From the Zwischbergen Valley to Gabi in the "Simplon Valley"

Weekend of June 12&13, 2021 -- Finally some nice weather, in fact, we jumped right to hot summer with some of the hottest recorded temperatures this year. We chose to go for the weekend to the Simplon Region in Canton Valais, high enough that we wouldn't feel the full heat, but low enough that we could walk long and far without any snow. (Turns out the highest temperature of the day, 30 deg. was recorded this day in Visp, not 25 km away)

The Simplon Pass creates a passage between Brig in the Rhone Valley and Italy, a mountain route which existed already in the middle ages. In the 17th Century, a rich and prominent local personage from Brig named Kaspar Stockalper funded the improvement of the old mule trail in the hopes of making the route more attractive for trade. After he lost his fortune, the route fell into disrepair, until Napoleon came along in 1800 and built an actual road over the pass, as an alternative route from France to Italy (he had already "conquered" the St.Bernard Pass, from which comes that well-known painting of him on the steed.)

Because the weather over the Simplon Pass can be unpredictable in winter, Napoleon also commissioned the construction of a couple of buildings to accommodate his troops in case of emergency, and one of these buildings is the huge hostel at the Simplon Pass (called Simplon Hospiz, the archaic term for "inn", also the largest such building in the Alps) which can house 130 people. Napoleon was treated so well by the priors of the St.Bernard order, that he requested they also run this hostel, which they do to this day. This is where we spent the night along with maybe only a dozen other people. A simple room with old furniture in a 200-year-old building on a mountain pass and a lovely home-cooked meal. It was a wonderful experience.

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Saturday June 12: A Hike from the Remote Zwischbergen Valley to the Hamlet of Gabi

Long have we talked about visiting my namesake town of Gabi in the Simplon Valley, and Urs has long wanted to see the Zwischbergen Valley, one of the most remote valleys in Switzerland. So we traveled from home to Brig and then took the hour-long bus ride from Brig over the Simplon Pass to the Italian Border at Gondo, followed by a ride in a mini-bus along the steep, hair-pin road into the beautiful Zwischbergen Valley. To support the local restaurant at the final bus stop, we started with a coffee before ascending 600m (!) to the Furgga "pass" from where we descended to the few houses in the community called Gabi.

Although we did feel some heat during the ascent, there was always a cool wind blowing. The trail was small and almost overgrown with dozens of various alpine flowers, mostly the yellow alpine anemone (pasqueflower, or Schwefel-Anemone in German), as far as the eye could see. The flowers were magnificent. On the way down on the North side we were charged at by a lady boss cow protecting her herd. It was very scary, and I was saved by a large tree around which she actually chased me, until she noticed Urs, and then I "escaped".

As for the "village" of Gabi, which consists of a hotel/restaurant, a chapel, and a meat-drying business, we were somewhat underwhelmed. We had wanted to stop for a drink at the Hotel Gabi, but they were closed.

After returning by bus to the Simplon Hostel, we had a couple of hours before the scheduled dinner to discover a lake above the Hostel. The mountain view was splendid, and it wasn't too cold. A great way to end the day.... 

(Because there are so many photos to share, I am doing a separate album of the evening photos near the hostel... photos can be viewed HERE)

To Start: An idea of what it is like to cross the Simplon from Brig to Gondo by bus:

Leaving home at 6:10, it takes us three hours by train to get to Brig (below). The bus then continues the long journey over the Simplon Pass to Gondo at the Italian border, about 1 hour and 10 minutes in the bus.

Up ahead is the Simplon Pass, with the first of three or four hotels up here.

The 9-meter high stone eagle is the emblem of the Simplon Pass. Built by Swiss soldiers in WWII to commemorate their presence in the region, the Eagle faces South, "guarding" the pass from invasion by the Italians. 

One kilometer South of the pass is the "Alte Spittel", a hostel built in 1650 by Kaspar Stockalper during renovations of the old pass trail. It is now used by the military

Along the route a small hamlet called Egga, which we passed through the next day on our hike down the valley.

This is the Rossboden Glacier. In 1901, a large section of the glacier broke off and caused one of the largest glacier collapses in Switzerland's history, filling the valley below with over 50m of debris. 38 farm buildings and several animals were killed by the slide. In some places it took over five years fo the ice debris to disappear.

Map of the Simplon Pass Road from Brig to the Italian border at Gondo. In the early 1800's, Napoleon built a road here after Stockalper's trail deteriorated, and other than obvious improvements (bridges, road improvement, avalanche protectors), the course of  Napoleon's original road was mostly retained. 

