Last Saturday was the annual "snow day" with my colleagues from work. It started on Friday afternoon already, as we made our way to the Engadin village of Pontresina, where we put on the cross-country skis and made our way to our remote hotel in Val Roseg. On Saturday we went on the pistes, after which most people went back to...

The Schnebelhorn is with 1292 meters the highest point of canton Zürich. Tom and me reached it with a hike that was ironically almost entirely within the canton of St. Gallen. Tom had contacted me spontaneously through Hikr the week before, thanking me for my supposedly nicely written reports and suggesting that we do a snow shoe...

The Axenstrasse is the section of the road between Zürich and the Gotthard the goes along the Vierwaldstättersee, from Brunnen to Flüelen. It provides some stunning views across the lake whenever the road pops out of one of its many tunnels. On every trip south, this scenery is a strong temptation not to drive any further, but...

Going by the number of entries on Hikr, mostly in Italian, Föisc must be one of the most popular snow shoe hikes in Ticino. With decent amounts of snow, but low avalanche risks south of the Gotthard, it seemed as good a destination as any. I sent around quite a few messages trying to get other people to join in, but in the end...

I almost forgot, winter is that season where it gets cold. Particularly at 2614 meters above sea level on a mostly cloudy day. And, to be honest, it wasn't even that cold yet. It's just that I'm not used to it any more, apparently.   A snow shoe ascent of Piz Cavradi near the Oberalppass was the objective of the day. Like...

Snowshoeing is almost unknown in the UK, even though some showshoes certainly would have been useful a couple of times doing some Scottish winter routes. In Switzerland it is however the number one winter activity for those who love the outdoors but can't ski. (That includes me, though hopefully not for long.) So I was quite eager...

It wasn't easy to select the location of this hike. Two CouchSurfing guests of mine were coming along, so it had to be relatively easy and non-technical, with not too much snow. The weather was also an issue. With gray clouds, rain, snow and slush perpetually enveloping the entire Deutschschweiz, going south into Ticino seemed to...

Many thanks to the warm Föhn winds for chasing away the snow to higher altitudes again. It meant that lots of options were still open for this sunny late October Saturday. I decided to do the Fürenwand Klettersteig in Engelberg. With five via ferratas, Engelberg is the self-proclaimed "Klettersteig Eldorado" of Switzerland....

What a beautiful day. And to think that I almost couldn't be bothered to get out of bed! Sadly, it was to be the last trip of my beloved camera, but still I don't regret going out.   My weekends have been pretty packed lately, so I was looking forward to a more relaxed weekend this time. Also the recent snowfall made me a...

Eliot, one of my friends from the Leeds University Union Hiking Club, is visiting me in Zürich for the weekend. The weather looks good for Saturday, but not for Sunday. The idea of doing a via ferrata suggests itself and is accepted without any hesitation. I decide on the one in Braunwald. I was there already in June, but decided...

When I'm on my own, I often like to push myself on a rather long hike. That was also the idea this Sunday: first climb the Widderfeldstock and the continue north along the ridge for as long as I feel like.   Wanting to be well-rested, I don't start particularly early. The 08:04 train from Zürich brings me via Luzern...

A beautiful weather forecast for the first weekend of autumn; a perfect opportunity to tick of some more via ferratas, I thought. However, finding companions turned out to be rather difficult. My existing contacts all had something else on already, and the channels of Kletterportal.ch and CouchSurfing didn't seem to generate any...

I must admit I hadn't heard of the Alpstein Massif before coming to Switzerland. Looking at the Swiss Alps as a foreigner, you automatically focus on the higher summits and the mountaineering history of Matterhorn, Eiger and the likes. But for more regular hiking, the higher mountains are often limited in options. You certainly...

With the SBB "Vier Seen Wanderung Sommer-Hit" special offer, you get a train to Engelberg, cable car/ski lift to Jochpass, cable car down from Melchsee-Frutt, Postauto from Stöckalp to Sarnen and a train back home, all at 50% off. That means only 28.80 CHF from Zürich HB (with Halbtax) for the whole shebang. Pretty good...

"A Dutchman, a Chilean, two Irishmen and a Belgian went to climb a mountain." It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but this was actually the composition of our team for a two-day hike with the objective of Clariden (3267m) in the Glarner Alpen.   On Saturday we took the Klausenpass Postbus up to the Klus/Chlus bus...

"A long hike up Säntis for early risers. Let's start walking at 4am in order to get an Alpstein sunrise and to avoid the worst of the tourist in flip-flops coming up with the cable car. Who wants to join?" How I love kletterportal.ch already! Where else do people propose such great ideas (thanks Melanie!), without being dismissed...

My second weekend in Switzerland, and again I joined up with two other hikers through CouchSurfing. The initial idea was to do the Kletterweg on the north ridge of Speer, there was still a surprising amount of snow, and one of the fellow hikers would not have been able to make it up that route anyway. So in the end, it became a...

Having just moved to Zürich, I met up with two CouchSurfers for my first ever hike in the Swiss Alps. A perfect day for it as well, with impeccable weather. We took the train to Brunnen, a quick yet stunning ferry across the Vierwaldstättersee, and the Treib-Seelisbergbahn to gain 300 meters of altitude before the start. The...

After a cancelled plan to do the Klettersteig in Braunwald two weeks earlier (due to the weather), this ended up being my first via ferrata in Switzerland. Through CouchSurfing I met up with four others. First, the Engelberg-Ristis cable car, immediately providing great view of the town of Engelberg with its monastry and the...

I discovered kletterportal.ch on Friday, and already on Sunday I joined four other members on the Allmenalp Klettersteig in Kandersteg. The Kletterportal Partnersuche seems to be working great. I'll certainly try to use it more in future. The Allmenalp Klettersteig is my second Klettersteig in Switzerland, and certainly more...