High above the Baltschieder Valley, and along the Gorperi Irrigation Channel

Friday September 1, 2023 -- After a good night in the "Good Night Inn" in Brig and a very nice breakfast buffet, we headed out on our second hike in the Wallis region, one we had been planning for a long time: A hike to two mountain hamlets high above the steep Baltschieder Valley north of Visp. 

In September of 2019 we did a spectacular hike high on the West side of this valley (along the vertiginous Niwärch Irrigation Channel, or "Suon" as they are called in this part of Valais --> Photos are HERE). During that hike we had a good view of the East side of the valley where we saw a hamlet called Erl high above the river, and that's when we determined we would one day go see it up close....

Our hike started in the Rhône Valley in the mountain village of Finnen above Eggerberg, accessed by bus from Visp (and the ride up on the winding, narrow road is an experience in itself, especially when passing oncoming cars!). Records show that this village existed by 1275 at least, and there was a gallows here – there is one in the village as a reminder, though not in the original place – and the last execution here, with the fantastic backdrop of the highest mountains in Switzerland, took place in 1796.

From here we hiked uphill and into the very steep Baltschieder valley to the two hamlets up here. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and some very nice views of the dominant mountain here: Mount Bietschhorn. It took about three hours of walking to get to the main destination for the day, the mountain hamlet of Erl.

From there we still had over two hours of walking, starting with a steep 500-meter descent (unfortunately no wind, so rather hot) down to the Baltschieder River, from where our second adventure of the day started: A one-hour walk along another exciting irrigation channel called the Gorperi Suon (which we walked once before in 2014), this time on the East side of the valley. 

The final stretch down to the town of Eggerberg on the BLS train line (another 45 minutes) we did in a hurry, arriving again with just a couple of minutes to spare for our connection to our second hotel in Brigerbad. 

Main plaza in Brig, as we head to the train station at 8:30 a.m., after a good breakfast at our hotel. 

From Brig we traveled 7 minutes by train to Visp, from where we took a bus (30 minutes) to the village of Finnen on the north side of the Rhône Valley above Visp.  

The bus driver stopped for a few minutes in the village of Eggen on the way up the mountain (we passed through here on the way down), so I hopped out of the bus to take a photo up the very narrow Baltschieder Valley, our hiking location for the day!

On the bus ride up to Finnen, this is a look across the city of Visp, and down the Vispa Valley. Two other valleys branch off from here: On the right is the Matter Valley (Zermatt and Matterhorn at the end), and on the left is the Saas Valley

We arrived at the village of Finnen at 9:45, and spent a half hour here looking around. This is the second time we have been here, and we really loved this village: The setting, the houses, the view. 

Finnen even has a village map show-casing the historical houses. 

Cute window-box decorations!

I love these two barns!

What a great backdrop for the gallows! Although apparently, the original one was located on a hill 250 meters further East from here. The last hanging here took place in 1796.

Village church, and Urs reading up on the history of the village. 

Signs like this are posted on the important buildings, with information about the history. In this case, information about the gallows

A look up the Vispa Valley to the Mischabel group of mountains, which contains some of the highest mountains in Switzerland, seven of them over 4000 meters. 

Various buildings and details in the village of Finnen. 

The Valais people must walk quickly, as it surely takes about 3 hours to get to Erl! (although we did take a detour along the way) In Honegga is a chapel overlooking the Rhône Valley, and Honulpa is the highest point of the trail, a small hamlet where we had our lunch.  

This was a long hike for us! About 5-6 hours. Three hours to get to Erl, a 50-minute and 500-meter descent to the river, 45 minutes along the Gorperi Suon, and finally another 45-minute descent to the train station in Eggerberg, via another village called Eggen. 

One final look across the village of Finnen as we head uphill. 

Another look at the Mischabel Group. Also, the summit of the fabulous Weisshorn mountain is making its appearance on the west side of the Matter Valley. 

Mount Weisshorn, nicknamed "The Pyramid of the Matter Valley", is 4506 meters high. 

On our way up, we took a very small detour off the main trail to look at another hamlet up here: Chaschtler. We also passed through here on our previous hike starting in Finnen.

We were surprised that there were still some lush meadows and meadow flowers here!

This house had a very lovely flower garden!

The houses of Chaschtler. What a view of the fabulous Mischabel Group! (On the left we can see the peak of Mount Allalinhorn, which is at the very back of the Saas Valley). 

