Exciting Hike along the Grand Bisse de Lens Irrigation Channel

Sunday May 31, 2020 -- Day 1 of a two-day trip to Canton Valais, where the weather is warm and dry and where we like to do exciting hikes along the ancient irrigation channels. Best of course is if the water is still running in the channels, but even without the water, it is always a memorable experience.

Near Crans-Montana is a large dam called "Barrage de Rawyl" in a deep and steep valley through which flows the river Liène, to join the Rhône River in St. Leonard. In this valley are several ancient irrigation channels, built hundreds of years ago to bring water from the river high up at the back of the valley to the dry pastures in the Rhône Valley. These channels were built and maintained under dangerous conditions and at great loss of life, in order to support the farming communities. Many of these channels are in disuse, but some are kept up as hiking trails. We have already walked along four of these on either side of this particular valley, but there was one large one called "Grand Bisse de Lens" which we had not yet done (This channel took two years to build, from 1448 to 1450).

Starting at Crans we walked into the valley toward the dam, then descended a couple of hundred meters along a steep cliff to join the river, and then walked back out the valley. Along the irrigation channel, the trail is only slighly sloped, as the river drops further and further away below you, and you are walking along narrow trails sometimes composed of planks only 40 cm wide, with a cliff on one side and a steep drop on the other. Very exciting and not for those afraid of heights!

When we planned the hike, it showed as 5 hours on the map, but having to go slowly in the steep sections meant our hike ended up about 6-7 hours, one of the longest I've done! The back 1/3rd of the channel is in obvious disuse, the next 1/3rd was cleaned out but had no water flowing yet, and fortunately the final section that we walked, starting in Icogne to where we made a long descent to St. Leonard in the valley bottom, had water flowing, which was a great plus on the sunny side of the hill on this warm afternoon!

Since this valley takes a long time to get to, we cannot do this in a day trip. Also the length of the trail meant finishing late, so we had reserved a room in a monastery guest house in the old part of the city of Brig, a wonderful experience with a huge room and peaceful garden facing right onto the huge towers of the Stockalper Palace! 

Another interesting item: Although St.Leonard and Brig are only 50 km apart, the language border is between the two: In the valley along the channel we greeted people in French, and once we got to Brig, they spoke German there.... well, a unique dialect anyway. (The Wallis dialect is difficult to understand).

From the Bus Window: Traveling by bus from Sion to Crans-sur-Sierre, we cross the large bridge across the Liène Valley through Icogne, a village that we also passed through on our walk out of the valley. Looking South out of the valley is the hillside where we did the last part of the irrigation channel hike before descending to St. Leonard

At the start of the hike, i.e. about 15 minutes on foot from the bus stop in Crans, this is the first spectacular view up the valley toward the dam. On two previous hikes I walked from here to the dam. This time we descended approx. at the bald spot in the middle. 

Walking into the valley was pretty uneventful; mostly a wide forest road like this one with a couple of narrow passages along cliffs

The typical sign that we have seen often, warning of possible rock fall, and my favourite English translation: "On the fellows 200m of this trail a certain risk of stony falls exists" (Google Translate would have been useful). Also, they recommend you don't leave the trail. Haha!

I don't intend to leave the trail on the "fellows 200m", although I don't seen how stopping increases your chance of being hit by falling rock.

Super high vertical cliffs above us

A zoomed view of the Barrage de Rawyl. There is a beautiful turquoise lake behind that, the Lac de Tseuzier. 

Walking into the Valley on an exciting trail

Tunnels are good too!

This is the point (Pra du Taillour) where we descend through the forest and along a steep section of rock wall (would have been easier to ascend than descend). The sign warns that the trail is not suitable for people who are afraid of heights

The first part of our hike: It took about 90 minutes to get to the back, followed by a steep descent on a cliff wall. (Several years ago we walked one trail higher up, the Ancien Bisse du Ro, all the way to the dam)

I enjoyed the trail, although it would definitely not be suitable for people who suffer of vertigo

On the left is our trail. A bridge also offers the opportunity to cross to the other side of the valley here

Every once in a while we have to cross sections of fallen rock

1h 15 minutes to Icogne is the time it would take if you could walk at a normal pace! From here, though, we have another 100m steep descent....

