Mountain Hike in the remote Calanca Valley. Destination "Santa Maria in Calanca"

Sunday November 29, 2020 -- Final hike of November, and possibly final mountain hike, as we got some real snow on Dec.1.

The mountains flanking the remote and lesser-known Calanca Valley (South of the Alps where the weather is usually milder) form the Canton boundary between Ticino to its West (Leventina Valley, where we have done many hikes) and Canton Graubünden in the East, creating an interesting scenario in that the inhabitants of the valley speak Italian, one of only three small regions in Canton Graubünden/Grisons where the culture is closer to that of Italy or Ticino. We discovered this valley in November 2017 (photos of that trip are HERE), so at the same time of year, but at that time, after taking the Arvigo Cable-Car to the sunny Braggio plateau 500m above the narrow valley bottom, we walked northwards along the hillside. This time we headed southwards, with the goal of Santa Maria in Calanca, a mountain village with a historical Church and Tower on a sunny plateau high above the Mesolcina Valley. 

At this time of year there are places that get no sunshine, and we were worried about a wet or icy trail, but the forest was Larch, and the trail surface a dry soft bed of needles (no thick layer of oak or chestnut leaves) and only one short icy piece before reaching the chapel of Sant'Antoni de Bolada, the highest point of our hike 900m above the valley bottom.

"Santa Maria in Calanca" was a bit of a let-down: Although the building itself is first documented in 1300's, the art inside is mostly kitsch, except for the dark wood-paneled ceilings. Of much greater interest was the tower next door, which we could inspect all alone: A dark and narrow stone staircase with high and uneven steps, two rather smallish living chambers, and a roof-top with fantastic views. And the timing was perfect. We caught the 15:45 bus servicing this mountain village, just as the sun was setting in the region....

Heading up the wild and lonely Calanca Valley by bus to the village of Arvigo, where we can catch a cable car up the steep mountainside.

There are only a handful of communities in this valley, especially here at the South end where the valley is narrow and there is lots of shade in winter. This is Arvigo, from where the cable car ascends to the sunny plateau called Braggio.

Heading up into the sunshine to the sunny plateau called Braggio

This cable car is modern and holds eight people. You buy the ticket at a machine below, then operate the cable-car yourself when you are ready. Mostly it's the locals who live up here all year round that use this.

Watching the Arvigo Cable Car head back to the valley bottom.

Above us the rough crags, and yellow larches. When we were here the first time, we walked up to those cabins, then headed to the North (to the left).

A local lady runs this little grocery store and operates it year-round. We need some snacks for our hike!

The little church below the village of Braggio

From here we head South, about 400m uphill to the chapel called Bolada, the highest point of our hike, and then down on the Mesolcina side to Santa Maria 

Looking down the valley to the South. Our hike is along the mountain flank on the left, which at this time of day has less sunshine than later on. 

A few pretty residences before we start the uphill climb through the larch forest.

The Arvigo-Braggio cable car saves us 500m of ascent. We were alone on the trail until the chapel, where about half a dozen people reached the chapel at exactly the same time, having climbed up from Santa Maria. They looked way more exhausted than we were, but had more sunshine on the rest of the trail to the North.

Heading uphill high above the narrow valley, with a mixture of sunshine and shade for the ascent, but on a very nice and soft trail mostly composed of larch needles.

There was only one small tricky section where the cliff fell steeply away, but it was secured with a chain handhold

Looking across the Calanca Valley at the mountains to the West which form the border of Canton Grisons (where we are) and Canton Ticino on the other side. There is a trail which crosses over from the other side, almost straight ahead. Something we'd like to try in summer soon! (A total of 6 hours between two cable cars on each side, but with a mountain hostel for overnighting if necessary!)

Here along the narrow path used to be a chapel built right to the edge of the vertical drop!

A short section was icy (a few meters of ice along the trail as well, but passable) shortly before the highest point of our hike. We were lucky that we could pass. Otherwise, it would have been unfortunate to have to turn back at this point!

We arrived at the Chapel "Sant'Antoni de Bolada" at 1 p.m. (started the hike at 11:20). There was less sun up here than I had hoped for, and we had lunch on a bench on the other side, it was cold!

After our picnic lunch at the chapel, a quick look up the Calanca Valley before descending. The town of Arvigo below is already almost in full shadow (at 1:30 p.m.). Just behind me is the sunny Braggio Plateau where we started.

Zoomed view of Braggio where we started. There is lots of sunshine up here, and about a dozen people live up here year-round. On the other side of the valley is another "famous" mountain village called Landarenca, the second town (after Zurich) in Switzerland which gave women the right to vote....

Our descent to Santa Maria was through pleasant sun-dappled forest like this.

Emerging from the forest onto the mountainside that is Santa Maria, and the view is to the Southeastern mountains of the Mesolcina Valley (continues northwards to the San Bernardino Pass)

The view to the Southwest (toward Bellinzona) is hazy because of the afternoon sun.

A private chapel on private property

Our first glimpse of the church and tower of Santa Maria

Zoomed view of the church (Santa Maria Assunta, ca. 13th century building) and the residential tower from an ancient fortress. The best part of the day was climbing to the roof of that tower!

