Visperterminen to Gspon in Canton Valais, and a small hike in Krauchthal (Bern)

Three-Day trip to Canton Valais (Simplon Pass and Visperterminen). Photos of Day 2 are HERE.

(We also spent two nights in Visperterminen in April 2021, photos of that village and the highest vineyards in Europe can be viewed HERE).

DAY 3:  August 1, 2022: As guests for a night at the Hotel Rothorn in Visperterminen, we were allowed to ride the chair lift (right next to the hotel) for free, so on this third day of our trip we returned to Giw, the summit station of the chair lift, but did not go back to the Gibidum Pass. We rather took a different route to join Trail no.6 (Alpine Passes Trail) again to continue southward into the Saas Valley to the mountain village of Gspon. (Back in 2016 we walked Trail no.6 from Gspon to Saas Grund along the entire Saas Valley, so this kind of "joined the gap").

Because the official trail takes the direct route through mostly forest, we took a detour on a higher trail (called the "Gspon Panorama Trail"), a much better idea because the second day of fantastic clear weather gave us such a good view of the Mischabel Massif, which is a stretch of mountain which separates the Matter Valley (which ends at the Matterhorn, whose summit we actually were able to see) and the Saas Valley, and where most of Switzerland's 4000+ mountains are located. At the highest point of that trail we saw all the way to the magnificent Allalinhorn at the back of the Saas Valley.

From Gspon there is a new cable car down to the valley bottom, and it's only at that point where we started to feel the heat. The cool mountain air was quickly forgotten as we made our way from train station to train station on our way to our third overnight: Krauchtal in Canton Bern.

It's almost like we did two outings this day. The second one, in Canton Bern, is described further below...

The day started well with this view of the Rhone Valley from our hotel balcony in Visperterminen

Our hotel Rothorn in Visperterminen, the second year we spent time here. It is right beside the chair lift, which we rode this morning as well. 

Heading back up to Giw on the chair lift at 9:15 a.m. 

At Giw before starting on our hike, we get a nice clear view of Mt. Weisshorn on the right and the Mischabel Group on the left

The nearest peak we see in the Mischabel Group is Mt. Nadelhorn. And right behind it (not visible) is Mt. Dom (4545m), the highest peak which is fully located on Swiss ground. 

We took the chair lift from Visperterminen to Giw, then we joined the "Alpine Passes Trail" No.6 for  while, then detoured via the Gspon Panorama Trail. It was a relatively short hike for us, 3.5 hours. 

Another good trail above the Vispa Valley

A view toward the Rhone Valley and Mt. Bietschhorn

We are always hoping to see a Golden Eagle in the Alps, and this day we were lucky. 

A look behind us to the Gibidum Pass where we were the day before, and the mountains of the Aletsch Arena

A short break to admire Mt. Weisshorn and the Mattertal (Matter Valley)

A close-up look at the fabulous glaciers on Mt. Weisshorn

Detouring via the Gspon Panorama Trail

Panorama View of the region around Visp

At the highest point of our hike, we can see the Aletsch Glacier to the North (largest glacier in the Alps) past the Gibidum Pass where we were the day before. 

Down below is the mountain village of Gspon, the end of our hike. Right down at valley bottom is the town of Stalden, which is at the junction of the Saas Valley (below on the left) and the Matter Valley (at the back)

A zoomed view of the city of Visp. In the foreground are the Heida Vineyards, the highest elevation vineyards in Europe. (We visited that vineyard in April 2021, those photos are HERE). The river is the Vispa. 

Panorama view of the junction between the Saas Valley and the Matter Valley. 

From here we could see all the way to the back of the Saas Valley to the snow-covered Allalinhorn, a year-round ski area. (We took a cable car up into that region when we were there in 2016, those photos are worth looking at HERE)

Several of the fascinating peaks we saw, including the very top of the Matterhorn which we only saw on the chair lift ride up from Visperterminen

Our trail took us quite a bit past Gspon before heading downhill and returning to that mountain village from the South. 

