But the first night we spent at an old hotel in a tiny town called Ried in the Lötschental Valley, with a bus stop right in front of the hotel. Leaving home early we got to the hotel at 9 a.m. to drop off our packs, have a coffee at the hotel restaurant, check out the town of 12 houses, and catch the next bus one hour later to the end of the valley, to Fafleralp, to walk our planned four-hour round-trip hike above the Glacier called Langgletscher, to a very exclusive mountain hostel, (offers Spa vacations!) called Anenhütte.
We knew the afternoon would get cloudy (and cold, as it turned out!) but for the ascent we had the most ideal conditions both for the climb and the views. The Lötschental Valley is the largest Valley in Canton Valais (in the region of the Unesco World Heritage Site Aletsch Arena), and because it runs East-West it has lots of shade in winter. The ride by bus into the valley from Goppenstein was looking doubtful, but by the time we started at the wide open back of the valley, we were already peeling off the layers.
Most impressive was the massive glacier moraine below Mount Breithorn; small panels mounted to boulders informed us that the glacier filled this upper part of the valley in 1850. Also very exciting: we spotted an entire herd (at least 20) of Ibex lounging on the steep flanks, so tiny that they were almost impossible to spot with the naked eye, and hard to photograph, but with magnification you could see their magnificent horns.
It took us a little over two hours to hike each way to do the 600m ascent.
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| Heading up into the Lötschental Valley at about 8:30 a.m. it is looking very shady, also at the back where we are planning to hike up to just below the points of the two glaciers. |
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| Our Hotel Bietschhorn right next to the bus stop. Shortly after 9 a.m. we dropped our packs off in our room (tiny room under the roof), had a coffee at the hotel's restaurant, and then walked to the top of the village (of about 12 houses!) |
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| Impressions of the tiny village of Ried in the Lötschental Valley |
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| Shortly after 10 a.m. we were at the start of our hike on the Fafleralp, and the sun is now shining! |
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| First stop is this very pretty little lake called Grundsee |
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| Time to shed some clothing and take some photos! |
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| Right to the left of my head, perched on an outcropping, is the Anenhütte (mountain hostel) which is where we are walking up to. |
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| Look back to the little lake and the Lötschental Valley |
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| In 1850 the Langgletscher Glacier filled the valley up to this point. This is the vegetation that has grown in the past 170 years. |
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| Not only is there a building on the left (Anenhütte), but there is also a Swiss Alpine Hostel perched on a cliff above the saddle on the right... |
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| Crossing the Lonza River, heading to the Anenhütte above the Langgletscher |
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| The Lonza River is the outflow of the Lang Glacier, and flows down the Lötschental Valley to join the |
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| Here's where we had lunch. Magnificent glacier moraine, incredible to think ice used to fill up this entire space. |
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| At this point we are actually walking along the other glacier moraine |
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| Not much longer now, almost at the Anenhütte. Below is glacier ice covered in gravel and debris. |
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| This is the mouth of the glacier, from which escapes the Lonza River (all compact ice covered in the debris that the glacier leaves behind when it recedes) |
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| Mount Breithorn and the Lonza Horns. On these flanks we spotted a herd of Ibex. |
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| Behind the Anenhütte is a small lake called Anusee (not a very attractive name), and we made a loop this way before heading to the hostel |
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| The clouds are moving in, but up here it was still magnificent |
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| Just some lone sheep wandering the Alps. |
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| Figuring out if I pose any kind of problem... |
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| Anenhütte from the back |
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| View back down along the Lötschental Valley from the Anenhütte, and below is the return trail (goes pas the tiny lake in the center of the photo) |
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| Zoomed view of the peak of Mt. Bietschhorn, the King of this valley, but further down valley. Weather changes quickly in the Alps. |
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| One last view back at this unique and exclusive mountain hostel, before heading back down the valley to Fafleralp |
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| Wild blueberries cover the mountain flanks far and wide, and it's fun to pick handfuls along the way. |
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| The best I could do to photograph the herd of about 20 Ibex. They were far up above the glacier moraine on the steep mountainside, and we would not have seen them were it not for someone at the hostel handing his binoculars to his wife and saying "See them up there?" |
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| This is where the ibex were on the mountain side, just barely visible as a bunch of small dots to the naked eye. |
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| The clouds moved in quickly, and it got uncomfortably cold. We even thought it might rain |
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| One last break at the little lake called Guggisee |
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| Back down at the parking lot. We just missed one bus by 15 minutes, had to wait another 45 minutes till the next one headed down the valley |
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| And just as we headed back for dinner at the hotel, the skies started clearing, and we had a wonderful evening plus the most glorious day the next day as we started the second excursion: Hike out of the Lötschental Valley along the Lötschental High Trail. |
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| It usually takes longer to walk these trails than when you map them out, because of terrain. We had a total walking time of about 4 hours 20 minutes, but total excursion time of 6 hours (with breaks) |
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| For dinner, a very expensive Walliser KäseToast at the fancy hotel restaurant. |
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| We had a 50% deal on this hotel room, and as cute as it was, I would never pay full price. I kept hitting my head on the ceiling, and we had to share a tiny hall shower and toilet with three other rooms.... AND we had to climb up five stories to get here! The hotel was very nice though. |
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