Winter Walk on Mount Flumserberg from Tannenboden to Prodalp

Friday December 27, 2024 -- With the return of the thick fog in the lowlands and the experience we had the day before, we are pretty well resigned to having to head up into the mountains if we want sunshine, and any prepared walking trails will be in the skiing regions, so we will have to deal with crowds in order to get that shot of sunshine.

We figured since it was a Friday between Christmas and the weekend, that there would be fewer people in the mountains, which wasn't the case, as these are fabulous Christmas Vacation days for school children and their families. Nevertheless, we braved a trip to Tannenboden on Mount Flumserberg, as it's a short enough trip and we don't pay extra for the gondola to there (so no loss if we don't like it), and there are several options for walking there as well.

We chose a 3-hour, 7½-kilometer loop tour up to a sunny alp called Prodalp (simply swarming with skiers!) which included a steep uphill section on the shadowy side of the mountain, and even though we had to cross the busy pistes at least four times, we had plenty of sections where there were few walkers. The visibility and the view of the mountains (especially the Churfirsten on the other side of Lake Walensee) made up for the shadowy sections and the masses of people. In the end, we spent about three hours in the fresh air again, got some exercise and escaped the fog (mostly) with just four hours of travel time.

Usually when there is fog in our region and we travel toward Chur in the Rhine Valley along Lake Walensee and the Churfirsten mountains, this lake is usually fog-free! The fastest way to get to Tannenboden on Mt. Flumserberg is with the gondola cable-car from Unterterzen on the lake. (A total of about 90 minutes of travel time from home).

We left home at 8:40 and were up here at Tannenboden at 10:30, a quick trip for us, so we had nothing to lose! We were prepared to encounter lots of people here, but were still amazed by how many there were. 

To get to the winter hiking trail, we have to cross the first of several ski pistes. With all the skiers this day, it felt like trying to cross those busy highways in East Asia. 

As we head out on the winter trail (which was quite in shadow on this side of the loop), we get a look at the busy part of the Tannenboden facilities! The visibility is spectacular, though. 

We chose to try this winter hiking loop on Mt.Flumserberg because our total travel time to get here was only about 90 minutes and the cable-car is free with our General Pass. The hike required some steep uphill walking, but that part was in the shadow of the mountain. Altogether this was a 7½ kilometer hike that takes about 2½-3 hours in snow conditions, but starting at 10:40, we were back at the cable-car station by 13:30. It took us less than three hours because we took no breaks at all along the way. 

Because the trail is in shadow here, the snow remains cold and crunchy, and there is still snow on the trees, which is what I prefer when doing a winter walk!

We were fairly alone on the walking trail, but there were many people on the various ski pistes!

Then we passed beneath the two cableways: Chairlift to Chrüz, and the Express Gondola to further up at Maschgenkamm. The Express Gondola is called "BergJet", and we rode that one down from Maschgenkamm after a hike we did up there in June 2022. 

A stretch of sunshine and a great view of the Churfirsten mountains on the left (we had recently been at the top of the highest one there, called Hinderrugg) and on the right is a fabulous peak called the Sichelkamm, which shows the folds of rock from the creation of the mountains. This is the second time we pass over a ski piste!

Now we are following a long stretch on the north side, all in shadow, but with a very nice view of the large sea of fog above Lake Walensee! (In March of 2016 we did a late-season winter hike here, following this same section of trail to a lake at Seebenalp, but we had more sunshine and no fog below! Those photos are HERE). 

After leaving the trail that heads to Seebenalp, we have a lovely section through snow-covered trees. Then there was a steep section uphill to Chrüz restaurant and chair-lift station. 

We reached the Chrüz restaurant at 11:30, and had to cross another ski piste!

We came from Tannenboden, and are headed to Prodalp, with still a long section to cover in the shadow of the mountain. But the die-hard ski folk don't seem to be bothered by the shadow!

We were practically the only people walking on the winter walking trail. 