Most of the people we met were doing the hike in the opposite direction, which makes sense as this section would have been easier to go up.

Shortly after reaching the river, the interesting part of the Irrigation Channel hike starts!

Of course stopping to take all these photos also cost us some time!

VIDEO:

Gabrielle walking along the Grand Bisse de Lens

VIDEO:

Urs walking along the Grand Bisse de Lens

More of the beautiful cliffs above us

These two had quite the fast pace going!

On this middle section of the trail, the channels have been cleared and probably prepared to have water running through them soon

The trees on the side where the cliff drops straight down help give the illusion that it is not as steep as it really was. We have done such hikes where there is no vegetation, and it is much more difficult.

Near Icogne is a copy of the declaration signed in 1448, that the Prior Jean de Lens was given permission to build the irrigation channel provided he could complete it in two years, which he did. 1448 to 1450. A fantastic feat when you consider the tools they had at the time

Below us the bridge over the narrow Liène Valley, which we crossed earlier by bus on our way from Sion to Crans

On the outskirts of Icogne, the valley opens up for this fantastic view over the communities above Sion

Beautiful flowering meadows.

From Icogne, the channel continues around the mountain to Chermignon, a total of 8 km, but we only did the 3 km to the point at which we could descend to St.Leonard.

On this final section of the Irrigation Channel (another 3 km before we descended to St.Leonard), the water was flowing, to my great pleasure, as you can see!

This is the most popular section, there were more people along this trail and it became more difficult to cross paths. It is built out quite nicely, though.

A look back into the Liène Valley: Village of Icogne behind me, and behind that the narrow valley we came down

Further back the channel was hewn out of the rock face, here they use wooden troughs

Very interesting walk high above the Rhone Valley. Below you can see the city of Sion

At the furthest point South on the trail, the channel follows the mountainside to the left, and northeastward into the Rhone Valley. At this point, though, we headed westward down the hill through the vineyards to the train station in St.Leonard

Heading down through the vineyards above St.Leonard. Across the valley is the Bisse de Clavau, an irrigation channel we have also walked along previously.

A look up the Rhone Valley. We were up high on the hill on the left

A view over the city of St.Leonard, and the popular Val d'Hérémence on the South side of the Rhone Valley

The full almost 17 km that we walked in about 6 hours. Even after this long day of walking, we timed our arrival at the train station perfectly, getting there just one minute before the scheduled train to Brig

This map shows the various Irrigation Trails that we have walking in the past 7 years. The yellow one is the one we did this day.

After the ca.17-km trail and about 7 hours of walking (with some pauses) because we had to go slowly along the steep cliff and the narrow irrigation trails, we got to the train station in St.Leonard for the 17:17 train to Brig, with just one minute to spare!. Which means we got to our hotel at about 6 p.m., got ourselves freshened up in our beautiful large room at the St. Ursula Monastery's Guesthouse, picked up a pizza and ate it in the lovely and restful monastery gardens. After which we went up to the nearby church to enjoy the waning evening light over the city, before heading for an early bed-time.... could barely move my feet by that time...

Walking through Old Town Brig from the train station to St.Ursula's Monastery

The beautiful Stockalper Palace was right next to the guesthouse gardens

Panorama view from the Guesthouse door to the Stockalper Palace, and the Jesuit College Church

Eating our take-out pizza in the guesthouse gardens

View of the Stockalper Palace from the convent gardens

From the courtyard at the Jesuit College church on the hill, a view over the Stockalper Palace as the sun is going down

In the circle is the area of the Liène Valley and the Grand Bisse de Lens Irrigation Channel. From St.Leonard near Sion it was about 40 minutes by train to Brig, to our hotel for the night. Between these two is the language border: French from Sierre to the West, German to the East.

