A Farmer's Cable-Car from Chlital to Musenalp and Hike to Grosstal and Isenthal

Monday September 25, 2023 -- After yesterday's very long hike, we kept it to about three hours this day. In fact, it was almost like a Sunday stroll for us, well... the second half anyway.

In Canton Uri are many small private cargo cable cars which give access to higher elevations (owned and operated by mountain farmers for summer pastures, but offered to the public as well) and we are working our way through the list of them, wanting to try out each one.

A side valley to one of our favourite valleys called Isenthal features two of these cable cars, one of which we rode in July 2020 (those photos are HERE), but which had required walking two kilometers uphill along a paved road. The second such cable car is another kilometer further into the valley, and I just did not want to walk that. So we inquired at the Isenthal municipality office whether a local farmer would chauffeur us up there, and we were able to arrange this! The lovely lady, a farmer who lives at the back of the Chlital (= "Little Valley") for the summer, moving with the cows back to the village of Isenthal in November, dropped us off right at the cable car station, where we had to call up to a mountain farm called Musenalp for them to send the single little cabin down to pick us up. It was so cold in the shade there!

We had a meal at the mountain farm enjoying the sunshine and the stunning western wall of Mount Gitschen, then hiked up 400 meters to the pass into the Grosstal (= "Big Valley"), and descended to the nearest bus stop at the back of Isenthal. Having only started on our hike at 12:45, we ended up catching the 17:00 bus just as the sun was disappearing behind the steep mountains. In most cases this bus is standing room only, but this time we were the only passengers...

This familiar photo starts off a lot of my blog entries for this region, as it is a stretch we often ride by train. The photo is from Sisikon, but shows the Isenthal Valley across Lake Uri, and more specifically, the "Chlital" (or "Small Valley") where we are headed. This valley is hemmed in by Mount Gitschen on the left, and Mount Uri Rotstock with the glacier

On the bus ride from Altdorf toward Isleten on the west side of the lake (from where the winding road starts its way into the Isenthal Valley), we pass the Seedorf Benedictine Monastery, the only women's monastery in Canton Uri.

Also on the way is the 16th-Century castle "Schloss A Pro".

Up ahead is the winding road up the almost vertical mountainside.

The road is so narrow, that other vehicles are not allowed to drive up during the times when the the bus is headed down, and vice versa. You can see the first section of the blasted cliff on the left.

View to the south end of Lake Uri and up the Reuss Valley

The narrow winding road with a vertical drop

As the bus heads west into the Isenthal Valley, you can see Lake Uri below

VIDEO:

This is a 10-minute video of the bus ride from Isleten on Lake Uri, to Isenthal Village

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The lovely Isenthal (Isen Valley?)

The village of Isenthal, which gives its name to the valley. People have lived in this valley since at least the 13th Century.

We had arranged to be picked up here at 10:45 by a lady whose family owns a farm at the back of the Chlital (Small Valley) in the back of the photos. We saved ourselves a 3-km uphill walk on a paved road, and paid her for her service. She brings her kids to school here, and had some errands to run, so it worked out well for both parties!

We were dropped off at the base station of the Musenalp cable car. It is a single cabin, and it was up at the alpine pasture, so we had to wait for it to be sent down to us. It was COLD here in the shade! This was at 11 a.m., but these steep mountains keep the valleys in shadow for a long time in fall and winter.

Here comes our cable-car! What fun!

Urs getting in.... I had to hurry, they didn't give us much time before sending it up again!

The vertical west face of Mount Gitschen on the left, and Uri Rotstock on the right.

Approaching the alpine pasture called Musenalp. That building is the Musenalp restaurant, where we were planning to have some lunch for a change, instead of bringing a picnic lunch.

Musenalp restaurant and the dairy behind it. The dairy farmers live slightly higher up. This is the final week that the restaurant operator and the dairy farmers are spending up here.

My photo in the small Musenalp cable-car!

I had barely gotten out when the cabin was sent down the mountain again, as more hikers were expected as the day went on

This is the dairy farmer's home, and he also had to come down to operate the cable car, which Urs is now going to pay for. (It's about 10 Francs per person)

Heading to the restaurant

The valley bottom is still in shadow from the steep Mount Gitschen, and we are glad that there is sunshine here, so we can have a pleasant lunch.

Here's where we had our lunch.

We had read on the Internet that they served barley soup, which is what I ordered. What I didn't know is that it wasn't prepared ahead, so we had to wait 30 minutes while the restaurant operator (her first year here) cooked it for me from scratch! The cheese toast and soup were very good, but also very expensive, and in retrospect we would have been better off with a picnic lunch this time, as it was almost 1 p.m. by the time we started our 1-hour uphill hike, a late time for us to start.