Another look now at the Churfirsten mountains and the sea of fog above Lake Walensee. Down below on the middle left is Tannenbodenalp where we are going to end our loop hike, coming from the right across the large clearing called Madils. 

A close-up look at Tannenboden where we are ending our hike at the large parking lot below, totally full of cars on this glorious day!

Finally! After another steep section and about 90 minutes after starting the hike, we got to the highest part of the trail and had sunshine for most of the way down, as this is more on the south side of the mountainside. It's now near noon, and we were hoping to find a bench to sit and eat our sandwiches. 

What a wonderful view of the mountains to the east, which are actually mostly in Liechtenstein and Austria!

Down below, a close-up look at the large open clearing (actually a high moor) called Madils, where there is also a lot of activity. There is a restaurant there, which looks quite busy, and also a full parking lot, which we passed through just before reaching the larger parking lot at Tannenboden.

Already we can see the large chair lift at Prodalp, up ahead. Next to us on the right is another piste. 

The chair lifts at Prodalp heading to Prodkamm hold eight people, and all of them were full!

This was definitely the nicest part of our walk: Peace, sunshine, no people, great views. 

... and then we got our first glimpse of the masses of people at the Prodalp stations! There is a gondola which arrives here from Tannenheim below, and the eight-man chair lift to Prodkamm higher up! As it is now just past noon, the restaurant terrace is full, but all those people in the center are waiting in line for the chair lift! I've never seen anything like it!

Crossing under the chair lift, every one of them is full of 6 to 8 people! We rode this chairlift in June 2022 when we did a hike starting from Prodkamm, the summit station (those photos are HERE)

All the skiers coming down from Prodkamm to line up again in the large mass of people on the right .

This is what a webcam at Prodalp showed at 11:15 this day, with all the people waiting for the Prodkamm chair lift. I think there were even more people waiting when we got there, because the chair lift was stopped for a while!

We hadn't found a bench till now, and here at Prodalp it was too noisy with too many people, so we decided to eat our sandwiches while walking instead. Continuing on the walking trail on the left, the cleared piste on the right is for cross-country skiers. 

Away from the crowds, but partly in shadow again. In retrospect, we should have started here even earlier in the day, to get more of the sunshine on the northeastern flank. 

It's now 12:45 and our shadows are totally long! We are walking northwards on a wide trail, and the sun is directly behind us. 

Another look to the northeast. This is the junction of the Rhine Valley and the Seez Valley. Below at the junction is the city of Sargans!

Rescue helicopters were busy this Christmas season! We found out later that between December 24th and December 26th, they had to do 150 rescue missions, 20% more than last year at the same time! This would more than likely be that the snow conditions and weather were less favourable last year, so fewer people were out in the mountains!

This is the gondola cableway from Tannenheim, further down the road from where we started. We have ridden this gondola before, on a that hike we did from Prodkamm in June 2022. Here we had to cross another piste, this time it was the sled trail which started at the Prodalp summit station!

VIDEO:

Some fun on the sled run!

Now we have reached the large upper moor called Madils, where there seems to be a lot of cross-country skiing going on, and families with small children out walking. 

After passing the busy restaurant at Tannenbodenalp, all that remained was a walk down the snow-free road, and through the very large parking lots, to the Tannenboden-Unterterzen cable car station, another 9-minute walk from here. This would have been just enough time to make it to the gondola station for the 13:29 connection to the train station below, but we caught a bus at the road below for the last short stretch, which gave us more time. Had we missed this train, we would have had to either wait an hour in the fog below, or here in the sun... but too many people!

Back on the gondola to Unterterzen at 13:30. It seemed to early to be heading home again (less than two hours), but there were too many people and too few benches on the mountain for us to just sit around in the sunshine up there. 

Back into what seems like an interminable amount of fog that we have had in December. 

With a couple of minutes to spare, we made it to the train station in Unterterzen for the 13:47 train back home (we were home by 3:15 p.m.!). The Tannenbodenalp cableway station is right across the road from the train station. 

Location of Mt. Flumserberg within Switzerland, quite in the east and near the border with Liechtenstein and Austria.