Winter Walk around Blitzingen in the Ober Goms Region of Canton Valais

(This post published on December 12, 2024)

Sunday February 21, 2016 – This was only the second winter walk we did this season and even though the weather was wonderful and the scenery as fantastic as usual, 15ºC weather meant soft wet snow to walk on, which, even when the trails are prepared, makes walking rather tedious. To get to Blitzingen in the Goms Valley where we did our 8-km walk up the hill above the little Valais village, we traveled with the Gotthard-Matterhorn train across the top of the Alps. This is always a treat, even on the rare Sunday when the weather is nice, meaning the train was jam-packed full of people (some even standing in 1st Class)….

The excursion starts in Andermatt where we take the regional Gotthard-Matterhorn railway line up the Urseren Valley to Realp, and from there through the Furka base tunnel to the Upper Goms Region. The cars here are parked bumper to bumper, as this wide valley is popular for winter walks and cross-country skiing, as well as downhill skiing.

Heading by train along the Urseren Valley from Andermatt to the Furka Base Tunnel

View out of the train window as we head up the Urseren Valley

After passing through the Furka Base Tunnel, we come into the Upper Goms region in the Rhône Valley, passing the town of Oberwald

This valley is also very popular with cross-country skiers.

Passing through the Goms villages, where many people are busy with cross-country skiing.

Beautiful day for being outside in the snow in the Upper Goms. The train runs next to the River (the Rotten). This view is back to the village of Obergesteln.

Interesting clouds

This village is called Ulrichen, the next village to the south.

Between Ulrichen and the next village of Geschinen, a lone chapel called St.Katharina sits on the hillside.

On this short winter walk, we started at the Blitzingen train station at about 11:45, and walked up into the village to a restaurant where we had a nice lunch before heading out on our little round-tour walk. As the day was still so pleasant, we then continued on the prepared walking trail, to catch the train at the next station called Biel.

It was such warm weather, that there was no more snow on the paved roads, which is a shame.

Looking up the valley as we head up the road, the river below is called the Rotten here, but this is actually the Rhône River which starts at the Rhône Glacier near the Furka Pass, and empties into Lake Geneva in the west.

The little houses across the river with their snow caps look so very pretty!

And every village has a church....

All the pretty wooden houses here.

At about 12:45, after lunch in the restaurant, we started out on our afternoon walk, which first meant going up the winding paved road. (It's more fun if the road has hard-packed snow on it!)

Warm, mild weather for our little afternoon walk.

These mirrors are located at blind corners for traffic. Cool photo!

A yellow chickadee poses for my photos!

At the top of our hike (300m above the village of Blitzingen) we get great views over the Goms Valley all the way toward the Furka Pass.

Spectacular view of the Ober Goms Region.

Down below, the Gotthard-Matterhorn Panorama Train (Glacier Express) is headed toward Brig

Prepared winter trails

The rest of our hike is downhill along prepared winter trails, but the snow is soft and walking is a bit tedious.

The prepared winter trails are most fun to walk when the snow is crisp and firm. Here it was a bit soft.

Looking down the valley

This sign warns us that the Aspis Viper (a venomous snake) is prevalent in this area, in all weather conditions, even rain.

A cluster of cute stalls with lovely snow-covered roofs!

This little hamlet is called Wiler, which is also the word for "hamlet".

A cluster of stables at the valley bottom on the other side of the Rhône River.

Once we got down to the Blitzingen train station, we continued walking another two kilometers north along the winter trail to the next station. This is the regional train passing by us. We prefer it to the Glacier Express, because you can open the windows!

This is the Glacier Express, mostly for tourists. It requires a supplemental reservation fee, and we have never ridden on it.

The Glacier Express train is on its way toward Brig/Visp (with connection to Zermatt). It is a panorama train and has those large windows. A reservation is required to ride it. We prefer the regional trains. A little further on we got on the regional train at the small station called Biel.