From Gemmi Pass via Lake Daubensee over Rote Chumme to Engstligenalp

Thursday July 30, 2026 -- After a restful and quiet night in our little studio apartment, we left at 7:30 to buy our picnic lunch from the bakery nearby, and headed back to the Gemmibahn (which we had used two days earlier, photos HERE) where the cable-way was already operating before the normal 8 a.m. time. From there we rode the Daubensee cable-car down to the lake, which saved us some time on what became a very long day-hike.

Our goal was to cross two passages to the west and end up at the Engstligenalp Alpine Pastures near Adelboden, the largest high alpine plateau in Western Switzerland and a place that we have never yet been. This was the most strenuous of our three hikes on this vacation trip, although once we reached the upper Tälli Valley, it was quite spectacular. The descent to Engstligenalp, though, was difficult, as the trail was steep and full of loose rocks. It had also gotten quite hot, and we really wanted to reach the cable-car there by 2:15 p.m. so as not to have to wait another hour for the xx:40 hourly bus in Adelboden (about a four-hour trip home). The descent seemed to take forever.

Highlight of the day was a Bearded Vulture that flew near us in the Tälli Valley. This is the largest bird of the Alps, with a wingspan of almost three meters. Thanks to a renaturation project, the bird, which was extinct in Switzerland by the end of the 19th Century, has been reintroduced to this region. 

Final view from our balcony in our Leukerbad studio apartment at 7 a.m. 

A look way down the Dala Valley

At 7:40 we were approaching the cable-car station, expecting to wait in line for the first run at 8 a.m., but the cable-car was already in operation! So we got up earlier than anticipated. 

By 7:55 a.m. we were already back at the summit of the Gemmi Cable-way, with another view to Leukerbad and the Valais Alps south of the Rhône Valley. The town of Leukerbad is still in shadow, but visibility is not nearly as good as two days earlier.  

Immediately upon arrival we headed to the adjoining Daubensee cable-car and the operator sent us down immediately. This saved us 20 minutes of walking, plus we had never ridden this one before!

Our hike starts along the west side of Lake Daubensee, which is still in the morning shadow, and it was pretty cold! (By the time we got to the trail, we did have the sunshine). 

The Daubensee Cable-Car. I was glad that the trail was in sunshine by the time we got down, and that we didn't have to walk down in the cold shadow of the eastern mountains!

Close-up view of Lake Daubensee

I had started in shorts, then put on pants because it was cold! (Didn't take long to go back to shorts again, though). 

Crossing to the other side of the Lämmeren River. The mountain at the back is called the Daubenhorn. Two days earlier we had walked into the valley below that mountain, toward the west (photos HERE). Starting off now at 8:20. 

According to this map, it should be less than four hours to reach Engstligenalp from Lake Daubensee. But with a steep uphill and a difficult downhill, it takes longer. We started at 8:20, and even without stopping after we crossed the Chindbetti Pass, we reached the cable-car station at 2:10 p.m. (We did have two longer breaks, though. Total just over an hour). This was the hardest of our three hikes. 

It's always a treat to catch site of marmots.

Now the shadow of the mountain is gone as we follow the trail along the west side of the Daubensee (Lake Dauben). 

Following the trail along the west side of Lake Dauben. 

North end of the Daubensee. In winter there is a path cleared on the frozen surface of the lake, which you can walk northwards all the way to the Sunnbüel cable car and ultimately down to Kandersteg. A walk which we did in February 2017. 

Now we head westward away from the lake to the first of two passages which we are going to cross. This "valley" is called Rote Chumme. 

Looking north toward the mountains in the Bernese Oberland. Unfortunately, visibility was not great this day. 

Up at the arrow is the passage we are headed to. By now I've changed back into shorts!

But first, it's time for a break at 9:35, as we have already been walking for an hour and 20 minutes!  Time to the pass according to our map should be under two hours, but it's going to take us much longer... (We found all the projected times to be much too short). 

From our picnic spot, we watched the sheep, which have free roam of the terrain up here. There was some head-butting going on, and that intense-looking (ram?) watched us carefully and bleated loudly at us!

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A bit of competition among the sheep!

Back on the trail by 10 a.m. for the steep part of the climb. 

A bit of a view to the Bernese mountains again to the north. We are still in Canton Valais, but the border with Canton Bern is just slightly to the north from here, as well as at the Rote Chrumme Passage. 

A little bit of colour in this barren landscape!

It hasn't gotten too hot yet, so the climb is not too bad. And the landscape is fascinating. Somewhere behind me is a glacier (hidden) and a passage to the Lämmeren Hostel, where we were two days earlier. The name of this peak is the "Rote Totz". 

Arriving at the Rote Chumme Pass at 10:40, that's 2 hours and 20 minutes after we started!