From here in Gspon (sitting in front of the church, waiting for the cable car) we look down the Saas Valley. On this side of the mountain, Trail no.6 continues South to Saas Fee. We walked that stretch in 2016, those photos are also worth looking at HERE.

The little Church in Gspon. Being 1st of August, there were celebrations and a Church service planned for 5 p.m. The flags are those of Canton Valais on the left, and the Swiss flag (recognized by everybody).

A couple of buildings in Gspon

When we were here in 2016, the cable car was tiny, they could transport about 8 people at a time. In the meantime they built a much larger cableway!

There are actually two cable-ways. You have to change at the village of Staldenried (photo top right) before continuing all the way down to Stalden. 

The mountain village of Staldenried, where we changed into a second cable car. Several people who had cars here did not continue with us. 

An incredible bridge being built below over the Vispa River.

Saw this Spurge Hawkmoth simply sitting on the floor of the cable car station. It just might get stepped on....  We caught a train to Visp at about 14:45 and headed North to Bern. 

On Google Satellite Maps, the three hikes we did on these three days are shown in dark orange. In 2016, starting in Gspon, we walked on the Gspon High Trail to Saas Grund. 

From Visp we headed North to our third accommodation in a small village called Krauchtal near Bern. There was a specific reason to stay away from home this night (Aug.1 to 2), and that's because August 1 is the Swiss National Holiday, and people in our city love their fireworks.... they set them off privately all hours of the night and start a couple of days before, right in the midst of residential neighbourhoods. Because of this everlasting heat, most places in Switzerland had complete bans on private fires and fireworks (including Canton Bern) except unfortunately Canton Zug. 

We chose a place near Bern because Urs had to be near his place of work the next morning. We found a room in the village of Krauchthal in a 100-year-old Emmental-style farmhouse, but we did not reckon with getting a room next to a busy street and the outdoor garden where the family met for a late dinner outdoors. With this heat, sleeping with the windows closed was a bit tough.

There was one pleasant surprise: Turns out we have been in this village before, in Spring of this year in fact, when we went to visit the Bantiger TV tower. (Photos HERE) There was a sandstone hill called Chrützflue which we saw at the time and thought: "It would be fun to go up there". So we did a little evening hike up there, which was a good way to end the day. 

This is the house where we had a room for the night. The room was under the overhang on this side, and the sound of the traffic was unfortunately very loud. 

The house was built in 1921 but the original, which was in the family for 300 years before that, burned down, and this is the new build. 

After looking around the large house, we decided to do an evening walk up to the gazebo at the top of this sandstone hill called Chrützflue

Going past the village church on the way up the small mountain

That is the house we are staying at for the night. 

 A look down the valley to the Bantiger tower (third-largest TV tower in Switzerland) which we visited in March of this year, having started at the same house we were spending the night at, past the former castle on the left (now a penitentiary), to the cliff dwellings on the right and to the tower. Those photos are HERE

There were lots of steep steps, some as part of a ladder and some carved into the mountain, to get to the top.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the top. We had a snack break here.

Looking down into the sandstone quarry where large sandstone blocks were cut out in the late 19th Century for building houses in the Bern area 

After descending, we did a detour into the quarry. 

This display shows how the blocks were cut and dropped on a pile of hay. 

You can see the lines where the blocks were cut

We then walked around the mountain and encountered a herd of sheep. This is a rare and endangered breed  called Spiegelschaf, from the Prättigau region of Graubünden (Grisons)

A last look at Chrützflue

Self-serve vegetables for our supper

Some of the buildings in this village of Krauchthal, Canton Bern

This was an additional 2-km hike (45 minutes) which we did in the evening after we got to our B&B in Krauchthal (ca. 4 hours hiking in all). Urs left early the next morning (6:30) to go to work, and I left at 9:00 to head home.....