Beitra Irrigation Channel and the Breiterbach Gorge in Visperterminen near Visp

Friday May 26, 2023 -- Finally we are having the nice weather we had hoped for, for the month of May. Not wanting to waste a nice day, I "invited" a friend to join me on a hike, because Urs had to work. Since she was able to ride along for a very cheap price (a special deal till end of May), we made it worth our while and traveled to Canton Valais in the south of Switzerland (3-1/2 hour trip), to the mountain village called Visperterminen, renowned as the location of the highest vineyards in Europe. (Urs and I have been there twice now, one time having hiked up to and through these same vineyards. Those photos are HERE).

This time though, we did a recommended 11-km hike heading south into the Vispa Valley, high above the city of Stalden (which is at the junction of the two valleys: Matter Valley --> To the Matterhorn and the highest peak in Switzerland (Dufour Peak), and Saas Valley --> to the highest peak in Switzerland NOT SHARED by other countries, Mt.Dom), and heading back again to the north to just below where we started.

The first half heading south was mostly along a wonderful irrigation channel with some tricky sections and lots of flowing water, then through some dry forest areas to pretty mountain hamlets, and on the way back northwards along a fantastic gorge so deep and so full of trees that we couldn't see the water below, nor how we would even get to the other side! And in both directions the snow-capped mountains (many over 4000 meters here), so fantastic with the great visibility we had.

Technically, this would have been a 3-1/2-hour hike, but we took 6 hours to complete it, because we enjoyed it to so much. 

Bus ride southwards into the Vispa Valley from Visp. Up ahead is a group of mountains called the Mischabel Group which consists of 11 mountains over 4000 meters, including Mt.Dom, the highest mountain in Switzerland fully on Swiss territory

Passing the Heida vineyards, the highest altitude vineyards in Europe (allegedly)

And a look south up the Vispa Valley to the city of Stalden, which is at the junction of the Matter Valley (seen here) and the Saas Valley going off to the left. The white peak in the back is Mt. Weisshorn

End-of-the-line bus ride in Visperterminen. View is to the North to the Rhône Valley and its most prominent peak: Mt. Bietschhorn 

A quick walk through the old part of Visperterminen to the start of our hike

A good view of the city of Visp, and you can even see the Heida Vineyards, the highest in Europe. 

A last look at the old part of Visperterminen town, before starting out on the hiking trail 

We started at about 10:45 in Visperterminen, then walked along the Beitra Suon (irrigation channel) to Birch, through an uphill forested section to Riedji, then a steep downhill into the Breiterbach gorge, from where we walked a narrow trail out and to our goal of the bus stop at Niederhäusern, which we reached at 16:10, just 10 minutes before the bus came. 

I was so happy that the water was flowing in the irrigation channel! Sometimes in the winter the water gets "turned off". 

I love the irrigation channels in Canton Valais. There are hundreds of these in the mountains bringing water from the backs of the steep valleys, because there is not a lot of rainfall in this region. 

The trail had an unexpected interesting section. 

A bit of a challenge to walk beside this channel

And another challenge, how to get past the water pipe to the stairway above!

After this challenging and interesting section, the rest of the trail along the channel was flat, pleasant and peaceful. 

Pleasant and idyllic walk along the Beitra irrigation channel high above the Breiterbach Valley/Gorge

Suone Beitra

Typical trail along such irrigation channels

Sometime the water is directed through wooden channels/troughs such as this one. 

At the very back of the Breiterbach gorge where the channel has its source, we had a short but hefty uphill climb to a small gathering of houses called Birch, where we stopped for lunch. 

What a lovely surprise to reach this beautiful house in Birch, with loads of benches for a picnic stop at 12:30.

We could not have asked for a better or prettier place to have our picnic lunch: Benches in the shade as well as in the sun, attractive and well-groomed landscape, and a water fountain!

So glad to be able to fill up my water bottle for the next part of the hike!

Here are the benches in the sun, if that's what you prefer!

An old building with an even older "toilet", the kind that is open at the bottom and where the excrement falls over the edge... or that's what I imagine, as I've seen this before in the Austrian Alps long ago. 

And this building is cool, an entire residence built on supporting "mushrooms". 

