Day 2 in Canton Valais: Bellwald, Fieschertal, Fiescher Glacier

Wednesday September 26th -- Day 2 in Bellwald, where we planned to ride two chair lifts up to 2560m, then walk another 300m to the top of Mount Bisihorn to look down at the Fiescher Glacier.... 

We've had our eye on this one for a long time, five lakes way up high here with only a small window of access because the snow melts so late. Perfect timing now to do this, book a hotel so we can do the long hike the day before and take advantage of the tourist cards offered by hotels for free rides on cable cars, and middle-of-the-week off-season = fewer people.

But one thing we forgot yet again, the chair lift time table!!! Got to the lower chair lift station to find out the upper section runs only on weekends in September.... oh no, how does this keep happening?!

SOOOOO..... quick change of plans again: On the map, showing as starting from the top of Chair-Lift Number 1 was a 3-hour round tour to a place called "Glacier View" -- descriptive enough -- and it turned out to be as wonderful of a day as we could have hoped for. Perhaps not the larger view of the glacier that we had expected (who knows?) but vistas (hating to use this cliché yet again) "to take your breath away". Sky so clear we could see all the way to Mount Matterhorn. 

It still meant a hefty 400m climb, but getting to a spot high above the glacier tongue, with steep rock walls and bits of glacier all around, peaceful and warm and no other people... it was heaven. And the fall colours of the bracken here high above the tree line: a veritable patchwork carpet of reds, yellows, greens... it was impossible to capture the true colours on a camera. 

View out the balcony window of the hotel, early morning sun on Mount Weisshorn

Checking out the weather from the Hotel balcony, it's looking good for where we want to go!

We were in no hurry, taking a stroll through the pretty village, having a coffee at a bakery in the early morning sunshine.

When we got to the chair lift station we found out the second part wasn't running, but there was a nice hike we could do from the top of the first part, so up we went.

The second chairlift only runs on weekends in September, apparently. So we'll go up to the top next year...

We saw this option on a brochure, and turned out to be perfect. There was 400m of uphill to get to the glacier viewpoint, but the weather was perfect for the hike.

Heading along the mountain flank toward to the Fiescher Glacier

Stunning view down the Fiescher Valley. In the background, Mount Weisshorn, and the Mischabel Group, which includes the tallest peak that is 100% on Swiss territory: Mount Dom. In between the tip of Mount Matterhorn

The tallest peak in this range is called Mount Wannenhorn, same name as our hotel. The glacier flows down this valley

 

To the Southeast, the Matterhorn is showing up more and more as we move further North

Zoomed view of Mount Matterhorn, always a treat to look at.

As we approach the glacier viewpoint, a cleft in the cliffs gives a glimpse of the river that runs out of the glacier

In the back, Mount Wannenhorn. At the official "Glacier Viewpoint" we couldn't actually see the glacier, so we continued a short piece further to find out own meadow spot.

This is where we stopped for our picnic lunch. Below is the glacier tongue, difficult to see as the ice is covered in gravel and dirt.

We spent an hour up here enjoying the sunshine and solitude. It was wonderful. AND we saw the glacier

This is as much as we saw of the Fiescher Glacier from here, but it was beautiful and Mount Finsteraarhorn is now my favourite mountain

 

This is a panorama view of what we looked at while having our picnic lunch

Heading back along a higher trail

Looking backwards along the higher trail

Road back to the chair lift station: Below is Bellwald

The colours of the hillside are difficult to capture with my camera

Heading back down to Bellwald. From here we still hade to walk about 10 minutes down to the other side of the village to catch the next cable car down to the Rhone Valley

Our hotel, which is right next to the cable car station which takes you down to the railway in the Rhone Valley

Small cable car from Bellwald down to the railway station at Fürgangen, on the Oberwald-Visp line. The suspension bridge is very new. We were here in 2014, walking on the other side, and had to descend into the ravine in order to get to this railway station.

Heading back to Andermatt along the Urseren Valley... beautiful Autumn afternoon sunshine up here. 

And every time we pass this way we are tickled to get a glimpse of the smallest village in Switzerland: Zumdorf

Our two-day trip: 6 hours walking on Day 1 and 3.5 hours on Day 2

And four days later the top of the mountain (where the second chairlift was only running on weekends) looked like this....

Second Half of the Gommer High Trail (Gommer Höhenweg)

Tuesday September 25, 2018 -- All along the Goms Valley from Oberwald at the exit of the Furka Base Tunnel to Bellwald near the Aletschglacier is a 30-km trail called the Gommer High Trail, which is done in two stages (11 km and 18 km) which you can start or end in the quaint Valais village of Münster, about half-way down the valley.

