Brunni Valley (Canton Uri) and one of the Largest North Faces in the Alps

(This post published on March 20, 2023)

Saturday May 21, 2016 -- Such a beautiful weekend, we were out hiking on both Saturday and Sunday. With the long cold winter we had, it was a thrill to finally be able to get back up into the higher alpine regions, although it turns out we were just a bit early in the season, as we did run into a few stretches of snow, some of which were potentially difficult to navigate.

On Saturday was our very first excursion into the beautiful Brunni Valley, a side valley to our favourite Schächen Valley, and now another favourite. First we had to walk 2 km along the valley bottom in what is called an open meadow where the livestock roam free and have the right of way. Cars have to wait until the animals have moved off the road. There was a big flock of sheep and llamas that eagerly raced to meet up with us, and loitered along the road oblivious of cars that wanted to pass!

A steep cable car ride took us to the high alpine meadows on one side -- Sittlis Alp, which has its own dairy processing facility, converting all the milk produced here over the summer into yoghurt and cheese -- and then we walked to the back and out the other side, going from clearing to clearing with their clusters of homes and farms, before heading back down into the Schächen Valley on a different cable car.

(Canton Uri is called the Cable Car Eldorado, as there are 41 cable cars in this canton alone, of all styles and sizes. To date we've been on 14 of them, and plan to have ridden them all in time!)

As a side note, at the back of the Brunni Valley is one of the largest North Walls in the Swiss Alps. (Gross Ruchen).

As always, my favourite view on the train ride along Lake Uri, at Sisikon. We travel this stretch OFTEN!

On the bus ride from Flüelen toward the Schächen Valley, the magnificent Mount Bristen directly to the south

At Unterschächen in the Schächen Valley is where we have to get off the bus, and walk for two kilometers into this, the Brunni Valley. There is a paved road, so many people drive up to the cable car station. We started here at 10:15

The hike consisted of three sections: Two kilometers from Unterschächen to the cable car, with the cable car to Sittlis Alp, then 9 km down to Brunni Alp and ending in Wannen Alp, then a cable car back down to Ribi, from where we walked another one kilometer back to Unterschächen. 12 kilometers in all, just under four hours of walking

A look back out of the Brunni Valley

On this huge open pasture, the animals are free to walk on the road if they like, and they have the right of way!

VIDEO:

Sheep, cows and alpaca roam free on this huge open pasture in the Brunni Valley. This flock of sheep and their two llama guards (or are they alpacas?) came running from afar when they saw us! They remained with us for a long time, milling on the road, so that the cars simply had to wait until they moved out of the way!

We have never before seen sheep that were so trusting! Usually, sheep will run off as soon as we come near them, but these, including their llama pals, came running toward us!

We learned much later that llamas are used like "guard dogs" to protect flocks of sheep, so these guys are watching me carefully, that I don't do anything to harm the sheep! Still, I thought this was very cool.

(A sign we once saw in a different part of Switzerland advertises the use of llamas to guard flocks of sheep! It reads "We are calm, attentive and very curious! We only spit or stamp our feet if we feel threatened.")

Watching the Sittlisalp cable car, with the fabulous backdrop. The cable car saves us a 500-meter climb!

Looking down the Brunni Valley into the Schächen Valley, from the cable car to Sittlisalp

The little cable car from Brunni Valley to Sittlisalp carries only four people at a time, and the ride takes 4-5 minutes. On a Sunday there are so many people who want to come up here, so you sometimes have to wait an hour or so! We were lucky this time, only had to wait 10 minutes.

Heading south to Sittlisalp along the trail high above the west side of the valley. What a beautiful day for this walk! We started at the summit cable car station at 11:20

There is much more snow up here than we expected!

This section of the alpine road was covered in snow, and the farmer couldn't cross to pick up his re-bar, so Urs helped him carry it across the snowy section. The farmer showed us where he lived and said we should stop by for a coffee next time we come this way.

A look at the other side of the valley to the east, where we plan to walk after getting to Brunni Alp at the back of the valley. You can see the road to the farm, and after that it becomes a mountain trail, that goes around the corner through the forest.

I am always excited about the first alpine flowers!

This is a look down at another alpine pasture called Brunni Alp

I would have liked to continue further along the high trail before descending to the pasture at Brunni Alp, but Urs was worried the trail might become impassible, so we decided to descend here.

One of the largest north faces in the Alps.

On the hillside below us, the farmers are removing rocks from the pastures, rocks which have been brought down by sliding snow.

Goats just seem to be attracted to Urs, they follow him often when we are in the mountains! We call him "Geissen Peter", a local term for goatherd, which is a reference to the Heidi Books.

VIDEO:

The goats following Urs down the mountainside to Brunni Alp

This is the Brunni Alp mountain farm, directly at the back of the Brunni Valley, and the view is directly to the North along the Brunni Valley. We continued to the right, as we are now planning to head along the high trail on the east side of the valley.

First part of the trail along the east side of the valley is this easy farm road.

Heading along the alpine road, with a view of Sittlis Alp on the other side.

Ah, a "favourite" smell of the Swiss countryside!

A first look into the Schächen Valley. Our goal is the Wannelen Alp cable car, only an hour to go! (or so we thought....)

A look across the Brunni Valley to the west to Sittlis Alp where we started the hike. Hard to believe that above that vertical drop is an entire dairy industry!

15:10, time for a break and to air the feet, and to enjoy the sun and the view!

As Urs anticipated, there was unmelted snow along the trail, although we didn't really expect it on this section! This is usually due to snow avalanches, which take longer to melt. Here we crossed OK.

A look behind us after we crossed the snow in the avanlanche couloir

This next snowy section was trickier, and also unexpected!

The snow having just melted on these pastures, the crocuses are now popping!

We have now arrived at the small hamlet called Wannelen Alp. From here there is another small cable-car back to the valley bottom, in the Schächen Valley.

The cable car station at Wannelen Alp.

This cargo cabin is used to transport all kinds of goods such as cheese wheels and also cows! We have to use the phone to call down to the valley station to ask them to operate the cableway.

A look across the beautiful Schächen Valley

Heading down in the little cable-car, this is a view of the village of Unterschächen, where we started our walk into the Brunni Valley. As it turns out, we also finished our hike by walking the final kilometer from the base station of the cable car at Ribi.

A look up to the Klausen Pass. The bus doesn't run up there until middle of June.

Down below in the little community called Ribi is the bottom station of the cable car. The owner has to come from a neighbouring house to operate the cable car for us. We then pay her when we get to the bottom.

There is actually a bus stop here on the road, but the bus doesn't run often, so we decided to walk the final 20 minutes into Unterschächen. We got here at 16:40.