The sharp peak to the left of the center is called Mount Dom (4545 meters), and is the highest mountain in Switzerland that is fully in Swiss territory (the higher ones are shared with Italy or France). The other two peaks are called Täschhorn and Lenzspitze

It's always a pleasure to see the Valais Black-nosed sheep when we are hiking in this region. These ones haven't had their fall shearing yet, so they are enjoying the shade of the trees!

After a 50-minute climb along a forestry road, we get to the "entrance" of the Baltschieder Valley, where we will now head north (to the right). This fabulous view is down the Rhône Valley  

It took us an hour to get to the chapel at Honegga, from Chaschtler, and just over 90 minutes after leaving Finnen. 

The view into the fabulous Baltschieder Valley. The dominant peak here is Mount Bietschhorn, which you can see from all parts of the Vispa Valley to the south of the Rhône Valley. (Our trail continues along the hillside behind me, just about at my head level) 

Honegga Chapel at 1930 meters a.s.l. with the best view of two valleys. 

This tiny chapel appears to be a bit of a pilgrim destination. Not just around the village corner, though!

It's hard to see, but the slope drops steeply behind me, almost 900 meters down to the river. 

Continuing on our way to the next stopping point: The hamlet of Honalpa

Even though the slope is steep, the trail was very good to walk, and not dangerous at all. 

A zoomed look at where the chapel is located, and in the far back the mountain town of Visperterminen in the Vispa Valley. (We have been there several times). 

Way down below on the west side of the Baltschieder Valley is the Niwärch Suon trail, which we walked in September 2019 (photos HERE). It was built in 1381 and has its origin from the Baltschieder River further up the valley at Ze Steinu. It is currently closed to hikers as it is undergoing restoration work. Imagine measuring the terrain and carving out the rock on those steep cliffs with just hammers and pick-axes. 

I thought this was a boulder, but it's actually a heap of sheep!

The next hamlet of Honalpa, the highest point of the trail at 1984 meters. We got here at 12:45 (35 minutes' walk from the chapel) and stayed for 30 minutes, having our picnic lunch up here. 

Finally, the summit of Mount Bietschhorn is free of clouds, and although you can barely see it, there was an eagle or a vulture (a big bird in any case, two in fact) circling the peak. This peak is 3934 meters high. 

We found a picnic table, a good spot to have our lunch break. 

Heading back to the trail after checking out the few buildings up here. 

I'm always glad to find a fountain / water trough to fill up on fresh and ice-cold water!

A zoomed view down the Rhône Valley shows us the massive fallen mountainside at the Illgraben, and at the very back on the right the "Dents du Midi" peaks  

Leaving Honulpa at 13:20. From here we have a longer (30-minute, 250-meter) downhill section before the final ascent to Erl. 

Along the way we spotted a single sheep in the forest, and she didn't run off. We discovered there was a very small lamb hiding behind her, probably born just hours earlier. Not the most comfortable perch, though!

Heading down along a very lovely trail through the forest. The drop to valley bottom is pretty steep, though. 

Our first glimpse of the hamlet of Erl, the ultimate goal of this hike. 

Zoomed view of Erl

First we have to get down there and cross the river (it looks impossible!) and then climb up again. 

A look behind us at the trail we descended. 

The final stretch to Erl

A close-up look at the hamlet of Erl. The houses are well-tended. Several of the slate roofs are newly done. It makes you wonder what effort it took to get all the building materials up here, and how long the owners have to walk up to get here. And the big question: Why? They even bothered to build a chapel, although it is surely not nearly as old as the other houses. 

We got here at 14:15, four hours after leaving Finnen. The sign informs us that we still have over two hours to walk to the train station at Eggerberg! (Including a 45-minute, 500-meter descent from here to the river). 

This village on a sunny hillside has a great view down the Baltschieder Valley. But what is the purpose of the benches? They can hold at least 50 people. Village meetings, or church services? Are there ever 50 people at a time here?

Details of the tiny chapel in Erl. The bell looks old. 

There were two kestrels circling the village for a long time. 

A look at the houses in Erl from below. 

We spent about 30 minutes up here in the village, enjoying the view, looking at houses, removing dead grasshoppers from my hiking shoes. 

Heading down to the river now. Until now we had a breeze while walking but here there was no wind and it was very hot. 

This building looks like it might explode at any minute. 

Way down below is the trail that we continued on, on our way back out of the valley (the lower trail). The upper trail is part of the Niwärch Suon, which has it's "origin" at the river right below here. 