According to the sign here, it should be 40 minutes to the next pass, and two hours to Engstligenalp cable-car station, i.e. the end of our hike. With the difficult terrain, it was much longer. The canton border between Valais/Wallis runs along this crest, and we are now headed into Canton Bern. 

We only encountered a half-dozen people on this trail. This couple passed us and headed down the way we came up. You can see the Daubensee, and far in the back, quite hazy, the snow-covered peaks of the Mischabel Group. This view is still into Canton Valais/Wallis, as we are now standing at the border with Canton Bern. 

A zoomed view of the Mischabel Group to the south, where the highest mountain in Switzerland, that is 100% on Swiss territory, is located. 

Remnant of snow!

It's now 10:50 and time for an early lunch break! Behind us is the Tälli Glacier, and a passage to the Lämmeren Hostel with a section over the glacier. 

Our next destination is the Chindbettipass (supposedly 40 minutes from here) and the valley in between is called Tälli. The little lake is aptly named "Tälliseewli", i.e. "Little Tälli Lake). It was beautiful and nice and cool up here, so we had a 40-minute break here. 

Some surprising little flowers up here! We are at over 2600 meters above sea level. 

Panorama view of the Tälli Valley, from the glacier on the left to the little lake on the right. At the arrow is the Chindbetti Pass, where we are headed to next. 

  

On our way again at 11:30 after a 40-minute break up here. This kind of terrain takes longer to navigate than normal foot-paths, so the estimated times according to our map is usually too short. 

Always amazed to come across flowers high up here!

We had the good fortune to witness a Bearded Vulture fly by very close to us. It is the largest bird in the Alps, with a wingspan of almost 3 meters. It was extinct till the 19th Century, and reintroduced to this region. It is known that you can see it nearer to the Gemmi cable-car station. 

More photos of the beautiful Bearded Vulture, the largest bird in the Alps. 

A view of the little Tälli Lake from the other side of the valley. The second, smaller lake at the back has the most beautiful turquoise colour. 

Looking behind us at the trail up to the Chindbetti Pass. Here a few people did pass us going in the other direction. This seems to be part of a trail called Via Alpina Red Trail. 

We reached the pass at 12:15. It took us 45 minutes, so pretty close to the expected time. From here it should be another hour and 20 minutes to the cable-car station at Engstligenalp. We are now at 2623 meters above sea level.  (It ended up taking us two hours to get to the cable-car station, including a short-cut). 

There were surprisingly many people up here at the pass, but most of them were walking in the other direction. 

First view of the Engstligenalp, the largest alpine high plateau in Western Switzerland. It's unfortunate that we didn't have better (sharper) visibility.

A panorama view shows how extensive this high plateau is. 

To the north is this fabulous rocky formation. There is a trail along the ridge and below those towers, also ending at the Engstligenalp cable-car station, but it takes much longer! We are heading the most direct way down the mountain. 

It was a difficult descent as the trail was steep with loose rocks, so it took us quite a while to get past this section. 

More colour!

Another break with a view. It's now 1 p.m., i.e. 45 minutes from the pass, but still another hour to go, so much longer than the hour-and-twenty-minutes as per the sign at the pass. 

A break with the sound of cow bells. 

Continuing on at 1:10 p.m. Turns out we had another full hour to go!

Cool reflection on the lake. 

Heading past the cows we saw earlier. 

Still not at the bottom! The descent seems never-ending. And we still have to get to the north end of the plateau. 

We took a short-cut through a marshy section, which (fortunately) was not as wet as usual, due to the long-standing hot weather. 

Behind us we can see where we crossed the Chindbetti Pass. It was a descent of 660 meters altitude to the valley bottom. But I wouldn't want to do the hike in the opposite direction, but there were quite a few people headed up there.

View south over the largest alpine plateau in western Switzerland. This is the first time we have been here. 

At about 2:10 p.m. we got to the cable-car station. While Urs went to stand in line for tickets for the 2:15 run of the cable-car, I went to the look-out point for a view of the fabulous Engstligen Waterfall!

What our hike from Daubensee to Engstligenalp looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

View from the cable-car station to the parking lot below, where we are catching the 14:40 bus out of the valley. At the back is the town of Adelboden. In all, it was a four-hour trip back home!

Passing the other cabin heading up!

Another view of the Engstligen Falls from the cable-car. 

Below is the steep trail which the cows famously have to travel up to the summer pastures on the Engstligenalp. 

At the bottom we had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus out of the valley, so I watched the cable-cars. There is a second, red cable car which is part of the Globi children's program. 

The 14:30 Engstligenalp Cable-Car arrives at the bottom station. We didn't have to rush at the top, we could easily have made this run before the bus came. (The cable-cars run more often when there are a lot of people waiting to use it). From here it was a 3½- to 4-hour trip back home.  

Location of Leukerbad and Engstligenalp within Switzerland. 

These are the three hikes we did in the three days we spent near Leukerbad.