Spectacular Hike from Mount Brienzer Rothorn to Glaubenbielen Pass

Thursday Aug.8, 2019 -- This year we purchased a special annual supplement to our regular train subscription which includes a variety of mountain railways and cable cars that otherwise might be very expensive to ride, so we are taking advantage to ride as many as possible this season.

One of these is the Brienzer Rothorn Rack Railway, the oldest steam cogwheel train in Switzerland, ferrying sight-seers and hikers since 1892 in one hour to the peak of Mount Brienzer Rothorn from Lake Brienz below.

What was not in the weather forecast for this otherwise perfect day was the large amount of fog hanging in the valley as we made our way up, and yet I have to admit that the fog that kept rolling over the ridges the rest of the day did add a special ambience to our tour, even though sometimes it blocked our view. 

The best-known hike starting at Brienzer Rothorn and what most people undertake is to hike along the fascinating ridges and cliffs down to the Brünig Pass, which we had heard involves an extremely long and sometimes steep descent. At the halfway point of this popular hike we decided to head North instead to a different Pass road called Glaubenbielen, as this involved one-third less descent altogether (1100m instead of 1500m) and even though we didn't know what would await us, we were not disappointed. On the contrary, this alternative offered us more variety in terms of view, and additional ridges to cross, so we felt we might even have made the better choice for the day. 

And even though the fog that hung near the peak of the Brienzer Rothorn blocked our sunshine for most of the afternoon, it turned out to be a good thing, or the final stretch might definitely have been too hot.

AND.... Urs with his good eye caught sight of an entire herd of chamois on the rocky flanks of the magnificent Mount Giswilerstock, 13 of them who kept a good eye on us too, but didn't run off because they knew we were no danger to them so far below...


PART 1: Ride up the mountain in Switzerland's oldest steam cogwheel train

The first part of the ride was through fog, but in the forest it made for a nice atmosphere

Above the fog, traveling in a wide curve across Planalp

Planalp, a large alpine meadow

Nearing the summit, a breathtaking view of the Bernese Alps and the fog-covered Lake Brienz below

Various views of the train

Now it's heading back down the hill, backwards!

VIDEO

The Brienz-Rothorn Steam Train

PART 2: Summit of Mount Brienzer Rothorn, then heading East along the ridge to Schönbüel for lunch. 

Two hours 20 minutes from the summit station to the Restaurant at Schönbüel, and another 2 hours 30 minutes to our goal at the Glaubenbielen Pass

After getting off the train, we slowly made our way toward the peak of the mountain, to the look-out point. Spirits are high because the fog is lifting!

First a little peek at the landscape where we are planning to walk to

The fog is dissipating in the Haslital Valley below, but we had wisps of it all day moving over the ridge.

Another two trains coming up the mountain. It's 30 minutes later and we are just starting our hike. We wanted to make sure that the fog was lifting

The trail heads down toward that lake and up the ridge on the right. You can just barely see the trail. We decided there was no point in waiting anymore. Just see what kind of views we will get later on.

At least you can now see the beautiful Lake Brienz and its lovely turquoise colour!

 
The trail from the peak of Mt. Brienzer Rothorn down to the Eiseesattel (near the lake, before the next ascent) was a bit difficult, lots of vertical rock-bed. But after that the trail was very nice.

Heading up from Eiseesattel toward Arnihaaggen

The peak up ahead is called Arnihaagen. First we have to cross the narrow ridge, but there are guard rails, so not dangerous

Looking down at Lake Eisee and Sörenberg in the background. At the very back on the left is the long prominent ridge called Schrattenfluh.

From Arnihaagen we can see to the next ridge that we get to walk

Because lots of people walk this trail, they keep it in good shape. This is looking West.

And we are heading East

Another view of Lake Brienzersee

The trail continues off to the right. At a couple of places it got tricky here, because the recent rains had washed debris across the trail.

Breathtaking

This here is Gibel, a large look-out point and picnic area. From here you can continue down to the Brünig Pass (1000m descent) or continue North as we did

Here's my friend the hiker who we also met a few years ago down below in the town of Brienz***

Mmm tasty "Käseschnitten" with homemade bread and loads of melted cheese at the Schönbüel Alpine Hostel.

PART 3:  Heading North along the Obwaldener HighTrail and along Mount Giswilerstock, where we saw the herd of Chamois

The section from Brienzer Rothorn to Schönbüel took us about 2 hours 20, and the next section to Glaubenbielen took about 2 hours 30

Heading across the ridge, here's a look back at Schönbüel Alpine Hostel where we had lunch. A cable car used to come up here, but it cost too much to continue to run it.

Heading along a ridge toward the beautiful Mount Giswilerstock

 

Still bits of fog rolling up, but it makes it look pretty

From here we had a different view altogether, North across Lake Sarnersee

All the rolling hills of the Central Plateau to the Northwest

A bit of a muddy trail this one was, along the flank of Mount Giswilerstock

A final look South into the Haslital Valley

And then on the back side of the Giswilerstock, Urs spotted a chamois, who watched us very carefully

Actually there was an entire herd of Chamois. We counted 13.

This shows how high up on the hill the chamois were

Having almost completed the U-shaped tour, we actually could see the starting point of our hike, i.e. the summit station of the railway that came up from the other side. And we walked the entire ridge from there across to the left.

Jänzimatt Farms with Giswilerstock as a backdrop. They make cheese here which they were selling at the Glaubenbielen Pass, the end of our hike just 15 minutes from here.

We got to the bus stop with 10 minutes to spare, and had time to buy locally-made cheese and ice cold Shandy

On the bus ride along the "Panoramastrasse" back down to Giswil on Lake Sarnersee. In the background is Mount Stanserhorn

*** My friend the hiker from 2017 in the town of Brienz where the Steam Engine starts its uphill climb:

Brienz on Lake Brienzersee is known for its woodcarvers. April 2017.