Furna Round Tour in the Prättigau Region of Canton Graubünden/Grisons

Saturday November 7, 2020 -- Most of the buses that take us to higher elevations no longer run after mid-October, so on a beautiful late autumn day in November, it's a treat to discover routes where the smaller buses still run part-way up "smaller" mountains to save us some altitude...

We actually decided on our hike for the day as we were already on the train heading in the direction of Chur. There is a populated hillside in the Prättigau Region of Canton Graubünden above Schiers: Furna is the main community there, and the bus runs all year round (every two hours) along narrow winding roads to 700m above the valley bottom. There is a themed round tour there (according to maps) called "Furner Rundweg" or "Furna Loop", approx. 4 hours, so ideal for us, even though it meant ascending on foot almost 600m to the highest spot.

We had phoned ahead to the restaurant at the end of the bus line to make sure the trail was snow-free, and it being such a beautiful Saturday, we were worried that the little bus would be full. But we were the only passengers, and later saw only a few other people on the trail.

Of the four hours, about one hour was on the shady side of the hill with no sunshine, but the rest of the time it was sometimes almost too warm!  As the early snow has just recently melted here, the trails were also very muddy but no problems there, just very dirty shoes!

What was most interesting for us on this hike is that we were actually in the back part of the "Valzeina" Valley which we had visited a few weeks earlier, at that time with very cloudy skies, so it was particularly wonderful to look down at the place where we hiked at the time, and to see the valley on a clear day! (Link to that album is here: VALZEINA)

Heading up to the end of the Furna line by bus, a photo out of the bus window. At this sawmill is where we came off the mountain right at this spot, and caught the bus back down at 4:30 p.m. (right now it's 10:30, but by then this was all in shadow)

Starting at the final bus stop on this line from Schiers to Furna, we first headed up through the forest to the "pass" beneath the Fadeuer peak (took a little over two hours, half of that in the shade of the forest). For the rest of the way we mostly had sunshine, even on the descent, which was great, because by then the entire hillside we had ascended was already in shadow. Actual walking time was more than four hours, because the trail on the West side was pretty muddy.

Starting up the hill through the forest, with a wonderful view to the North of Sulzfluh and Drusenfluh, which form the border with Austria

Yay! Always happy to come to a sunny clearing! Behind Urs are the Silvretta Alps (also shared by Switzerland and Austria) above the popular ski village of Klosters.

Close-up view of the Silvretta Alps and the Silvretta Glacier.

We reached Alp Sattel in 50 minutes (230m ascent) and had a break here. 

Continuing uphill (also in the shade of the forest) above Alp Sattel with a fabulous view over the Prättigau Region. (Note the U-shaped cleft in the mountains at the back, that is called the Schweizer Tor, i.e. Swiss Gate, where you can cross into Austria)

Zoomed View of the Schweizer Tor (Swiss Gate). There is actually a trail from this side to cross here into Austria. And a building there (probably the old Tollhouse)

After the first 90 minutes and 440m uphill climb, we finally had loads of sunshine. Looking down into what is called the Wallisitentobel, probably a landslide at one time.

Earth pyramids formed by erosion

A long easy stretch before the final and steep 80m climb this side of the little hill 

Final climb! 80m steep uphill, still some snow here, and no path (we just had to beeline from stake to stake). This was tough!

Made it to the top! Now we can also see the mountains to the West, specifically the Calanda Mountains near Chur on the left and the Sardona Region at the back. It took a little over two hours and an ascent of almost 600m to get here, but the next half of the hike was "easy"!

And behind me is the back of the Valzeina Valley... A few weeks ago we were further at the mouth of this valley, and had overcast skies so couldn't see these mountains so well. Nice to get up close like this!

Although there were a few people at the summit of the hill here (Fadeuer), we crossed paths with no one! And this little cabin, far and wide the only building, was the perfect place for a long lunch break!

Enjoying a long, warm lunch break with a wonderful view of the Calanca Mountains, but  also to the back of the Valzeina Valley

Continuing on with our hike around the mountain and looking down into the Valzeina Valley. The trail was pretty wet and muddy, so took longer than normal to walk.

Around the corner, the first magnificent views up the Rhine Valley (which continues East bordering Liechtenstein) and the Seez Valley to the West bordered by the beautiful Churfirsten Range. 

Our trail takes us past the building in the middle. Fantastic view!

For most of the western flank of this hill, the trail was ruined by water and cows, but the corrugated "ridges" were perfectly distanced to walk across their tops.

Down below is a little hamlet called Stams, which you can access by car from Trimmis in the Rhine Valley below it. The snow-covered peaks to the West are most likely the Sardona Region

Magnificent snow-covered peaks, most likely in the Sardona Region (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Before heading back eastward again, we can look down at the village of Valzeina, where we started a hike a few weeks ago, climbing to the ridge and walking down through the forested hill on the right.

Panorama view, including our trail this day

Another section through the mountain's shadow as we head eastward, but a good view over the farmland to the North.

Zoomed view of a lovely barn. The hills behind form the border with Austria and Liechtenstein.

Another lovely barn/farmhouse

Heading eastward before the descent to Furna, thinking this was the last bit of sunshine we were going to have.

Although the valley bottom is in shadow, we were very surprised that we had so much sunshine still for our descent!

Long shadows but surprisingly still lots of sunshine for this time of day! (3:30 p.m.)

Another look down to the valley bottom about 800m below (Fideris) with the beautiful Silvretta Alps above Klosters in the background.

Last bit of sunshine here, but looking across the mountainside to where we ascended, we were very glad we chose to start there and end here!

This is the second hike we have done here in the Furna Mountains. In 2016 we walked into the canyon that is called "Valdavos" and back, to go look at some Earth pyramids. At that time it was extremely hot, the trail was a wide forest road without shade. Not one of our favourite walks. This one (yellow) was better!