Valais Sunshine Trail from Jeizinen to Leukerbad, with thrilling Albinen Ladders

Saturday August 3, 2024 -- Forecast for a nice weekend in Canton Wallis (Valais), so we decided to make a two-day trip of it, as the spots we haven't yet discovered are too far off now for day trips. We decided to overnight in Leukerbad, a historical spa town with mineral baths, tucked away on three sides between high cliffs at the back of the Dala Valley. The only problem is that at this late stage of planning, the only affordable place was a type of back-packer's inn, rather basic and outdated, but with a very nice host couple. (Unfortunately very noisy though as we must have gotten the last room, which was next to the entrance, with young people coming in till midnight).

For the first day we chose another section of the Valais Sunshine trail, hoping it would not be too hot, as the temperatures went down some since the week before. We have done several sections of this trail in previous years (mostly fall and spring, as it gets quite hot in summer) but have long looked at this section of the high trail from Jeizinen to Albinen, too far to do on a day trip. (For a long time there has been work done on this trail and just by luck there is a 3-week window where they are currently allowing hikers to pass). 

Generally it was a good hike, but with our luck low clouds sat on the mountain tops this morning, and we even had to start our walk in the fog. Later, it did become quite warm but bearable. Even though we didn't have the view we'd hoped for, the interesting vegetation with swarms of butterflies were a highlight.

It would have been too far to walk all the way to Leukerbad, so from Albinen (a typical Valais mountain village in this region) we caught a bus to a trail called "The Albinen Ladders", featuring 8 wooden ladders dating from 1781 and covering a vertical distance of about 100 meters down a cliff. Until 1960 when the road was built, the locals had to use these ladders to get to and from Leukerbad (luckily the village was fairly self-sufficient). This descent is not for the faint-hearted! Unfortunately we ran into a tour group of 8 hikers going up the ladders, and passing was stressful and ruined the experience. (And for two days afterwards we had sore arms and legs from the unusual way we had to hold on to the ladders).

From there we walked another 4 km to Leukerbad, had a great pizza at the Walliserkanne Restaurant, checked out the village and headed for the night to the Tourist Inn. 

Having left home at about 7 a.m. for the 3-hour trip to Gampel near Visp, we were very wary of the low clouds hanging on the mountains here in the Rhône Valley. This photo is from the bus ride from Gampel to the Jeizinen cable-way, whose masts you can see on the mountainside on the left.  

Catching the 10:30 cable-car from Gampel to Jeizinen, a mountain village high above the Rhône Valley. The cable car holds about 10 people, and it was full.  

A look up the Rhône Valley. Below is the town of Gampel, and the lovely winding roadway goes up to the mountain village of Hohtenn, from where the Valais Sunshine Trail continues up the valley toward Visp and then Brig. We have walked that stretch on several other occasions. 

Start of our hike in Jeizinen at 10:40. (Side note: We ended a 5-hour hike here in September 2019 when we walked from the Lötschental Valley; those photos are HERE). 

This is the view of the Rhône Valley which we had from Jeizinen. (Down-valley direction west) 

At least the village wasn't in the clouds when we started on our walk!

This looked like a really cool little chapel, but it was unfortunately locked! The chapel called Anna's Chapel was built in the second half of the 17th Century, but rebuilt after it was damaged in a village fire of 1793.

This was the single best view we got of the Valais Alps to the south. I think this is Mount Weisshorn. 

The section of the Valais Sunshine Trail (no.61) which we did this day from Jeizinen to Albinen was 11½ kilometers and took over 3½ hours to walk. From Albinen we still had 2 hours to walk to Leukerbad where we overnighted, but that was too far, so we took a bus from Albinen to the Albinen Ladders, and after descending on the eight vertical ladders, we walked the last 45 minutes into Leukerbad. So about 4½ hours and 15 km total walking this day. 

After leaving Jeizinen, we had a nice section through the forest. 

Up ahead a zoomed view of the next village we would be walking through: Engersch. The clouds are still hanging low. 

Around a corner we could hear sheep, but we didn't expect the guard dog that came rushing up to the fence barking like crazy! There are many such "shepherd" dogs in the mountains, who are left to watch the sheep flocks independently. 

Always fascinating how the avalanche fences are built on these steep mountainsides to prevent the snow from slipping.

At 11:20 we got to Engersch. We climbed the hill above the village so that we could walk down the main road. 

The village chuch is called St.Theoduls. We don't know how old it is.

Walking down the main road in the village of Engersch. 

More details of this cute mountain village

Heading down the road now we get the first view of the Illgraben, a scar from when the mountain collapsed due to erosion in the 14th Century. The Illgraben is still "in motion" and the one place in Switzerland with the most mudslides, always removing more and more of the mountain face. 

A close-up look behind us toward Jeizinen where we started our hike. There is still fog veiling our view of the village and the valley. 

