In hindsight, the Alphubel Rotgrat was too ambitious for our group. Being five people was too much as well, because even though we moved in two roped parties, we spent a lot of time waiting for each other. But let's start from the beginning... Day 1 Täschalp - Täschütte 1h15, 500m ascent, T2   The...

It's starting to become a tradition of mine to do a bivouac-tour somewhere far far away from Zürich on the Street Parade weekend. Also this year, the weather was friendly enough. My night under the stars also coincided with the highlight of the Perseids meteor shower, so I was looking forward to seeing lots of "shooting stars"....

For more than four years living in Switzerland, I've managed to avoid visiting Zermatt. But of course this was never going to last forever... Day 1 Zermatt - Klettersteig Schweifinen - Chüeberg - Berggasthaus Trift 1000m ascent, 300m descent, 5h, K4 and T3 The Schweifinen via ferrata in Zermatt has a complex layout, with...

On the final day of my brother's visit to Switzerland, we make use of the "Burgerpass" in Saas-Fee, which gives us free use of the cable cars after staying overnight in the village. We take the "Alpin Express" to the first station at Morenia, where the cable car attendant double-checks that we really intend to get off here,...

If you're only about via ferrata, then the ca. 1500m of ascent involved in doing the Baltschieder Klettersteig is probably too much for you. However, integrate the via ferrata into a two-day adventure with an overnight stay at the Wiwannihütte and you're in for a treat. Day 1 Ausserberg - Suone Niwärch - Baltschieder...

The Nadelhorn: not a bad goal for my first 4000m peak :). Day 1 Gasenried - Bordierhütte 4h15, 1250m ascent, 50m descent, T4 The ascent from Gasenried to the Bordierhütte("Bordier" pronounced in a French way)is relatively long but pleasantly varied. The path first goes up through the forrest, then through a fascinating...

Back in June, I hosted fellow Belgian Sarah in Zürich through CouchSurfing. She was on her way into the Oberwallis two work the whole summer as "Zusennerin" at the Alp Furgge in Gregniols. In return, I got an open invitation to come spend a night on the alp. An ideal opportunity to combine this with some peak-bagging in the...

A two day hike in a remote location was required in order to escape the Swiss national holiday festivities. The inspiration came from the Nollenhorn and Joderhorn descriptions in the SAC Alpinwandern/Gipfelziele Oberwallis guidebook, though in the end we didn't visit either summit. With bad weather on Saturday, we decided to limit...

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...

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.   ----...

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...