Winter Hike in Sparenmoos near Zweisimmen

January 13, 2018 -- On average we spend about 6 hours of travel time total to and from our destinations for our day trips, but this one was an exception we won't be repeating often! We don't travel a lot to the Zweisimmen/Lenk region in Canton Bern for day trips because it simply takes us too long on the road, but on this Saturday this was the area where all conditions for us were most favourable:  Sunshine, mountains, views, prepared winter trail, perfect snow, non-proximity to "Alpine-Ski-Areas-with-their-crowds-and-noises-on-this-particularly-beautiful-day". 

Even though the extra bus ride up to the snow-covered plateau called Sparenmoos cost a fortune, and even though we spent altogether 9 hours on the road (what with train problems and missed connections) for just three hours in the sunshine, we still really enjoyed this barely 7-km round trail in an area mostly preferred by cross-country skiers. It was peaceful and warm... and I had a good book to read on the train....

Train station in Zweisimmen. There is a bus that takes us from here up to the snowy plateau called Sparenmoos.

The landscape here is wide open, lots of sunshine. The snow was perfect, not soft or wet.

One valley over lies the city of Lenk, just below Mount Wildstrubel. (The mountain right in the middle at the back)

Next to Mount Wildstrubel is the "Glacier de la Plaine Morte" ("Dead Plain Glacier" in French), a 10 km2 high plateau glacier (at altitude 2750m or 9000 ft.) on the border of Cantons Berne and Valais. In some places, the ice is 200m thick. 

Mt. Gummfluh on the border of Canton Berne and Canton Vaud

We crossed a patch of forest where the North side of the trees had not yet been warmed by the sun, which looked magnificent...

This is what you want winter to look like.

 

Heading back down by bus to Zweisimmen

By public transit it took us 3 hours 40 minutes to get to the upper plateau Sparenmoos near Zweisimmen.