For a long while we walked through this dry vegetation with unique meadows and loads and loads of butterflies. 

The landscape was full of these intriguing succulent plants called Sempervivum Tectorum, or Common Houseleek. 

A few of the butterflies I was able to photograph. Most of them didn't sit still long enough. 

Down below at the foot of the Illgraben is a large forest called the Pfynwald, at 17m2 one of the largest pine forests in the Alps. The forest lies at the heart of the Pfyn-Finges Nature Reserve. We walked through this forest in August 2021. 

Shortly after the noon hour we arrived in the next mountain village called Brentschen, where we decided to stop for our picnic lunch. Usually there are benches next to the village churches, which was the case here.

Sure enough there was a bench next to the little chapel, and ideally in the shade, so perfect for our picnic lunch...  for about a whole 10 minutes until two children from the village raced into the chapel and starting ringing the chapel bell. Like most children, they didn't stop after 2-3 pulls, so I had to leave as it was much too loud. They kept at it for at least five minutes or more. 

We still can't see much of the mountains on the south side of the Rhône Valley as the clouds filled all of the side valleys. The signs indicate that from here we still have 2h20 to walk to Albinen, and another 2 hours more to Leukerbad, which is too far for us.  

More cute details of this mountain village, including another weird set of stuffed pants used as a planter (we ran into something similar on our last trip into Canton Valais in June of this year). 

Just before heading north into the Feschel Valley, another look down the Rhône Valley. The town on the opposite side of the valley is called Guttet.  

At the entrance to the Feschel Valley is this sign that warns of a closure of the Sunshine Trail at the back of the valley. They are working on repairing the water pipes, and the trail was closed from mid-June to end of July (which we had seen when we had considered doing this hike a week earlier). What we didn't know was that the trail will be closed again on August 19 again for another 6 weeks, so we just caught a good window for this. 

At the back of the valley the fireweeds are flowering. They are such a lovely purple colour, which you can't really see on this photo. 

Here at the Feschel River is where the trail was closed in June and July (no alternative route available). 

VIDEO:

Feschel River coming down from Bachalp above

Crossing the Feschel River at the back of the valley

Here is where construction is taking place....

The inscription reads "Peter's sunny bench", and it really was sunny. I would have liked to sit on a bench for a break, but in the shade at this point!

Now we are back out of the Feschel Valley and into the Rhône Valley again. The clouds are still filling all the side valleys and blocking any view of the Valais Alps.  

Down below the Rhône River makes its way to Sion and onward to Lake Geneva. Unfortunately the air was hazy. We've had much better views down this valley, mainly in late fall. On the left is the Pfynwald pine forest.  

According to our map, the final 3 kilometers to Albinen in the Dala Valley (ahead) were through a forested section, which we had been looking forward to. What we didn't know is that this is a wide road with little shade, and it looks like there might have been a forest fire here at some time -- in fact, there was a large forest fire here in 2003. Luckily, there was a bit of a breeze, as we had to walk 50 minutes like this. 

Directly north of the Pfyn-Fringes Nature Park now. The clouds have lifted a bit here.

We have now turned north into the Dala Valley. These mountains are fantastic. 

The first chalets at the outskirts of Albinen.

We reached Albinen at 15:54. The hourly bus from here to Leukerbad leaves at the other end of the village at 4:30 p.m., so we knew we had quite a bit of time to explore this village. The village has many well-preserved centuries-old houses and barns. Only the church is modern, as the predecessor was destroyed in an earthquake. 

Very important to fill up with cold water at the town fountain!

Simple wooden crosses in the cemetery, much prettier (and less expensive) than all the fancy headstones!

Heading down the main road in Albinen. 

Many lovely well-preserved houses and barns to admire. 

Details of wooden sculptures and lots of flowers. 

There are many steep alleyways between the residences

Here's a really interesting building: It's called a Spycher (storage building for hay etc.)

More alleyways

Time to head uphill through the village again to get to the bus stop at the other end of the village. (The main road passes above the village). 

It was actually quite a challenge to get up to the main road! The art of making this type of road is called Bikkini: The stones are laid by hand and filled with dirt. It is ideal for steep roads, as the water flows down better, and prevents the surface from freezing in winter. 

Waiting at the bus stop at the north end of Albinen. The red-and-white flowers add so much character to the village. 

This is the carpenter's workshop at the far end of the village, where we caught the bus. 

This very narrow road to Leukerbad was built as recently as 1960, and before that, if the villagers wanted to get to Leukerbad, they had to go on foot over the eight ladders, a section of trail we want to experience. (That white van had to back up along the curved road until he found a place to go to the side. The bus has the right of way). 

A look back from the bus window at the mountain village (also a resort village now, as there is a lot of skiing here in winter) as we head north along the mountain road toward the back of the valley. 

Below the road is a little hamlet called Dorbu. There is a walking trail through this village, but not the one we would have followed had we continued on the Sunshine Trail to Leukerbad. 