An incredibly nice day and a good trail for this 29th of November!

Last stretch before reaching the town of Santa Maria

First stop, a look into the church building to see if there are special frescoes or other interesting works of art.

The best piece of artwork here was the archway above the main door!

The beautiful wood ceiling was very dark and made the whole interior rather somber.

The building was very old, the ceiling of interesting wooden panels. 

The tower was of most interest to us. This was the residential tower of what used to be a fortified complex dating from the 13th or 14th Century

Making our way up the narrow, dark and uneven stone stairway to the roof-top of the tower.

From the roof of the tower we have 360-degree views. For one, the hill on the left is the forest we descended.

On the Northwest we look down at the village of Santa Maria in Calanca

And toward the Northeast, a look up the Mesolcina Valley. From here you can drive over the San Bernardino Pass (or tunnel), which is an alternate North/South passage in case the Gotthard Tunnel is closed.

Beautiful mountains to the Southeast, a region we are not at all familiar with, because due to the absence of cable cars, one must anticipate some very steep ascents to access the side valleys. These mountains actually form the border with Italy.

Looking down at the Santa Maria Church. Way below on the valley bottom is lots of frost, as the sunshine never reaches there for a few months in winter.

Checking out the living quarters in the tower (two or three such small rooms....)

Tiny living quarters in this small and narrow tower. It was truly not "romantic" to live in these old, cold, stone fortresses in the middle ages.

We caught the bus near the tower at 13:45. By the time we got down to the Mesolcino Valley bottom, the sun was also setting on this sunny hillside.

Waiting for the connecting bus at the entrance of the Calanca Valley.

Our 3-hour hike as mapped out in Google Earth Maps. Starting at the top of the Arvigo cable-way, lunch at the chapel, ending in Santa Maria in Calanca. In November 2017 we walked the green trails, starting with the cable car to Landarenca, walking down to Arvigo, then up again (with the cable car) to Braggio, and back down to the valley bottom at Cauco to catch the bus out.

In the red circle is the area of the Calanca Valley, which is Canton Graubünden. Bellinzona and the river to the North (Ticino River) are in Canton Ticino.

Hike to the Summit of Mt. Stanserhorn (Starting at Diegisbalm/Oberalp Farm)

Wednesday November 18, 2020 -- More nice weather, another chance to get into the mountains! We decided to walk up Mt. Stanserhorn near Lake Lucerne (Canton Nidwalden) on its "shorter side", namely from the populated upper plateau around Wirzweli, which saves us about 800m ascent as Wirzweli can be reached by cable car from Dallenwil in the Engelberg Valley. (NOTE: Real hikers ascend this mountain from the North side, a 1400-m ascent which is too much for me!). 

Now, the problem was that the cable car to Wirzweli is currently in overhaul, pretty common for cable cars in the month of November. But, a lesser-known combination of two private cable-cars serving two farms nearby would take us to 900m above the valley bottom, and these are part of the inventory of farmers' cable cars which we still had yet to try out, so we got up in a round-about way. Furthermore, these cable cars run all year round and you operate them yourself and pay into a cash box at the top: So much more fun that way!

The drawback was, that we had to walk 30 minutes from Wolfenschiessen in the shade of valley bottom as there is no closer public transport. Advantage: No other people far and wide doing this! (Full packed train of people all headed onwards to Engelberg!!). And we soon reached the sunshine on the upper hillside, where we encountered almost nobody for the first two hours of the 3 hours and 30 minutes it took until we reached the restaurant at the top of Mt. Stanserhorn! The final stretch, the 350m steep uphill climb on a wet clay trail (with surprisingly many people descending....) was a tough one. Our plan was to order our signature Panaché at the restaurant and enjoy the sun and the view.... until we saw the masses of people on the terrace and all those already waiting to descend with the CabriO Cable Car! Oh horror, we weren't staying here. We lucked out that we could move ahead for a spot on the descent because we promised to walk the final 40 minutes to Stans from the mid-station, as there is not enough room on the funicular for all the people descending on the world's only double-decker open-topped cable car....

Heading by train along the Engelberg Valley Bottom toward Wolfenschiessen, from where we have to walk 30 minutes to the cable car. Still very shady here, although there is sunshine where we are going along this hillside

After crossing the Engelberg Aa River, some welcome sunshine before it gets cold again! We are headed down this road.

Still, some nice farm houses to look at.

At this time of year, it's cold in the shade. We walked quickly!

This little "shed" is the resting spot of the Diegisbalm cable car. Mostly it services the farm up on the hillside to the right. Paragliders are the main customers here!

Reading the instructions: We can get in the cabin, press the "go up" button, and pay at the top. There are actually two cableways; another one starts at the farm where this one ends.

Down below is the little shed. Far and wide only farms. No bus nearby, so it's a 30-minute walk to the nearest train station. The river is called the "Engelberg Aa"

Heading up to the Diegisbalm Farm, with a look up the Engelberg Valley. Maybe about 30 minutes later there might be sunshine below.

