First Real Winter Hike this Season: Hasliberg in the Bernese Oberland

January 21, 2017 -- Finally we have some nice snow in the mountains and today was a particularly nice day for a real winter hike! Only problem is that most of the trails prepared for winter hiking are also in popular ski areas, and because it's one of the first really nice Saturdays, all of the country seems to flock to the hills, and here where we walked on Mount Hasliberg was no exception! The small villages on the hillside just aren't equipped for so much traffic, and the already narrow mountain roads were turned into one-way lanes with all the cars parked for several kilometers around the ski lifts... cars were being turned back because all available parking for over 5 km was occupied!

The entire 12-km route we walked (550m up and then down again) was on wide level prepared trails (in summer local roads) which also double as toboggan runs. All the way we had sunshine, warm weather and fantastic views of the Bernese Alps including the notorious Eiger North wall, and the view West was along the Brienzer Valley where Lake Brienz and Interlaken are, but were blanketed by fog all day... as was most of our route back home.

So glad we have opportunities to still do 3 or 3.5-hour hikes on nice winter days as well. Next time: Tobogganing!

On the way toward Brünig Pass, the fog is high... here we usually get a lovely view of Lungern Lake.

Once at the level of the Brünig Pass, the air here on Mount Hasliberg is clear and wonderful.

Cars parked along the entire length of 5 kms along the hillside have turned this already narrow road into a single lane road. Back near the pass, signs advertised that all parking in all the villages was full, and cars were being turned back by traffic controllers. Times like this we are glad we travel by bus, although with the traffic, we were 10 minutes off schedule.

Most of the action is around the ski lifts.... on our walking trail we are almost alone.

This view across the village of Reuti (our starting point) on Mount Hasliberg is along the Brienz Valley where the lake is covered in fog.

We started our 12-km hike on Mount Hasliberg in Reuti above Meiringen (last village on the bus run from the Brünig Pass) in the Bernese Oberland. We walked for 3.5 hours on a lovely prepared trail, and then caught the bus back to the Brünig Pass from the village called Hochfluh.