: the Marwees ridge...

My CouchSurfing host Kurt suggested a hike on the Peitlerkofel. At 2875 metres above sea level, there was still some snow to be expected, but he expected the south-facing ascent route to be fine. And going high was not a bad idea, with a heat wave bringing temperatures of 35°C to Südtirol. It proved to be a great plan. The...

Day two of my Pentecost weekend in the Dolomites. Via ferrata is one of the main attractions in the Dolomites for me, and this was going to be my first one: the via ferrata Sandro Pertini, located near Wolkenstein. ---- The via ferrata Sandro Pertini has been the subject of some controversy. It is located in a national park...

There was the idea of doing a via ferrata on Sunday, but with an unstable weather forecast for the Alps and much more sun in the Jura, plans were changed. I already wanted to hike the famous cirque of Creux du Van earlier in the year, but hadn't yet got around to it. Now was as good a time as any to make up for it.Together with...

"You know that the Hoch Ybrig cable cars are still closed, right?" inquires the bus driver when we board the bus to Weglosen. Well, we didn't know, but we had planned to start walking from the valley in Weglosen anyway. The fact that the cable cars are still closed, should mean that it's going to be nice and quiet in the Hoch...

Trying to make the most of the dry Saturday morning, before the rain would ruin the rest of my birthday weekend, I joined David and Petra for an easy hike in canton Solothurn. ---- We set off at Oberdorf SO railway station and ascend Hasenmatt, at 1445m the highest point in the canton of Solothurn. Ominous clouds are hanging...

I had signed up for a SAC Uto weekend in the Diablerets massif. Our group consisted of Tourenleiter Michael Stockmeyer and eight others. Originally the plan was to spend the night in the Refuge de Pierredar and on Sunday do the Pierredar via ferrata and continue to the summit of Les Diablerets. After some confusion with the...

After doing the via ferrata Cascade du Darat the pass, our SAC Uto group took the Glacier 3000 cable car up to the Tête aux Chamois, where another via ferrata was waiting. We first checked into the SAC Diablerets hut, where we would spend the night. There was some fog hanging around the cliff of the via ferrata and the wardens of...

After two via ferratas on Saturday (Cascade du Dar and Tête aux Chamois) and a night at the Diablerets SAC hut, our SAC Uto group prepared for an easy glacier hike onto the eponymoussummit of the Diablerets massif. At 3210m, it is also the highest point of canton Vaud. --- We are blessed with a well-timed spell of good...

The Via Ferrata del Diavolo in Andermatt is a rather short route without much interesting possibilities to extend it with a longer hike. Hence it is a perfect Feierabendtour, even coming from as far as Zürich. Pascal had responded to a message I posted on kletterportal.ch, and we met up at 6.30 pm at the Teufelsbrücke on the...

Monday to Friday last week, I attended an mountaineering course at the Spannorthütte. The course was organized for SAC section Uto by mountain guide Tom Rohrer. I learned a lot during the five days (and also leaned that there is still so much more to learn). The highlight of the course, which is organised several times each...

It takes some careful analysis of the weather forecast, plus commitment to travel long distances, if you want to find sunshine in the mountains this summer. This brought Abbi and myself to the Bettmeralp in the Oberwallis. Even then, when we reached the Bettmergrat cable car station, there was fog all around. We lingered about for...

With the Leite via ferrata done and the sun, against all expectations, still shining brightly, we headed to Imst for another short via ferrata. Imst also has the longest 'alpine coaster' in the world. So we thought: let's give the inner child in us a treat, and combine the via ferrata with a ride on the coaster.  ...

David and I had planned for a long time to spend the 1st of August bank holiday weekend (Swiss national holiday) doing via ferratas somewhere in the Alps. After studying the weather forecast, we decided on Tirol. On Friday morning we drove to St. Anton near the Arlbergpass, with the objective of completing the Arlberger...

The AlpinVerlag's "Klettersteigführer Österreich" describes the combination of Seeben, Tajakante and Coburger via ferrata as one of the toughest via ferrata routes to do in a single day. The total ascent adds up to 1600m and each of the three via ferrata's is graded D/E, i.e. very to extremely difficult. To have a chance to...

After two via ferrata epics on Friday and Saturday, the weather forecast for Sunday was must less stable. We decided to try one or two short via ferratas nonetheless. Driving to 'rock climbing village' Nassereith in the morning, there was no sign of bad weather yet. Instead the sun was shining brightly. There is a large car...

The little Madrisa Land amusement park is still deserted as we start our walk from the Madrisa cable car. The first target of the day is the Geisshorn. The summit is marked with a wooden post, a little to the west of the marked path. A nice view rewards those who make the small detour to reach it (T3-T4 depending on the exact...

For my brother's initiation into via ferrata, we picked the Aletsch via ferrata. The route circles around the Gibidum reservoir (which received its water from the Aletsch glacier) without much ascent. A good thing for my brother, since he was still recovering from the MountainMan half marathon the day before.   ----...

The Jegihorn (or Jägihorn) Klettersteig is the highest via ferrata in Switzerland, summiting at 3206 m above sea level. Still, access is relatively easy, thanks to the Hohsaas cable car, or (as we did) with an overnight stay at the SAC Weissmieshütte.   First the bad news: the difficult "Zitterpartie" variation...