Spectacular Irrigation Trail Hike high above Simplon Pass Road near Rosswald

Monday July 3, 2023 -- The weather forecast predicted a couple of nice days in the southern Canton of Wallis, so we made a quick decision to book a room at our favourite guesthouse next to the Stockalper Palace in Brig (Guesthouse Ursula) and find two nice hikes we could do in that area. As this region is usually quite hot in summer, the hikes would have to be at quite a high elevation, and something we have not yet done, which isn't really easy to find any more!

There is a mountain vacation village near Brig called Rosswald accessed via cable car, a village we had not yet discovered, so this was the goal of the day. It is a long trip for us, 4 hours, but we figured if we spend the night nearby, we save ourselves about 6-8 hours travel time in those two days.

Our plan was a 4-hour loop tour which follows three separate irrigation channel trails (there are myriads of these in this very dry region, many of them built several centuries ago), two of which are still in use. Following irrigation channels is something we love to do, and this hike did not disappoint. Furthermore, we were very high up above the Simplon Pass road and had spectacular views all day, as well as the most perfect weather: Blue skies and a slight breeze so that we never felt the heat. The hike was interesting without a lot of exertion required.

Riding the cable-way to Rosswald, about 800m above the village of Ried near Brig. This is at 11 a.m. We had left home at 7:20, it took us four hours to get here. In winter more gondolas run, but in summer they run only three at a time, every 30 minutes.

Our first look at Rosswald as the cable-car reaches the mountain station. This village is a long-stretched-out collection of houses up the entire mountainside. 

My posed photo with the Rosswald cable car. Each gondola holds six people, and three gondolas per run. 

Heading up the first steep section, this is a nice view into the Rhône Valley

The hardest part of our hike was this ascent from the cable-car station, a steep 100-m 20-minute section to the start of the first irrigation channel called Bärgwasser, from where we had a long level trail, a great relief!

A few of the pretty buildings in the village of Rosswald. Near the cable-car station was a placard which showed that each chalet has a name, there were at least 300 on the list!

Here is a section of the Chalet Plan! The houses are numbered and named and you can find each one on the map. (For example if you have rented one for a vacation for a week, you have to know where to find it!)

Finally, the start of our hike at the diversion of the Bärgwasser irrigation channel, which brings water to this hillside. The first part of our hike takes us to the back of the valley to the intake location. A nice level 3-km stretch!

So happy that there is water in the channel! There is nothing nicer on a hot day than to walk in the shade of the forest next to a running channel of water.

We started in Rosswald along Trail no.6 "Alpine Passes Trail" (which continues to the Simplon Pass) and followed the upper irrigation trail called Bärgwasser to its intake. Then we continued along the upper trail into a valley called Steinu, and returned via Trail no.6, which is also an irrigation channel, but the water currently moves through a pipe under a cemented walkway. Back at the village of Stafel, which we crossed both times, we moved to the lower trail, which also used to be an irrigation channel, but the water no longer flows there. 

Our first magnificent view of the Simplon Road and the Simplon Pass to the southwest. Below is the spectacular 678-meter long Ganter Bridge. 

The Ganter Bridge is the second longest spanning bridge in Switzerland, designed by Swiss Civil Engineer Christian Menn, famous for his bridge designs. The bridge has movable pillar feet which allows the bridge to be shifted by 50 cm. It was open to travel in 1980.

We discovered this guy clinging to the side of the irrigation channel. At least he keeps his house cool this way! 

VIDEO:

Bärgwasser Irrigation Channel

So many interesting details! Here there was a tree in the way, so a notch was cut out of the trunk to allow the water through. 

A view into the Ganter Valley, from where the Ganter River flows down to the Saltina River, and for which the bridge was named. 

Another look at the Ganter Bridge and the Simplon Road. The original Simplon Road, by the way, was commissioned by Napoleon and built in 1805, then upgraded to a national road between 1960 and 1980

The Bergwasser Irrigation Channel, clean clear water!

Various sections of the Bergwasser Irrigation Channel

Before arriving at the mountain village of Stafel, we spied some of our favourite Valais Black-nosed sheep on the mountain pasture!

