Oberdorf-Gamperfin Winter Trail in Toggenburg Eastern Switzerland

Thursday January 11, 2024 -- For our first hike of the new year we chose a "winter" hike, i.e. a walk on prepared winter trails higher up the mountains where the sun was shining for a change!

We traveled to the far eastern side of Switzerland near the border with Austria and Liechtenstein, back to the Toggenburg region again, just south of the Alpstein Massif and Mount Säntis. According to Internet information, there is a lovely 10-km winter hiking trail there, "off the beaten track" so to speak (and literally), away from the chaos of the ski hills. It also takes us only 2½ hours to get there, which is a relatively short travel distance for us.

On the way there, the vast region of low fog did worry us some, but as it turns out, the trail was definitely above the fog, luckily! As the sun is still fairly low in January, we knew we'd have some shade along the trail as this is on the north side of the Churfirsten range, but regions with long periods of shade have advantages: The snow is squeaky and dry on the trail--easier to walk on--and the thick layers of snow remain on the trees and looks so much prettier! Futhermore, wearing stockings under jeans (still too cold in the fog) means my legs were too warm in the sunshine, and I was actually glad for the shadowy sections, even though my face was cold!

In all, though, we had more sunshine than shadow, and as most of the trail was away from the skiing area, it was a lovely and peaceful walk, and enjoyable even with several steep uphill sections. Also, I loved all my photos, and it was hard to chose which to use in this blog post!

The lovely winter landscape as we travel along the Thur River in the Toggenburg, where we have been several times now in the past few months. 

Passing through the town of Stein by bus along the Thur River. 

Even though we traveled through thick fog on our way to Wildhaus (start of our hike), the landscape is very pretty. The advantage of the fog is the suns isn't strong enough to melt the snow!

Just shortly before our bus stop near Wildhaus, we get a first look at Mount Säntis, the one with the communication tower (on the left). Here there is no longer any fog (at the moment... it came later). 

First we had to walk half a kilometer (7 minutes) down to the chair lift station. This is along the way, in a part of the town of Wildhaus called Lisighaus.  

Look at all the snow on the trees!

Heading up with the chair lift to the summit station at Oberdorf. There was a small amount of fog here, and they were "making" snow and blowing it all over, so it was a cold ride! Also, no sun here yet, but we can see the sunny plateau ahead!

Riding the chair lift through the fog, it was cold!

We are actually on the north side of the Churfirsten mountains and those are four of the seven peaks which form the range. 

The view on the ride up with the chair lift

Looking behind us as the chair lift ascends, we see a bit of fog below us, and the town of Wildhaus. 

Getting sprayed by the snow cannons!

A look to the west across the upper plateau on the North side of the Churfirsten mountains, and down the Thur River Valley. 

From the top of the chairlift at the ski resort called Oberdorf, we quickly left the ski hills (it wasn't too noisy, no loud music) and headed toward the Gamperfin hut at the far east of the loop, which is a nicely prepared winter hiking trail. There are a variety of loops that you can do, so you don't have to go back along the same trails. In all, this was over 10 kilometers, and took us 3½  hours to complete (winter walks take longer). 

The description of the lovely Gamperfin Winter Trail in eastern Switzerland. 

At 10:30 we start on our hike (first up that steep prepared road next to the ski lift), and we are happy to have all this sunshine!

The littlest people confidently ride up the slopes on their own!

A look down at the Oberdorf ski complex. This first lift next to the walking trail seemed to be geared to less experienced skiiers (or smaller ones!). There was another chair lift to a higher section called Gamsalp

Busy snow cannons.... seems to be plenty of snow, but maybe they are preparing for warmer weather....

This is the perfect kind of winter walk, when the sun shines through snow-covered trees. 

Also pretty is the layer of snow on the roofs of the summer barns

To the east is the summit of Mount Chäserrugg (left), the main peak of the Churfirsten mountains. It is also possible to take a chair lift up to the summit for a 1-hour winter walk up there. 

Our first glimpse of the large sea of fog in the St.Gallen Rhine Valley. The mountains on the other side are in Vorarlberg, Austria

The surface of the undisturbed snow was covered in these large crystals. It looked so pretty close up!

The best kind of winter hiking. The snow squeaked underfoot, and there were very few people along the way. 

Very happy that there is still so much snow on the trees! (Usually only on the north side of the trees!)

Taking a short-cut along the snow-shoe trail. On the south side of the trees, the snow has already fallen. 

Looking behind us at the trail we walked. On the way back we followed a trail closer to the base of the mountain, which was in shadow for most of the day. 

Another look at the thick sea of fog in the St.Gallen Rheintal

Along the way are several of these placards showing where you are currently located, and which loops you can follow. We are here at Oelberg, about halfway to the where the trail loops back again. 

This farm is called Oelberg, and it's at about the half-way point of the trail in the southern direction. We got here at 11:45, an hour and 15 minutes after starting on our walk. 

And now we get the first glimpse of the Alvier Massif to the south. 