Our view while eating lunch at the Musenalp restaurant. It was a lovely pleasant day to sit outside, and as there were only about 6 guests here, we didn't have to deal with smokers! (The lady who gave us the ride, her farm is just getting the first sunshine on the pasture below on the right).

Before starting on our hike, we wanted to buy some cheese. They make the cheese here on site, and usually you can get it right out of the fridge, but there was no more of the garlic cheese, so we had to go get the farmer to bring us a wheel of cheese from his dairy on the left.

A look into the cheese dairy as the farmer gets our garlic cheese wheel for us (a small 1-kg wheel called a Mutschli). It was very, very good cheese!

As we start up the hill now at about 1 p.m., we notice something unusual: A heart shape has been mowed out of the mountain grass on that steep hillside! How cute!

It was not a long hike for us, about an hour from Musenalp to Sassigrat, and two more hours to the bus stop at the back of the Isenthal Valley. But because we started late, we ended up in the shadow of the mountain by the time we got to the bus for the 5 p.m. run.
In this small region to the south of the Isenthal Valley in the two side valleys: Chlital and Grosstal, there are FIVE of these small cable cars! We had already ridden the other four on previous occasions. On the north side are two more!

The time here to Sassigrat (the ridge with the passage) is a bit "tight". An hour is more like it. From the Sassigrat to Biwaldalp is another 30 minutes from there. And we were at St.Jakob in about 3 hours from here, as we took a detour through "Gross Wald" (not the direct way).

Making our way up the mountainside now, with the buildings of the Musenalp farm below.

Up there is the passage we will cross from this valley (Chlital) into the other valley (Grosstal)

The higher we climb, the more fantastic the view! At Number 1 is the farm from the lady who gave us the ride, and at no.2 is the sunny alpine pasture called Gietisflue, also accessed by such a small cable car, which we rode in in July of 2020, and from where we walked to the summit at no.3, and down on the other side. The mountains beyond that are where we hiked 2½ weeks earlier

We got to the pass at about 2 p.m, so it did take us an hour.

Panorama view of the west side of Mount Gitschen and Uri Rotstock on the right.

This mountain has a virtually vertical face, but there is a trail across this vertical face from Musenalp to the summit of Mount Gitschen on the left.

A look south along Sassigrat to Mount Uri Rotstock. There is a hostel near the glacier, one that is not too difficult to access, so we might try that one year...

Fantastic view from Sassigrat

You can see down to Lake Uri and the town of Brunnen at the north end. The farm on the alpine clearing the center also owns a cable-car, the only one that is still operated manually. We rode that one (as well as the other one on the north side of the Isenthal) in JUNE 2019

Down below us is the Grosstal (Large Valley) and on the other side, the upper pastures of Gitschenen, a wonderful location with a large variety of hiking trails, which is also accessed by a small cable car (although not quite so rustic as this one was!) We have hiked there often, including to the summit of Mount Brisen (peak on the left) and across the entire ridge.

And at the back of the Grosstal high up above the valley bottom is a farm called Oberalp, which also has such a cable car as the one to Musenalp, to access the valley bottom. We hiked over the ridge from the other side, and rode that cable car in August of 2021 (those photos HERE)

Heading down the other side of the Sassi Crest

At Biwaldalp there is a lodge that can only be accessed on foot, although it has a cargo cable car (not licensed to transport persons). We got here at 3 p.m. and checked it out. Notice the grassy wedge-constructions at the back side of the buildings. These are avalanche protectors, we see them a lot in the steep mountains here.

A lovely spot here for a hostel. Urs went inside to buy something to drink.

For a time, Toblerone produced personalized packaging!

This is a hoot! A goat on the roof!

Heading out of the Grosstal now, all the way down on a wide grassy track in the upper elevations (to stay as long as possible in the sunshine), then later on down on the forest road

A look behind us again at the Uri Rotstock

By 4:30 p.m. we were back on the valley bottom (descent was through the forest on the left). The view is to the back of the Grosstal Valley.

Chalet Rosmarie!

This is the tiny Gitschenen cable-car which takes you up to that pasture where we have been so many times. The St.Jakob bus stop is here but we were about 30 minutes too early for the 5 p.m. run. We were hoping to spend that time in the sun, but shadow came quickly, so we walked down the road to the next bus stop.

Slightly down the road at the next bus stop we had sunshine, as did the upper pastures at Gitschenen.

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, including all the cable cars in the area.

We were the only passengers on the ride out of the valley, till the village of Isenthal at least.

VIDEO:

Another ride along the Isenthal Valley road, this time the final section OUT of the valley, including the blasted out section near the bottom. (2:40 minutes)