At the west end of the hamlet called Stafel is the local chapel. Outside it looks unassuming, but inside it had a very interesting panel painting on the altar. 

Small chapel in Stafel has an interesting altar tableau. (No information about it)

This mountain hamlet was very pretty, we really enjoyed walking through here admiring the buildings. The intake of the Bergwasser channel is in the valley at the back. That was the next goal of this hike. 

What most caught my eye in this little hamlet were the lovely Lupine flowers!

As we were leaving the hamlet, we encountered another local animal breed: The cows of Val d'Hérens, one of the smallest cow breeds in Europe. Among other things, they are the stars of the popular organised cow fights. 

Heading off the main trail (below on the right), we chose to continue along the Bergwasser Channel, a good choice because it was a lovely trail with more water. 

Lesser-used trail into the back of the valley to the intake point of the water. 

The river here is called Mischibach, and the intake for the irrigation channel is near here. The main trail, which we followed on the way back, is below me. 

Now we are close to the back, where we can cross the river. Our trail continues at the same level on the left. On the way back, we took the other trail which goes down to the river. 

On the way back out of the valley on the other side of the river (coming from the left), there is a junction of trails. The lower trail along Route no.6 is only for people not afraid of heights! We decided to start with the "Höhenweg" (High Trail) into the Steinen Valley (50 minutes) and return along the adventurous trail (40 minutes). 

Panorama view from the high trail, with the hamlet of Stafel on the right, and the Simplon road ahead. 

There was a bit of a climb on a narrow trail, but it was not difficult and offered a lot of variety

A view of the Ganter Bridge below from a different angle. Also, lots of Alpine Roses still flowering at this elevation. 

Stunning and fantastic panorama view. It is exhilirating to experience this, with little effort on our part. 

The landscape has changed again as we now walk toward the back of the Steinen (or Steinu) Valley. This view, though, is to the next valley over, the Ganter Valley with its large alpine pasture called Bortelalp. The main peak, in that case, would be the Bortelhorn. 

This is as far back as the official trail goes into the Steinen Valley. Here we now double back and make our way down to the lower trail, on Route no.6

Heading down to Trail no.6 (which continues to the left), we will then head to the right. It took us more than an hour to get here...

We are now on the lower trail, Route no.6, heading back toward Stafel, all excited to see what it holds for "vertigo-free" hikers. Urs is pretty sure this is also an active irrigation channel, but that the water is transferred through pipes buried in the concrete. 

Oh look, a marmot up ahead on our trail!

A couple of close-up shots of the marmot before he turned tail and ran around the corner. We didn't see him any more after that.

A look way down into the Ganter Valley, studying what trails might be down there which we could walk some day. 

A small uphill section was now a bit tough in the afternoon heat, after being up here for four hours by now (we sure took a long time to here!) a picnic table with this view down the Ganter and Rhône Valleys was a welcome break!

The drop down from the trail was a vertical drop, it's true, and might be difficult for people with a fear of heights, but we found this trail to be wider than many others we have done, and with the cable handholds really not a problem. 

Different sections of the vertiginous trail, which was about 1-1/2 to 2 kilometers long. 

I took lots of photos of the spectacular view which we had at so many places along this trail. 

Carefully stepping across a possibly slippery section. 

I had seen this section of the cliff from across the way when we were in Stafel, and was really looking forward to walking here!

This might have been a difficult passage if they hadn't put the boards here! Across the way we can see the hamlet of Stafel. 

Lovely meadow flowers

Now we are back to the herd of Hérens cows. 

Enjoying a neck scratch. No fighting cows here!

VIDEO:

Hérens Cattle and the spectacular region we are walking today.

I could live here...

Back in Stafel, taking a break in the shade of a lovely wooden house. 

Just a reminder that we are in Switzerland!

An interesting aspect of these mountain villages when they have road access: The roads are so narrow that the travel direction has to be limited because there is nowhere to cross. In this case, people driving off the mountain can only do so between half past an hour and quarter to the hour. From the bottom going up, it will be a start between the full hour and quarter past. That way the cars have an extra 15 minutes in each direction to complete the route after they have started. 