A view of the magnificent mountains toward the back of the Dala Valley. 

THE HISTORICAL (since 1781) ALBINEN LADDERS (See also WEBSITE)

After a 10-minute bus ride in the direction of Leukerbad, we got off at the base station of the Torrent Gondola cable-way, which is close to the start of the exciting trail of ladders called the "Albinenleitern". The descent was fear-inducing to say the least, and nothing for the faint of heart. We started at the top of the 100m drop at 16:45, and got to the bottom 30 minutes later. We realized it would have been less dangerous to start at the bottom and walk upwards, which is what a group of 8 hikers (with a guide) was doing. It became tricky to pass each other, and they decided to wait and let us down first, which kind of spoiled the experience for me, as I would have liked to go more slowly, take more photos, enjoy the experience more. We didn't want to let them go up first, though, in case someone got scared or stuck. AND, for the next two days we had very sore arm, shoulder and upper thigh muscles, something that never happens on our normal hikes. 

From the bus stop, we reached the Albinenleitern (ladders) five minutes later. There is an alternate trail to Leukerbad for people who do not want to descend the ladders, but it's along the road and through a tunnel. The part we didn't walk from Albinen reduced our walking time by an hour, but we still had another 30 minutes to get to Leukerbad after the 30 minutes on the ladders, so 1 hour in all. .

This unimposing sign alerts hikers that the ladders are only for people not afraid of heights. We started here at 16:45. 

As we reached the top of the almost totally vertical descent, we wondered if we had made a good decision coming this way. 

The first of 8 ladders. These are made of wood, some of the rungs are loose, and I had to wonder if these are the original ladders from 1781.!!!

Making our way slowly down the ladder. It is hard to see where the next rung is, so it would have been better to start at the bottom and make our way up!

Fortunately there were cable handholds along the way. 

First glimpse of the city of Leukerbad at the very back of the Dala Valley (Dala River below). The photo doesn't do the drop justice, straight down from here to the level of the road. It was very "dizzying".

It required some balancing act to turn around and get onto the first couple of rungs!

And then we ran into a group of eight people going UP the ladders, and had to decide who was going to go first. They decided to wait and let us go down first. Crossing was tricky.

The final ladder!

These last two were tricky, as you couldn't go behind the upper ladder, you had to swing over it to the lower one!

Urs' photos. 

At 17:15, the final ladder. That took us 30 minutes for 100 meters descent. We don't know if it would have been faster without having to cross with the group. 

The irony of a Madonna shrine built into the cliff wall: To pray that you don't fall off the ladders on your way up to Albinen? This was the only way from Leukerbad to that upper mountain village from 1781 until 1960 when the road was built!

View of Leukerbad from the base of the ladders. From here we had another 30 minutes to walk into the old town, where we had supper at a pizzeria. Just slightly left of center is the Gemmi Pass, from where you can walk northwards, crossing into Canton Bern. 

This is the second section we walked, starting at the base station of the Torrentalp cableway at 16:45, getting down to the road after descending the eight wooden ladders at 17:15, and arriving into Leukerbad at Leukerbad center just before 6 p.m. 

At the outskirts of the city of Leukerbad at 17:45

Walking along the popular Promenade

This is the main square in front of the thermal baths -- which the city is known for -- and the fancy hotels, and where the tourists buses stop and start from. 

This lovely building is called "Haus Goethe". There is a Gelateria in front, but we opted for the pizzeria across the square, where we shared a pizza and Urs had his sundae for dessert. 

Sharing a pizza at the Walliserkanne Restaurant (pizzeria section). The tables were very close to each other, and for once the other patrons did not smoke outside! (More people came later). 

Several features of the old town of Leukerbad on our way to our accommodation, which was another 15 minutes to walk from the restaurant, and uphill!!!!

A look across the upper part of the city, where our guesthouse is located. In the back on the left is the Gemmi Pass, accessed either by a steep trail with lots of switchbacks (850 meters, 2½ hours) or by cable car, which we did in February 2017 when we did the popular winter hike from the pass northwards toward Kandersteg (see HERE). 

Close-up look at the summit of the Gemmi Pass cableway. There is a look-out platform and a hotel up there. An option for Day 2 was to take the cable-way up there for a hike on the large upper plateau, but we chose a different direction. 

Our hostel for the night. It has a very good rating, and apparently some nice rooms on the balcony side, but we got the worst room for the night, right next to the side entrance door. Probably the last room available. Young people made a lot of noise coming in late. We had to share a shower and toilet in the hall (no problem for us) and the beds were narrow, but for 87 Fr. for two people INCLUDING breakfast, this is a cheap overnight for us. 

The pink trail is what we walked this day (total 15 km). We have done several other hikes in the area, at lower elevations, though. 

Location of Leukerbad and the region we walked in Switzerland