We did the shorter section in November 2016 and had always planned to do the longer section, but because it's not possible for us to do as a day-trip (the second section takes 6 hours to walk) we made it part of a two-day trip, starting in Münster and ending at a hotel in Bellwald (Day 2 was a mountain hike starting with a cable car in Bellwald).

(Here is a link to my album entry for the first half of this trail: Click Here )


We started with a 45-minute tour of the little village of Münster, where we've been several times already but only this time realized there is an "old" part of this "old village" that we had never seen before! The typical structures here are large houses made of dark wood, and loads of tiny barns on raised "mushroom posts" (prevents the mice from accessing the hay) which are currently being renovated into small homes. Some of these structures date at least as far back as 1500, and everywhere you turn, it is QUAINT. I think this has become my favourite Swiss village.

From here a half-hour uphill hike takes you to the same point where we started last time (heading North) except this time we headed South. The trails are very good, mostly narrow trails through forests with the odd view to the villages below in the valley where the young Rhone River (called Rotten here) makes its way toward Lake Geneva. There are many side valleys, and these were the highlight to walk, although each time one side was in deep shadow. And we noticed that all these side valleys were COVERED in Fireweed, but already finished blooming... what a shame! Too late for the purple fireweed, and too early for the yellow larches.

I was very proud of my achievement, 6 hours (19 km) hiking after an hour of village viewing, but a couple of times I really didn't think I could go on, especially on the last uphill stretch. I was glad for dinner and bed and looking forward to the next day, to starting early with the cable car to the lofty elevation of 2875m to look down on the Fiescher Glacier!

The excursion really starts in Andermatt with the Gotthard Matterhorn train, which first takes you through the Urseren Valley to Realp, then through the Furka Base Tunnel to the Goms Valley

Early morning traveling across the Ursuren Valley between Andermatt and Realp

This is the village of Oberwald, at the very top of the Goms Valley after exiting the Furka Base Tunnel. In the back, on the left, is the Rhone Glacier, the feeder for the Rhone River, called Rotten here.

We spent 45 minutes walking around the REAL main part of Münster, which we had not even noticed existed before!

This quaint village of Münster in the Goms Valley Canton Valais is probably my favourite Swiss Village

The sheep had just been brought down from the higher alpine pastures and were being sorted in the village... they belong to various farmers.

Strolling through the village of Münster before heading on our 19-km, 6-hour hike

From Münster it's a 30-minute uphill walk to the Gommer High Trail. Part 1 is to the NE (only 11 km), Part 2 is to the SW, 19 km. Knowing what I know now, we should have added the first side valley to Part 1

A 30-minute uphill climb from Münster to the start of the Gommer High Trail

In the back is Mount Weisshorn, which we glimpsed several times. This peak is 4506m high

The first side valley with the stream called Minstigerbach was my favourite.

Sitting in a field of fireweed, imagining how beautiful this would look all purple-pink!

Below the villages of Reckingen and Gluringen, and the Rotten River making its way toward Lake Geneva.

This is the second side valley with the stream called Reckingerbach. This is where we had our picnic lunch and a nice long break

Each side valley brought us higher from the Goms Valley

Between Gluringen and Biel in the valley bottom stands this little church all by itself

Third side valley, this stream is called Walibach, and on the other side in the shade is a tiny mountain hut called Walihütte where the owners serve drinks, cake and real raclette over an open fire which they have not been allowed to do all summer because of the fire ban here.

It's always exciting when we catch sight of marmots and other wild animals. We also saw a Golden Eagle.

More evidence of the fireweed that bloomed in August

Even though it was in shadow, we decided to stop at the Walihütte for drinks and cake at 4 p.m and a chat with the lady who is up here every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. She can drive to within 15-minutes walk to the hut

At 5 pm we are walking in shadow, but below us the village of Blitzingen still has lovely sunshine

Finally we get to Bellwald at 6 pm and the sun has just set here

This is the view from our hotel balcony in Bellwald. The peaks still in sunshine are where we want to go up the next day, with the cable car you can see through the swathe in the forest. There are actually two cable cars. The hotel gives you a guest card to ride the cable cars for free, and that was the reason we made a 2-day trip out of it.

This is the lower Goms Valley. The 19 km trail from Münster to Bellwald, took us 6 hours. The plan for the next day is to hike to the top of Mount Risihorn for a look at the Fiescher Glacier