And then, the trip up to the Zwischberg Valley:

In Gondo, another couple and we were the only ones still remaining on the bus, to transfer to the smaller van which would take us up into the Zwischbergen Valley. Another 20-minute ride for a total of 4.5 hours travel to get to the start of our hike!

The hillside into the Zwischbergen Valley is almost vertical! The road zigzags back and forth, sometimes more than 180 degrees. Below is the town of Gondo, a third of which was destroyed by a massive landslide in October 2000, with 13 people losing their lives.

Final stop of the Zwischbergen bus: At the Gasthaus Zwischbergen Bord, where we stopped for a coffee before starting the steep ascent.

Supporting our local mountain restaurants: Coffee and cake in Zwischbergen before starting on our hike. 

From the furthest bus stop in the Zwischbergen Valley (having come up from Gondo), we hiked a whopping 650m uphill to the Furggu pass, and then down to my namesake village: Gabi in Simplon.

A view down the Zwischbergen Valley to the mountains in Italy. It was a hot day, but there was a cool wind blowing.

From just above the restaurant, there are two trails to the Furggu pass. We decided to go via the Brukapelle Chapel, slightly longer, but less traveled. The other way leads directly into the "Stockalper Trail", which is one of the two courses taken by the old mule trail to get from Simplon to Gondo.

At every waterfall I cooled off my head!

The small chapel called Brukapelle

Here are just a few of the hundreds of meadow flowers which graced the trail

Way down below us is the reservoir lake from a power plant. We passed this on our way up the valley by bus. This is how high we've come!

The two flowers in the corner are a nice touch

The meadow grasses and flowers were so high you could barely see the trail, but it was a good trail.

More refreshing water....

In particular, the forest meadows were dotted with these alpine anemones, everywhere you looked!

Every collection of buildings or farm has a name: This one is called Chatzhalde. There was a fountain so we could fill up our drinking water

Filling up our water bottles at the Chatzhalte fountain. There is nothing so good as ice cold mountain water

Trying for the right angle to photograph the meadows of yellow anemones.

Look at the beautiful meadow! The predominant tree here is the larch, and they blaze yellow in October and November.

Here is where we had our picnic lunch, with this view into the Zwischbergen Valley. Spectacular!

Enjoying the hike even though there was a lot of uphill! Cool winds and lots of flowers were the perfect distraction!

More of the beautiful flowers all around us! Dozens of different kinds!

More of the alpine anemones (Pasqueflower)

And finally we reached the alp called Furgga (or Furggu). There is actually a paved road up to here, so nice for people who have summer homes up here. 

We didn't stay long at the summit, as it was quite windy. We started on our descent right away.

View North up the Simplon Valley from the cross at Furggu

The brown signs show us that we are walking along the old mule trail built by Kaspar Stockalper in the 17th Century (Stockalperweg, or Stockalp Trail)

A stunning meadow full of globe flowers. It was a happy meadow!

A glimpse down to Simplon Village in the Simplon Valley

This is a side valley called Laggintal, which opens right at the junction of Gabi and the Gondo Gorge

And THEN... we ran into cows. Usually they're not all over the trail like this. We spotted babies, which meant we'd have to make a detour around this herd. And while we were considering which way to go, the lady boss cow on the right decided to charge us. Lucky for me there was a large tree to the right, and I ducked behind that, but seriously, she actually chased me around it. Until she saw Urs further up the hill and went after him. So I could head downhill with the tree between her and me.... How Urs got away, I'm not really sure...

I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph the cow that was chasing me back and forth around the tree, but I thought our audience was pretty cute!

On down the hill, with a view of Simplon Dorf

And now we can see the village of Gabi along the highway to Italy: It consists of a hotel, a chapel, and half a dozen houses

Fields of yarrow like snow

And here we are, we finally made it to Gabi, after talking about it for a few years....

A final look up the Laggintal valley before getting on the 16:25 bus back up to the Simplon Pass, to our hostel for the night

How our crossing looks on Google Satellite Maps. The Stockalper Trail came down from the pass, past Simplon Dorf, and then branched at Gabi, running both down the Gondo Gorge and over the mountain and down the Zwischbergen Valley.

As we head back up the Simplon Valley, a look back shows us exactly where we crossed and came down on this side. 

And back at the Simplon Pass, a night spent in this beautiful 200-year-old building called the Simplon Hospiz. Photos of the little hike we did on the hill behind it are coming in a separate album

UPDATE: Photos from the little round-tour we did at the Simplon Pass can be found HERE

In the circle is the Simplon Region, a passage from Switzerland to Italy. The Zwischbergen Valley is one of the remotest valleys in Switzerland.