"Princess Gina Trail" (Fürstin-Gina Weg) in Liechtenstein

Sunday September 30, 2018 -- They are calling this the "Neverending Summer", and the last day of September was, as the cliché so nicely puts it: "The icing on the cake".

The "Princess Gina Trail" (named after Countess Georgina von Wilczek, Pricess of Liechtenstein) is one we've had our eye on for a long time now, and the weather forecast was perfect for this eastern part of the country, or rather the country to the East! A bus ride took us from Sargans in Switzerland across the Rhine River and the border to Vaduz in Liechtenstein, then high up Mount Triesenberg to the little ski village of Malbun, perfectly nestled in a fabulous ring of mountains, whose ridge was the goal of our hike.

The hike along this ridge rates as one of the most spectacular I've done to date, or maybe it was just the perfectly clear weather which made you feel you could see all the way from the Atlantic to the Baltic, or in any case very far across the Austrian Alps, as we were walking mostly along the border of the two countries (Liechtenstein and Austria). And on the other side, always looking down at the village and beyond to the Alpstein Massif in Eastern Switzerland.

The excursion starts with a cable car to the ridge, but to close the loop there was a long drawn-out wide trail which I found rather monotonous, but the first part had loads of variety to make up for that.

It's a very popular trail, and so there were loads of people up here, but we were prepared for this, and it was still one of the best I've done. PLUS we got to witness the flight of a Golden Eagle up close, albeit a trained one, but still....

Oh, and about an hour after we got back home it got cold and snowed to low elevations.... Perfect Timing...

Heading up Mount Triesenberg in Liechtenstein by bus... what beautiful early morning lighting, the wide flat Rhine Valley with the river that separates the two countries, Liechtenstein on the left, Switzerland on the right and at the back.

After a short peaceful ride up with the chairlift, we can see the entire ridge we're going to walk, to the highest point Mount Augstenberg, then a bit beyond and back over the saddle on the right.

There was a group of people getting information about the Golden Eagle and its use in Falconry. We were close enough to watch it fly. Also, those nails...

An added treat: To see a Golden Eagle up close. It is called the King of the Alps

Walking along the "Princess Gina Trail". The highest point of the trail is Mount Augstenberg, on the right.

All along this ridge we looked down into the cauldron to the ski village of Malbun

Clear views forever and ever

A couple of places you had to watch your step but it wasn't difficult

On the way up to the summit the view East into Austria kept getting more and more spectacular

The last stretch was a labyrinth of rocks, rather steep but not difficult

At the summit

At the summit of Mount Augstenberg, looking North

And one more spectacular view East

Too many people on the summit, we didn't stay long

On the West side is the road that we had to walk to get back to Malbun

At this place I am standing in Austria and Urs is standing in Liechtenstein

The descent was fun. First to the Pfälzerhütte (hostel) way on the left, then to the ridge on the right where we had lunch, then down the steep road which I did not like.

Steps and handrails made this steep section no issue to navigate. There were several dogs on the trail, and they had no problem either!

This is the Pfälzerhütte Hostel, the goal for all the hikers to have lunch here on this splendid day. It smelled fabulous, but we hate the crowds so we moved on to a secluded picnic spot.

This part was a long monotonous road besides being uphill. I wasn't a fan. Over the saddle is the final long steep descent back to Malbun.

Looking backwards to the summit of Mount Augstenberg, before heading back down to Malbun.

Last steep descent to Malbun. On the other side you can see the chair lift we took up to the ridge to the start of the hike.

The Princess Gina Trail. 11 km, takes about 4 hours.

This trail was in the Alps on the border of Liechtenstein and Austria. By car it would be a trip of 1.5 hours, but with public transport it was a 3-hour trip each way from our home in Zug

Day 2 in Canton Valais: Bellwald, Fieschertal, Fiescher Glacier

Wednesday September 26th -- Day 2 in Bellwald, where we planned to ride two chair lifts up to 2560m, then walk another 300m to the top of Mount Bisihorn to look down at the Fiescher Glacier.... 