Hike to Three Waterfalls in the Unterlavtina Valley

Wednesday May 27 -- Exactly two years ago we discovered a side valley to the Rhine Valley, branching off into the region that is called the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tectonic Arena Sardona, where the Glarus Overthrust is a very visible indication of how the mountains were formed when the tectonic plates met millions of years ago. This valley is called the Weisstannental, or Weisstannen Valley. When we walked out of the valley at that time, we noticed another side valley from the main town of Weisstannen, which we found out later ends in three massive waterfalls all joining together to form the river that runs out of the valley.

(For fotos from the hike we did in 2018, CLICK HERE)

This day was the perfect day to walk to those waterfalls. What we had planned, without researching it, would have been a less than memorable and a rather steep 550m ascent to a small suspension bridge -- even the waterfalls weren't quite as impressive as we'd imagined -- if it hadn't been for the lone ibex we watched climbing up the steep flank near us. Furthermore, we started too early, not anticipating the amount of cold shade for the first hour. But we managed the hike in less than two hours. Having to go back the same way would have meant a hike of only about 3 hours, and rather anticlimactic.

But having reached the waterfalls, we made a change to make our hike memorable. On the map was a zigzag path to the top of one waterfall. Only another 200m ascent. Why not go up there and see the waterfalls from a higher vantage point! Well THAT was fantastic, so much better to look down the valleys from up high! And then.... on the map was an alpine meadow, only another 100m altitude, which ended in a cauldron from where you could pass into other valleys. "Well since we're already here, let's just do that as well!" So fantastic up there, lots of snow still, and we spied a herd of chamois, at least 20 of them, with the little ones playing on the snow! 

Afterwards, the descent back to Weisstannen wasn't so boring at all, also more sunshine and a different point of view, and arriving back after a full 5 hours of walking (7-hour excursion) we still had enough time to purchase mountain cheese at the local self-serve cellar shop.

With a total ascent of almost 1000m, I'm getting closer to the goal of the 1200m ascents I have long planned for in the Verzasca Valley!

From Mels near Sargans the little bus goes up the Weisstannental Valley (this is Mels with the Churfirsten mountains in the background)

When we got off the bus in Weisstannen, where you go up the Unterlavtina Valley, we realized we were way too early (it was 08:45), and the shady valley was very cold!

 

But about 30 minutes from the start we met the sunny slopes, and had a nice long break here on a bench, waiting for more sunshine to reach the valley bottom before continuing. For the steep climb to here, it wasn't so bad to have the shade anyway

This Trail no.73 is called the "Sardona World Heritage Trail". We came from Weisstannen in 50 minutes, and our original goal "Batöni" is only another hour from here.

The Weisstannental Valley where we started is at the back on the right. Here at the mountain cabin we stopped for a break on both the way in and the way out. Nice benches in the sunshine!

 

First glimpse of one of the waterfalls. From here we could actually even see the suspension bridge in the trees below the cliffs

Right about here is where we saw the Ibex

I spied a large lone ibex making its way up the slope on the other side of the river

What a wonderful experience to see one of these up close in the wild

VIDEO:

Ibex walking up the hill

The first waterfall up close

The Batöni suspension bridge, and a second waterfall behind that, the Muttenbach Falls

Because the 1 hour 45 minute hike to this point was anticlimactic, we decided to hike up through the forested area to the top of the other waterfall (Muttenbach Falls) in the background. An additional 40 minutes and 200 altitude meters.

We're glad we did the climb, because we got a good view of the waterfalls from above, plus a view into another side valley leading into the popular Pizol region

Lovely waterfall

It was also breathtaking to look down into the various valleys from here: First one is the Unterlavtina Valley which we walked up... Second one is the Weisstannen Valley where we came up by bus, and the third one, below those beautiful jagged peaks, is the Rhine Valley where we caught the bus from Sargans/Mels

Another steep uphill hike but we covered ground quickly!