We then descended into a type of bowl with high cliffs, i.e. the very back of the valley where the other feeder stream descends

I always love the bridges

More bridges

The trail passed by what is called a "Chalchofen", or a pit where the limestone from the surrounding cliffs was once processed (by heating, as in an oven) to produce lime mortar for building

Heading back out of the valley again we had a 30-minute uphill walk through the forest, with a couple of glimpses of the surrounding hillsides, such as this hamlet of houses and barns (higher up from Birch where we had stopped for our picnic lunch). There are many such hamlets scattered on the hillsides here. 

A close-up view through the trees of the summit of Mt.Bietschhorn to the north

At 2 p.m. we arrived in Riedji, the cutest little mountain village with several home owners out working in their gardens

Part of any hike in Canton Valais is to see one of three very local breeds of animals here, in this case the stocky black Eringer cows (the Hérens Cattle), nicknamed "Queen of the Cows". 

The Hérens are actually a small breed of cow, but because they are so compact and stocky, they look huge. They have a fighting instinct which is exploited for the popular Swiss Hérens Cow fight competitions (they don't actually hurt each other, they just push each other around until one gives up).

Even small hamlets have chapels. 

A quick look inside the chapel in Riedji, with a decorative altar, and a "book" of obituary notices, which I found very interesting, as the residents who have lived here can be commemorated in a way that everyone can experience. 

I really wanted to harvest some of that rhubarb! We stopped here for a small rest, but had to hurry on because I wasted too much time at the irrigation channels. 

Typical Valais mountain homes

A final look behind us at the buildings of Riedji, before starting on the steep descent into the forest. 

Starting on our descent to get back into the Breiterbach Valley. It was an almost 400-m descent on dry but partly "slippery" trails

A close-up look at the various bridges across the Vispa River in Stalden. Here the two rivers Matter Vispa (coming from the region of the Matterhorn) and the Saaser Vispa (coming from the Saas Region) join to form the Vispa River, which flows into the Rhône River at Visp 

As we head into the forest, another wonderful view north toward the city of Visp and the mountains of the Rhône Valley 

We had a long section on a forest trail like this one, down and around the corner and back into the Breiterbach Valley 

A sighting of a Northern Nutcracker, a bird that lives in conifer forests and gathers 30,000 to 100,000 pine nuts each year, which it hides all over the place. Later it does find about 80% of its stash, but the rest of the hidden seeds contribute to the rejuvenation of the forests. 

Being careful not to slip as we come down the steep forest trail

Heading to the back of the Breiterbach Valley again (lower than when we passed there earlier), we spotted this waterfall

On the other side of the gorge is the high trail we will walk later on the way out of the valley. 

The gorge was deep and overgrown with trees that it was hard to imagine where we would cross. But it was surprisingly quick and easy to get to the other side. Here we're heading west again, out of the gorge. 

The narrow trail out of the gorge which we had seen from the other side

The narrow trail out of the gorge which we had seen from the other side

Looking behind us to the back of the Breiterbach gorge. It is hard to imagine that we crossed this valley higher up earlier in the day, and that we came down through the forest on the right hand side of this photo. 

I was not surprised to see this sign at the entrance of the gorge, warning mountain bikers that they needed to walk their bikes here! This is an official mountain bike trail, but the trail was narrow and the drop into the ravine was pretty steep!

Another look at the stunning Mount Weisshorn to the south, before heading north again in the direction of Visperterminen. 

The second of three local breeds is the Valais Black-Necked Goat. I am always so amazed how nature knows what coloring the animals have to be born with. Why should it be exactly half black and half white, divided down the middle?

Because there were babies, we were being watched very carefully as we walked past

And the third local breed is the Valais Black-Nosed sheep, the prettiest of all sheep breeds and always a pleasure to see when we are in this area. 

The end of the 3-1/2 hour hike (in our case 5-1/2 hours!) at Niederhäusern. We were about 10 minutes early for the 16:20 bus back to Visp. 

A close-up view of the village of Niederhäusern near Visperterminen

And a final close-up look at Mount Bietschhorn. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. We first walked on a higher trail from Visperterminen along the irrigation channel to Birch at the back of the Breiterbach gorge, then up to the mountain village of Riedji, before descending back to the gorge on a lower trail, and out to the road below Visperterminen. 

On the bus ride back out of the Vispa Valley toward the city of Visp, from where we took a train through the Lötschberg Tunnel underneath all those mountains heading home to the north!

And passing the Heida Vineyards again, allegedly the highest elevation vineyards in Europe. 

All the hikes we have done around the entrance of the Vispa Valley and near the city of Visp, easily accessible from the north for day trips. 

Location of Visperterminen in Switzerland.