We've had our eye on this one for a long time, five lakes way up high here with only a small window of access because the snow melts so late. Perfect timing now to do this, book a hotel so we can do the long hike the day before and take advantage of the tourist cards offered by hotels for free rides on cable cars, and middle-of-the-week off-season = fewer people.

But one thing we forgot yet again, the chair lift time table!!! Got to the lower chair lift station to find out the upper section runs only on weekends in September.... oh no, how does this keep happening?!

SOOOOO..... quick change of plans again: On the map, showing as starting from the top of Chair-Lift Number 1 was a 3-hour round tour to a place called "Glacier View" -- descriptive enough -- and it turned out to be as wonderful of a day as we could have hoped for. Perhaps not the larger view of the glacier that we had expected (who knows?) but vistas (hating to use this cliché yet again) "to take your breath away". Sky so clear we could see all the way to Mount Matterhorn. 

It still meant a hefty 400m climb, but getting to a spot high above the glacier tongue, with steep rock walls and bits of glacier all around, peaceful and warm and no other people... it was heaven. And the fall colours of the bracken here high above the tree line: a veritable patchwork carpet of reds, yellows, greens... it was impossible to capture the true colours on a camera. 

View out the balcony window of the hotel, early morning sun on Mount Weisshorn

Checking out the weather from the Hotel balcony, it's looking good for where we want to go!

We were in no hurry, taking a stroll through the pretty village, having a coffee at a bakery in the early morning sunshine.

When we got to the chair lift station we found out the second part wasn't running, but there was a nice hike we could do from the top of the first part, so up we went.

The second chairlift only runs on weekends in September, apparently. So we'll go up to the top next year...

We saw this option on a brochure, and turned out to be perfect. There was 400m of uphill to get to the glacier viewpoint, but the weather was perfect for the hike.

Heading along the mountain flank toward to the Fiescher Glacier

Stunning view down the Fiescher Valley. In the background, Mount Weisshorn, and the Mischabel Group, which includes the tallest peak that is 100% on Swiss territory: Mount Dom. In between the tip of Mount Matterhorn

The tallest peak in this range is called Mount Wannenhorn, same name as our hotel. The glacier flows down this valley

 

To the Southeast, the Matterhorn is showing up more and more as we move further North

Zoomed view of Mount Matterhorn, always a treat to look at.

As we approach the glacier viewpoint, a cleft in the cliffs gives a glimpse of the river that runs out of the glacier

In the back, Mount Wannenhorn. At the official "Glacier Viewpoint" we couldn't actually see the glacier, so we continued a short piece further to find out own meadow spot.

This is where we stopped for our picnic lunch. Below is the glacier tongue, difficult to see as the ice is covered in gravel and dirt.

We spent an hour up here enjoying the sunshine and solitude. It was wonderful. AND we saw the glacier

This is as much as we saw of the Fiescher Glacier from here, but it was beautiful and Mount Finsteraarhorn is now my favourite mountain

 

This is a panorama view of what we looked at while having our picnic lunch

Heading back along a higher trail

Looking backwards along the higher trail

Road back to the chair lift station: Below is Bellwald

The colours of the hillside are difficult to capture with my camera

Heading back down to Bellwald. From here we still hade to walk about 10 minutes down to the other side of the village to catch the next cable car down to the Rhone Valley

Our hotel, which is right next to the cable car station which takes you down to the railway in the Rhone Valley

Small cable car from Bellwald down to the railway station at Fürgangen, on the Oberwald-Visp line. The suspension bridge is very new. We were here in 2014, walking on the other side, and had to descend into the ravine in order to get to this railway station.

Heading back to Andermatt along the Urseren Valley... beautiful Autumn afternoon sunshine up here. 

And every time we pass this way we are tickled to get a glimpse of the smallest village in Switzerland: Zumdorf

Our two-day trip: 6 hours walking on Day 1 and 3.5 hours on Day 2

And four days later the top of the mountain (where the second chairlift was only running on weekends) looked like this....