Here at this point above the third waterfall, and looking into the high alpine pastures below Pizol, this was our second plan, i.e. to climb to here and return down again.... but...

Below me I saw the bridge crossing the waterfall river, and the trail on the other side, leading only another 100m uphill to an alpine meadow on the other side, so we decided to continue to up there

Crossing the feeder river to the Muttenbach waterfall

Other waterfalls on the upper part of the river!

Across the river is the trail where we had originally wanted to stop. This is an unofficial trail and we actually found a way to loop around and return via that trail

Up on the high alpine meadow we caught sight of a lone chamois making its way across the hillside

A beautiful alpine meadow with the summer farmhouse and barns. Pretty soon the sheep or cows will be making their way up here along the same trail that we just walked. I would love to have seen that.

From above the alpine farm

Up here the gentians were just starting to bloom, plus loads of wild pansies, which I have never seen before

And this was our actual ultimate destination. You can hike up the trough on the left to a mountain pass, but it would take another 90 minutes or more, as it's actually another 600 altitude meters! We were fine with our accomplishment to get up to here! This already was about 850m higher than where we started!

As we sat enjoying a picnic break, Urs spied an entire herd of chamois on that snowy patch there. He could see lots of brown dots moving along the white section

With my great built-in zoom lens on the camera, I could actually capture them up close. There were about 20 animals in this herd, with lots of young ones skipping around the snow

From the top of the hill behind the farm, another view down the Unterlavtina Valley where we hiked up

Also from the hill (you could say this was the highest point of where we walked this day), a view into the Pizol region. The peak of Mount Pizol is actually hiding behind this large one. There is a popular 5-lakes trail on the other side, which we have not yet attempted because there are always too many people on that trail

Instead of returning the same way, we did a loop down to the river, the one that feeds the Muttenbach Falls. We hoped to find a way to cross, so that we could take a different trail down

Here we crossed the river. It was easy for Urs with his long legs, not so easy for me. I was sure I was going to slip on a rock and fall into the rushing waters

Once we completed our loop, we got this great view of where we'd walked up the final trail, to behind the round hill where the building was. We also climbed to the top of the round hill

From this vantage point we could actually see all three of the waterfalls

On the way down again past "our" waterfall, the Muttenbach Fall

Back at the Batöni suspension bridge, and after that we walked back down the Unterlavtina Valley

Heading back out of the Unterlavtina Valley. Enjoying the wonderful sunshine compared to the cold shade in the early morning!

Another view back to Batöni and the waterfalls, and the higher Alpine Meadow where we spent an hour or so

Back down near our starting point of Weisstannen, a final look up the valley. How different than the dark shadows from early morning!

Ahead of us the Weisstannental Valley. We walked down that one two years ago

Here at Weisstannen, the Sardona Heritage Trail (no.73) meets the Alpine Panorama Trail (no.1)

The requisite Cow picture!

A small way down-valley is the church in Weisstannen, and next to it a little shop inside a farmhouse where we picked up some cheese, before catching the bus back out the valley

What originally would have been a 3-hour 15-minute hike to the Waterfalls and back, we turned that into a 5+ hour excursion with 300 more uphill meters than we originally would have done, about 850m altitude difference, but almost 1000m of uphill in all! More than I've done in a very long time on a single day-hike.

In May 2018 we started near Weisstannen and walked OUT of the valley 

On the descent by bus out of the Weisstannen Valley, this is the wide open Rhine Valley at Sargans, where the Rhine River flows along the border with Liechtenstein. The mountains in the back are in Liechtenstein

This is the area of the Weisstannen Valley, the Pizol region and the Calfeinsen Valley, all in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tectonic Arena Sardona