At the top of the first cable car. Someone came up behind us, and I barely had time to pose for my photo before our cabin started back down!

On the other side of the Diegisbalm farm is the second cable car, takes us to the next farm higher up called "Oberalp". Altogether 900m above the valley bottom

We think the farmers who live here came up directly behind us. The signal for the cabin descent went off before we had even fully exited the cable car!

Oberalp cable car heading back down to Diegisbalm farm

At the top there is the price list, and you drop your money into the cash box. Then you step out of the "shed" right into the "vehicle garage"!

A nice look across into the side valley where it goes to Oberrickenbach. There are several cable cars in there, some small private ones as well. Lots of sunshine here!

After riding the two cable cars to Oberalp, we still had a steep 30-minute climb, and then a comfortable walk to the crest at Aecherli, then an easy uphill before the final, one-hour climb to the restaurant on Mt. Stanserhorn. (The Wirzweli cable car was closed for revision, otherwise we would have come up with that one, plus Gummenalp. That would have been the least amount of ascent.)

Heading steep uphill above the Oberalp Farm. The second private cable car belongs to these people, who farm up here, and possibly live here year-round.

A look to the South along the mountain flank. There is a trail along the ridge, called the Obwaldner/Nidwaldner Höhenweg. (We walked a section a few weeks ago, just to the South of here)

First steep section is over, and now it's pretty easy-going for a while, with good views!

Arriving at the road on the high alp called "Egg". We're going to head down that road to the right. It was warm enough on this side for bare legs!

And now, ahead of us to the North, we can see the summit of Mt.Stanserhorn, and can see approximately where we are going to walk.

A view down to the Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne) and behind it: Mt. Rigi. On the right is Mt. Buochserhorn, and we have been to that summit once before.

There is a cheese dairy along the trail, so we bought some cheese again (self-serve on honor principle)

Part of the hard work for the mountain farmers here is removing large boulders from the pastures, to make it easier to harvest the hay. They had to bring in a tractors and ropes to secure the boulder so it wouldn't roll on the dairy below!

Up ahead on the steep flank is a chapel overlooking the valley to the West. We've planned a short detour to see the view from there.

Route 88 is the "Nidwaldner Höhenweg", and Route 57 is the "Obwaldner Höhenweg" (The trail is along the border of the two Cantons). And the sign tells us we still have 1 hour 40 minutes to get to the Stanserhorn cableway!

Walking along the crest between the two valleys, this is a look westward to the Sarner Aa Valley and the flanks of Mt. Pilatus

Detour to the chapel

A view up the Sarner Aa Valley and Lake Sarnersee, from the chapel, perched on a steep mountainside.

Zoomed view into the Bernese Alps, although I don't know what this peak is. 

A wonderful view past the village of Wirzweli to Mt. Titlis above Engelberg.

What a surprise to discover a meadow flower still in bloom

Behind that little house starts the final steep ascent to the top of Mt. Stanserhorn.

The first half hour of the ascent was in the shadow of the mountain, and the trail was wet clay, rather slippery. (We were surprised at the number of people that were actually making their way DOWN this trail). Later, at the saddle, we had lots of sunshine again.

Making our way up the slippery trail

Once we reached the saddle and the sunshine, we had another superb view up the Sarner Aa Valley.

The last stretch was lovely, on dry trails and in the sunshine. (Town of Wirzweli in the center of the photo)

From here we can see the place where we came over from the cable cars, and the open clearing below where we passed before ascending.

A set of stairs takes you to the loop trail around the summit of Mt. Stanserhorn, a nice walk for people who come up from the North side with the popular Cabrio Cable Car, and who just want to enjoy the sunshine and the views, and an easy stroll.

We had planned a relaxing drink on the view terrace, but were overwhelmed by the crowd up here, so we walked around the restaurant to see the view, and then headed down with the Cabrio.

Can't blame the crowds for wanting to come up here to enjoy the sunshine and view on a beautiful mid-November Wednesday

On the North side of the restaurant is this spectacular view over the entire Luzern area, with the town of Stans below in the shadow of the mountain. The world-famous Cabrio Cable Car is making its way up with another load of people.

Cabrio: The world's first and only open-air double-decker cable car. The cabin carries 48 people, but the connecting funicular (section at the bottom which takes you into Stans) can only carry 36. So we were allowed to pass the queued throngs and take the next car down, because we promised to walk instead of riding the funicular (another 40 minutes of walking).

At the base station of the Cabrio Cable-way, 36 people got on the funicular, and the rest of us walked the 2.5-km down into the town of Stans.

The nostalgic funicular commutes between Stans and the Cable-Car station. They were running every 15 minutes with these crowds. Our trail down was mostly along this railway line. 

Our final section was mostly in the shadow of Mt. Stanserhorn, but with a nice view of Lake Luzern and the town of Stansstad... lots of sunshine there still!

Including the two sections we had to walk at the start and the end (before and after the cable cars), it was a total of 4.5 hours of walking.

Our tour as viewed on Google Earth Satellite Map

We  love this area for hiking. There are lots of small private cable cars that take you up high in the mountains. It's also relatively close to where we live.