It had snowed heavily on Sunday so we kept the first day hike to lower altitudes, and chose a trail that took us to a suspension bridge over a very steep canyon: The Aspi-Titter suspension bridge in the Fiescher Valley at the foot of the Fiescher Glacier. What we hadn't counted on, unfortunately, were the clouds in the valley, and the very wet, muddy and slippery trails created by the rain and snowfall. So we had to tread carefully, as the trail was narrow in many places, and the descent to the bridge was basically along the cliff face.
This 10km hike started in the very pretty and typically Valais-style vacation village of Bellwald (accessed by cable car), with a steady uphill hike to the look-out point called Schranni, at which point the clouds lifted and afforded us stunning views to the glacier tongue and the suspension bridge below. The trail to the bridge is incredible: there are cement stairs and iron ladders built into the cliff face to make the descent do-able. And the crossing of the suspension bridge: stunning as usual. This suspension bridge, only recently completed (2016) is 160m long and hangs over a gorge 120m deep. We had to ask a family with kids to please wait for their crossing till I had reached the other side, as I cannot stomach the swinging of the bridge (the height doesn't bother me though).
We considered continuing up the gorge a piece to get a better view of the glacier, but this would have added another hour to our hike, which was already longer than expected due to the slippery trail conditions. After a difficult descent to the village of Fieschertal, we just made the bus out of the valley, and then on by train and cable car to the vacation apartment we had rented for two days in Eischoll. It took a bit of walking to get to the apartment, but no traffic and only the sounds of Valais cow and sheep bells.... (and church bells at 6 a.m....)
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| Heading up to Bellwald with the cable car. Down below is the new Goms Suspension bridge, also recently built in 2015 to cross the Rhone River, because the old trail via the gorge is eroding (we crossed this gorge via the old trail in 2014). The Bridge is 280m long and 92m above the river. Crossing it will be a plan for another trip! |
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| For today, our goal is the recently completed (2016) Aspi-Titter Suspension Bridge, whose completion has created the missing link to join two popular hiking areas: Goms Valley, and the Unesco World Heritage Aletsch Arena. |
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| Even though the low clouds and low snowfall are a disappointment, Bellwald is very pretty, with a very typical village core of Valais homes. |
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| These old Valais structures are always fascinating |
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| Our 10-km hike was uphill from Bellwald to the lookout point, then a steep descent along the cliff wall to the bridge. After that, the descent to Fieschertal was tricky because the trail was very muddy. |
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| We found a cabin with a bench in the sun (the clouds were finally lifting) where we could have lunch |
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| On the little detour to the lookout point, this lonesome cabin is in a particularly fabulous location! (look-out point is just beyond the cabin, around the corner, along a narrow trail secured with chain handrails) |
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| From the look-out point we can just see the tip of the glacier. Lower down is a hostel / restaurant from where you can see the entire Fiescher Glacier, but we didn't have enough time to take a detour there after crossing the bridge. We'll stop there on a different trip, when they are open (closed now for the winter season). |
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| Information boards show the disappearance of the Fiescher Glacier between 1935 and 2001 |
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| After our little detour to the look-out point, it's time to tackle the descent to the bridge! |
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| This gives an idea of how far we have to descend to the bridge. Our ultimate goal is the flat sunny area in the back (Fieschertal) |
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| The recently-finished Aspi-Titter bridge is 160m long and hangs 120m above the gorge bottom. |
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| The descent along concrete stairways and ladders built especially for this purpose, is quite exciting! |
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| After the steep stretch along the cliff wall, we still had a steep and muddy descent along the forest trails. The bridge is on the photo, back left. |
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| Aspi-Titter Suspension Bridge |
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| On the Aspi-Titter Suspension Bridge |
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| We still had to walk another hour or more to the bus in Fieschertal. The sun came out right about when our hike was finished! |
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| 10-km hike takes about 3.5 hours because you have to go carefully on the descent. |
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| On the train ride down the Goms Valley to the Rhone Valley, where we were spending the night in an apartment in Eischoll |
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| Evening light as we arrive at our apartment, this is the view over the mountain village of Eischoll, Northeastward up the Rhone Valley. |
