Hiking at the end of the Saas Valley, Lake Mattmarksee

Friday Sept.13 -- Our kind hosts in Baltschieder helped us decide on this one. They had lots of ideas for hikes in the area, and Lake Mattmarksee is a lake we had wanted to visit, but had forgotten about it for this trip, so that was the decision for Friday (approx. 2 hours to get there from our room rental).

The Lake is at the very South end of the Saas Valley (parallel to the Matter Valley with its famous Mount Matterhorn, and just at the border with Italy). It is a dammed lake, the Mattmark Dam being the largest earth-stone dam in Europe, measuring 700m in length and 300m at its base. During construction of the dam in 1965, a large piece of the Allalin Glacier broke off and swept away the workers' accommodations, and 88 lives were lost. Also, to build the dam, they "simply" shoveled off some glacier moraines, so the dam is in effect made up of glacier debris.

The bare, raw, snowy landscape this high up is what makes our hearts soar. All around us were the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps, including Mount Dom, at 4545m the highest peak located 100% on Swiss territory. Nearby is also the Monte Rosa Massif with the highest peak in the Swiss Alps: The Dufour Peak (4634m), which is shared with Italy. In fact, had we had more time / energy / chosen a directer approach / less snow, and had the cable car on the Italian side been in operation, we would have walked the extra 60 minutes up to the Moro Pass, from where you apparently get spectacular views of this massif, from the side you don't usually see it. A trip for another year.

We did have a bit of luck: On the way up in the bus a passenger asked the driver about bus schedules during "The Marathon"... a quick check in the Internet showed us that the first ever Mattmark Half-Marathon was to take place the next day in the valley and around the lake! Oh, I would have been so unhappy had we chosen to do this route on Saturday.

As it was, another perfect day, a long hike but interesting terrain (most other hikers stayed on the lower lake trail, but we chose a longer route higher up), and more Valais Black-Nosed Sheep when we got back to Baltschieder at 7:30 p.m!

Heading to the bus stop in Baltschieder at 8:30 a.m. (3 minutes from our room). The sun is just starting to shine its light into the Baltschieder Valley, where we did that heart-stopping hike high above the valley along the Niwärch Irrigation Channel one week earlier. 

In the heart of the village, small-time farmers are preparing their sheep for shearing. I could have watched all day. 

VIDEO:

Valais Black-Nosed sheep having a bath to wash their wool in preparation of shearing

For our 4-day vacation in this area, we chose four hikes all within 2 hours from our accommodations (Lötschental Valley and Baltschieder near Visp). This trip into the Saas Valley (trip no.3) was actually the furthest we went, but something we cannot do on a day-trip from home. We were right in the midst of peaks over 4000 meters. 

Approaching the Mattmark Dam by bus. This is the largest earthen dam in Europe (700m long, 300m wide at its base) and built from glacier debris from nearby moraines.

Start of the hike at the restaurant on the West side of the dam. Most people walk near lake level to the back, then up to the Moro Pass, and back along this side of the lake. We chose a longer but more intestering route up the hillside on the left, into the Ofen Valley.

The trail along the East side of the lake goes all the way to the back. Where the shade stops and the sun shines, we ascended into the Ofen Valley

It takes 10 minutes to cross the dam. At the back is the restaurant, and on the slopes are the fantastic glacier moraines left behind by the retreating Allalin Glacier

 

Heading up and away from the lake into the Ofen Valley (Ofutal), on a much more interesting trail. Way down the Saas Valley in the back is Mount Bietschhorn, which was the prominent mountain on the hike we did the day before. 

Zoomed view to the dam, Saas Valley, and Mount Bietschhorn (behind which is the Lötschental Valley)

South end of the lake: A popular hike is the 2:10 walk around the lake (9 km). The Mattmark Marathon is taking place there the next day, luckily not this day! Our goal is the large dip at the back, and our return on the trail right below.

At about the highest point in the Ofental Valley that we hiked to, we had our lunch here, then crossed the Ofentalbach and headed back toward the lake, and then South.

Across from where we had lunch, we were admiring the Allalin Glacier and Mount Dom, the highest peak in the Swiss Alps entirely in Switzerland (the middle one of those three mountains) when I spotted what I thought was a building on the left near Mount Allalinhorn.

 

A zoomed view shows this to be the Allalin Restaurant, the highest revolving restaurant in the world (3500m above sea level), accessed by a funicular built into the mountain on the other side, coming up from Saas Fee

After crossing the Ofentalbach we are heading out of the Ofental Valley again.

The lake is coming into view again. We like this kind of terrain, it is peaty and mossy with lots of wool grass

A lengthy section across jumbled boulders increases the time that it takes to walk the trail (as opposed to what we had mapped out). But it makes walking fun and I barely thought about sore feet!

Back above the lake and now the trail heads South toward the Moro Pass (Background is to the North, down the Saas Valley, and Mount Dom right above my head)

Ahead of us (we still have to cross more jumbled rocks) is the Tälliboden, the furthest South we are going before heading back to the dam. Above is the Moro Pass with the golden statue of "Maria of the snow". If the cable car had been running on the other (Italian) side, we might have attempted the 1-hour ascent, even though there is quite a bit of snow (remaining from the early August snowfalls we had all over the country)

Zoomed view of the large golden statue of Maria at the Moro Pass (Madonna delle neve)

Making our way across this beautiful waterfall

Heading down to the upper moor called Tälliboden. From here it would be another 1-hour hike on stone steps to the Moro Pass, but this would have been too long for us, and we were not sure if the snow would make the ascent difficult.

Instead we had a coffee break sitting in the middle of these meandering streams across the upper moor called Tälliboden.

We came down from the right, and are heading back down to the lake straight ahead. 

Heading back down to the lake from Tälliboden. Most people hike up here directly from the dam, and return the same way, but on the other side of the lake. We came from the Ofental Valley on the upper right.

A few Ehringer cows grazing up here. We made a large detour around them, don't like the look of their horns. Plus they are by nature fighting cows.

We returned along the East side of the lake because the road on the West side was already in a lot of shadow, also wider and paved, which we don't like.

Another waterfall flowing into the lake below.

 

The late afternoon sunshine makes some pretty interesting shadows on the moraine. The hotel way down on the edge of the dam, tiny tiny compared to the moraine, is already in shadow

On this side of the dam, we still had sunshine for a long time. When we got back to the restaurant, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the bus, so we had a coffee at the restaurant while waiting

This hike we did took us at least 4.5 hours because of the jumbled boulders. We also had longer for the descent than marked on the trail markers. Hiking up to the pass would have meant almost two hours more, and that would have been too long for us.

Heading out of the Saas Valley by bus, Mount Bietschhorn ahead.

Back in Baltschieder, the sun had set but we still had a look around the historical town center. It didn't take long!

And on the way to the aparment we saw the farmer, the same one who had washed his three sheep that morning, shearing them! Plus other wonderful fluffy ones being inspected, probably for sale. And look how scrawny they are after the shearing!