Studying what kind of animal might have made those tracks across the otherwise unbroken snow!

Continuing southward

Now we've reached the final southernmost loop. We've chosen to head eastward first. 

Heading down along the final stretch to the Gamperfin hut, which we can see on the right. The mountains in the back are in Liechtenstein.

To the south, we can see the trail we will be taking on the rest of the loop for the way back. Usually, I don't like a lot of shade on the trail, but it turned out to be a pretty magical part of the hike. 

There is a terrace on the south side of the hut, where you can enjoy some refreshments. There were about a dozen people there, but we heard no noise. We had sandwiches along, and they don't like you to eat your own food on the terrace, so we lucked out when we reached the car park, and found a small bench on the sunny side of that building on the left. 

A cute little playground is part of the hut, on the south side. We got here at 12:20, and this is about the half-way point of our hike. 

The bench we found was actually tucked behind the parked cars and had snow on it, so we removed the snow and moved the bench into the sun! We replaced the bench after we finished our sandwiches. 

This is the view we had from where we sat on the small bench!

A look at the hut's terrace as we continue on our hike now at 12:45, making our way back to the chair lift at Oberdorf

This was the shady part of the trail we saw from further up the hill, but it looks so pretty! And it wasn't really that cold to walk here. 

So pretty how the snow hangs on the needles of these evergreens!

The farms up on the hillside here (our trail continues just below the tree-line above those farms)

So peaceful... except at this point another couple left the restaurant shortly after we did, and the woman did not stop talking.... we walked quickly, but the chatter carried well in this landscape!

A lovely section through tall woods

Closing the loop now, we get another good look at the "Three Sisters" (Drei Schwestern) Massif in Liechtenstein. 

VIDEO

The Southern Loop on the Gampefin Winter Trail. 

Unfortunately, this part of the trail was difficult to walk, as it seems a heavy farm vehicle had traveled over the prepared trail and kind of ruined it.

A zoomed look at the rough cliffs below the peak called Alpspitz shows us the trail we walked on one of our most memorable hikes in August 2022! (Those photos, worth looking at, are HERE)

Back at the close of the loop.

Walking along the same trail but heading north, another look toward the Austrian mountains in the east. 

Back at the Oelberg Farm, the trail is now in shadow from the mountain. 

Taking the alternate trail back along the final loop and closer to the mountain, we had mostly shadow n this trail, but the snow was so lovely and squeaky to walk on!

VIDEO:

Trying to capture the sound of the squeaky snow

as we walk along the shadowy trail on the north side of the mountain.

Our first look at the summit of Mount Säntis to the north, across the Thur Valley. 

Zoomed view of the weather station at the summit of Mount Säntis

Final stretch to the ski hills. Here the south side of the trees doesn't look quite as pretty!

A final glimpse of the mountain to our south. 

And here we are back on the walking trail next to the ski lift. There's a tiny skiier there hanging on to Dad, on the way up! (One nice thing about this ski hill, there was no loud music blaring here, so even here relatively peaceful, except for the sound of the snow cannons)

By the time we got back to the Oberdorf complex, there were many school children here, probably getting lessons on a school outing. We got back here at 14:30 (exactly 4 hours after starting the hike, and that includes the 25-minute lunch break!). To catch the 15:08 bus below, we calculated taking the chair lift at 14:45, so still had some time to enjoy the sun.

A final look down the Thur River Valley to the west, where we are going to be returning by bus. Unfortunately, the fog has moved down the valley by now, coming from the Rhine Valley to the east. 

Another look to the East end of the Thur Valley; the fog is high now. 

Heading back down to Wildhaus into the wall of fog!

I think this is only the second time I have traveled through such thick fog, and never before on a cold and wet chair lift!

Back down in Lisighaus, it's not so pretty as it was this morning on the 7-minute walk to the bus stop. (Fortunately we only had to wait 10 minutes for the bus). I was wondering how the bus would manage to navigate in this thick fog!

The pink line shows the trail we walked this day, in a winter landscape. On January 1, 2016 we also did a winter walk (red line) nearby, but with barely any snow. The light blue line is a high trail we walked in June 2023. These are all on the north side of the Churfirsten mountains near Wildhaus.

This webcam photo was taken on the same day from the weather station at the summit of Mount Säntis, right about when we headed back down into the fog at the end of our hike. The view is to the south past Mount Chäserrugg into the Glarus Alps and the Sardona Tectonic Arena. In the circle is the Oberdorf ski region where we started and ended the hike, to the left of that area. 

Heading back to Wattwil by bus through the fog once again. The fog creates its own charming landscape, provided you can actually see something!

Passing through Stein SG again

The landscape of the Thur River Valley near Nesslau in the Toggenburg. We have walked along the Thur River in this region, in September 2022. 

And one final interesting point of view: This photo of the Saint Gallen Rhine River Valley was taken from our hike in Liechtenstein in August 2022, across from where we did the winter hike this day, at the arrow. 

Location of the eastern end of the Thur River Valley and the hike we did this day.