After following the vehicle road for 750 meters, we descend the mountainside to the lowest of the three trails, which takes us back on a level to the cable-car station in Rosswald (30 minutes) 

This trail was totally level and more than likely was also once an irrigation channel.

Final glimpse toward the Simplon Pass (below that glacier mountain in the back)

And another good close-up look at the Ganter bridge from above. 

Final stretch

Back in Rosswald at 16:55 !!! This is where the water from the Bärgwasser channel. We had a tough decision to make: Catch the cable car in 5 minutes (that means hurrying), wait till the 5:30 p.m. course (not enough time to order and eat an ice cream sundae), or the 18:05 descent, which means a much longer wait for the bus below. We chose the "hurry" option, and decided to go out to eat in Brig. 

Heading back down from Rosswald with the cable car. 

A view over the city of Brig from the cable car

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

On the bus ride back to Brig, we get a good look at Mount Eggishorn, which I have never seen from this angle. We have been up in that region a few times (the pasture below the peak is called Fiescheralp, very popular), as the largest glacier in the Alps, the Aletsch Glacier, is on the other side.

A look at one of the towers of the Stockalper Palace as we get off the bus and make our way to our accommodation for the night, to the right of the palace. It is now about 5:30 p.m. 

The rest of this album, i.e. the following photos, are a few impressions of the lovely old town of Brig. We first checked into the guesthouse, then we walked around a bit, found a place to have some dinner (pizza), walked some more, had ice cream (Urs) and returned to the guesthouse at 8:30 p.m. 

Heading toward our guesthouse which is past the Stockalper Palace

A quick look into the palace courtyard. We have been here many times. 

A look northwards from one of the hallways inside the guesthouse. They have a large terrace where you can sit, and a very nice garden below as well. The Palace is also quite nice to look at!

Now we are heading back into the old part of town, down the main street on the other side of the palace. 

A lovely wrought-iron banister carries the date of 1782. The palace, though, was built between 1651 and 1671. The plaque with the coat of arms is older. 

Here is an interesting bit of information about the Simplon Pass. Kaspar Stockalper, a prominent citizen of Brig, was the first to organize a regular postal service over the Simplon Pass to Italy (mid 1600's). It took 8 days to deliver from Milan to Lyon (400+ km). After the commissioning of the Simplon road by Napoleon in 1805 (took 5000 men to build), horse-drawn coaches made the trip to Domodossola (60 km) requiring 12 hours and 150 horses, changing horses four times. Since the railway was built in 1906, horse-drawn coaches lost their appeal.  

Various details and buildings in Brig, many in sandstone

We found a nice place to have a pizza for dinner, but we sat indoors. Two reasons: The wind was blowing pretty strong, and there were people smoking. There are unfortunately always people smoking. No respect for others wanting to enjoy a meal outside.

Sharing a tuna and onion pizza. And Urs had his gelato for dessert...

The pizzeria offered gelato from a cart next to the outside dining terrace!

A last look down the road as we head back up to the guest house. It was actually quite nice in the old town. Considering that it is summer now, there were relatively few people in the city.

Sunset lighting on the mountain behind the city. It is called the Glishorn. 

When we got back to the guesthouse, we did a quick walk around the garden. It's a very pretty house, it used to be a monastery, so they now rent out the rooms, which are quite simple. No TV, just beds, a desk, and a wash basin. Some rooms have an ensuite. We had a shared bathroom and shower in the hall, but there were only one or two other people there. 

A final look out of the third-floor window past the palace and across to the mountains where we wanted to hike the next day. 

This is the breakfast room with a lovely breakfast buffet. We had breakfast at 7:30, and there were only a few people there. We had a very quiet restful night, so probably not a lot of guests this day. 

Our final look out the window at the Stockalper Palace. The clouds are gathering on the mountaintops at Belalp and over the Aletsch Glacier, which is where we wanted to go this day. But we had to change plans. 

The Aletsch Glacier is in the dip on the right all covered in clouds. So we had to change plans. 

Heading down through old town Brig once again to the train station, to catch the 8:48 train to Jaun in Canton Fribourg, a 2-hour trip from here. The idea was to stay here another day, but we decided most anything we did would be too hot at lower elevations, and the clouds were low on all the mountain tops. 

Where Rosswald is located in Switzerland