Urschner High Trail Hike at the Center of the Alps

(This post published on March 1, 2025)

Sunday September 28, 2014 – Up at 6 a.m. to head back to the mountains for the five-hour hike we want to attempt, because a 5-hour hike takes me 7 hours with all the food breaks, photo stops and naps along the way. 

Our plan was to walk a high trail called the "Urschner Höhenweg", starting at Tiefenbach on the Furka Pass Road, and walking parallel to the valley bottom heading east and descending to Hospental. First we took a bus from Andermatt westward along the Urseren Valley and up a switchback road to a starting place where we would have less uphill to walk. The 14-km hike back toward Andermatt was about 600 m above the valley floor (i.e at about 2200 m above sea level) and only required about 300 m total of uphill, but about 1000 m in total to descend back to the valley. We got back on the train in Hospental because that was about an hour less than to walk to Andermatt. It was a superb fall day with a nice breeze and clear air for sharp views up and down the valley. 

Way too many mountain photos! Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urserental

This photo I took the day before when we rode our bikes from the Oberalp Pass down to Andermatt from the east (Those photos are HERE). This view is up the Urseren Valley, toward the Furka Pass. From here you can see the hillside we walked (right hand side)

From Andermatt you take the bus up the Furka Pass Road. The starting point of our hike is here at the restaurant in Tiefenbach. The road continues on over the Furka Pass. Below on the left you can see the old Furka Railway Line which is now only used in summer for tourist runs with the steam train, as the passage to Canton Valais is now via the Furka Base Tunnel at Realp. 

Starting point of our hike at Tiefenbach shortly after 9 a.m. We are following Trail no.51: "Furka Höhenweg" (Furka High Trail), also known as the Urschner Höhenweg. It is about 5½ hours to walk to Andermatt. 

Starting point of our hike at Tiefenbach shortly after 9 a.m. We are following Trail no.51: "Furka Höhenweg" (Furka High Trail), also known as the Urschner Höhenweg. It is about 5½ hours to walk to Andermatt. 

We started at Tiefenbach at shortly after 9 a.m., and ended our hike at Hospental instead of Andermatt, as 4½ hours of straight walking was long enough for us. It was a great hike with fantastic views of the valley, and we took over seven hours to walk it. (Lots of breaks and naps). It would be another 50 minutes or so to continue on to Andermatt. 

At 9:30 we took our first break: "Second Breakfast", as we'd been up for three hours already! Behind me is the Furka Pass Road. 

Heading eastward along the Furka High Trail parallel to the Urseren Valley Bottom. Superb visibility this day. 

You can see where our trail continues after we head into the side valley first. 

The trail takes us into a side valley from where we loop back. This side valley is called Lochberg. 

An upper moor region. 

We had to pass over the concrete wall of a small dam on the Lochberg River. 

As we cross the Lochbergbach river, there is a trail junction from where you can head up to a Swiss Alpine Hostel called "Albert Heim Hütte", and also walk down to the Realp Train station at the bottom of the valley. 

Behind us now is the Lochberg side valley, and the small dam we had to walk over. Higher up on the left is a glacier called the Tiefen Glacier, and the Swiss Alpine Hostel is just this side of that glacier. 

From about the half-way point along the trail, we get a look at the Furka Pass road winding its way up from Realp. The mountains at the back are part of the Gotthard Massif. 

Panorama view into the Urseren Valley. 

Some of those boulders (which at some point came down the mountain) are HUGE. 

The impressive peaks above the trail

At 12:20 (about three hours after starting on this hike), it's time for a lunch break and to rest the sore feet!

Another view of the Gotthard Massif and the Furka Pass Road, with the town of Realp below. From Realp, the older Furka Railway line heads up into the side valley on the right, but the newer Furka Base Tunnel goes straight through the mountains, first to the south, then westward to Oberwald. 

More of those fantastic peaks above us as we continue on our walk. 

Enjoying this high trail hike! There were only a few other people on the trail. Up ahead are a couple of lakes where we took a long break. 

Directly below us now at the valley bottom is the small village of Zumdorf, apparently the smallest village in Switzerland. We stopped there for lunch on a walk we did from Realp to Andermatt in August of 2013. (Those photos are HERE). 

At about 1:30 we got to the little lake called Trübsee where we found a nice place away from the trail where I slept for about an hour! We continued on from here about 2:30 p.m. 

Next to Trübsee was another smaller lake called Lutersee, very pretty with the turquoise water. 

A look back at the two little lakes where we rested for an hour. 

At 3 p.m. we started our descent to Hospental. According to the sign, it should be another hour and 15 minutes. 

Heading down the mountain to Hospental (on the right), with the city of Andermatt in view behind me (the zigzag road there ascends to the Oberalp Pass). 

From Hospental, the side valley and road lead to the Gotthard Pass. 

We are being observed as we descend to Hospental!

A look back at the mountain where we came down from, as we reach the train station in Hospental at 4:15 p.m. In effect, we did take seven hours to do this hike. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting at Tiefenbach and descending to Hospental.