We got to the Baltschieder River at 15:45

Crossing the river at Ze Steinu. The Niwärch Suon is diverted from the river just 300 meters upriver from here. Also, further up the valley is one more hamlet. In this entire valley, there are only those three hamlets (two of which we passed through) and about a dozen single buildings. 

Another Valais breed, the Hérens Cow. She is brave to get a drink in the rushing waters of the river!

From Ze Steinu we are walking along the Gorperi Suon. Another 90 minutes to the train station. It's now 15:50, and the train leaves ata 18:08, so that leaves us an extra 50 minutes for stops along the way!

Now, from further back in the Baltschieder Valley where we had descended to Ze Steinu–where the Niwärch Suon ist diverted from the Baltschieder River–we walked to Eggerberg (1½ hours) via the Gorperi Suon. We had walked along this particular irrigation channel in 2014, so it was a good choice to walk here again. This part of the valley is narrow and steep, so partly we had shadow already from the western slopes. The water which is diverted into the Gorperi irrigation channel waters the hillside near Eggerberg on the north side of the Rhône Valley. There are about 20 such irrigation channels in the Baltschieder Valley (this one built in 1640, many others as early as the 14th Century, sometimes at great loss of life). 

This is where the water for the Gorperi Channel (on the left) is diverted from the Baltschieder River. The slope of the channel is so little, you can barely tell you are walking downhill. As a result, as we walked, we got higher and higher above the river. 

Starting our hike along the Gorperi Suon

The sign warns us that the trail contains overhanging cliff sections, has a steep drop, and we must cross at our own risk. 

A look down the Baltschieder Valley. There is a lot of shadow already. Another option would be to walk on the right side, but we at least had sunshine on the left side further on. 

Heading out along the Gorperi water channel

A bit of a rapid section here at the start. 

There were several such tunnels blasted (or maybe chipped with hammer and pick-axe?) through the cliff rock. 

More fun tunnels to walk through

Standard water course

VIDEO:

Walking through a couple of tunnels along the Gorperi Channel. 

Across the valley on the other side are three trails: The upper one is the Niwärch Suon, the middle one is another 14th-Century build called the Undra Suon, and the lower one is the trail out of the valley which we had originally thought of taking, but we wanting to walk in the sunshine. 

At this point there is a tunnel through the rock, but this was not original. The original course was a wooden channel AROUND the cliff, about 250 meters drop straight down. They left that section for anyone brave enough to try to relive what the farmers of this region had to do hundreds of years ago when building and maintaining the water channels. 

Here's my attempt to walk around..... I really wanted to do it, but the space between the plank and the wall was too wide, and the drop too steep. I couldn't bring myself to walk further than the corner. 

I couldn't take a step further than this! But Urs said he walked this many years ago, when his kids were small. 

This shows how exposed the channel is!

Good thing we can simply walk through the tunnel!

VIDEO:

A common feature of the irrigation channels was a water-wheel hammer. The sound of the hammer (in this case on a bell) can be heard in the nearest village, and would indicate to the citizens that the water was still running properly. If they did not hear the hammer, they assumed a blockage, and had to send someone up to the channel to clean it out. 

The channel continues on from here to above the village of Eggen and around the corner to the left. We were short of time by now, and took a more direct path from here directly to the village of Eggen. 

Many such storage barns in Canton Valais/Wallis. This is in the mountain village of Eggen, which we passed through earlier in the day with the bus. 

What's this? An infestation of Ladybugs?

A final look up the Baltschieder Valley at 17:40. The Gorperi irrigation channel wis about half-way up the hillside on the right. (You can see the fairly level trail)

A few of the houses in Eggen as we hurried through. We had only 30 more minutes to get to the train station in Eggerberg, and from here it was exactly a 30-minute downhill hike. 

One more look at the city of Visp as we make our way down the mountain. 

As luck would have it, a farmer had just turned on the sprinklers, right where our trail descended! So we got a bit wet....

A look down at the church in Eggerberg, and the industry of Visp below (mostly the company alled Lonza). We did make it to the train station with again just a couple of minutes to spare.

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite maps, starting in Finnen and ending in Eggerberg. 

All the hikes we have done around the Baltschieder Valley, including four irrigation channels: Niwärch and Undra on the West side, Gorperi and Laldneri on the East side. 

The train from Eggerberg (South Ramp of the BLS railway line) descends to Brig, and from there we have to make our way back to Visp and to our next hotel room in Brigerbad nearby. This is the city of Brig, with the Simplon Pass highway in the background. 

Location of the Baltschieder Valley in Switzerland.