Leaving the
Lauterbrunnen Valley on Sunday morning, with the sun just starting to
peek over the rocky cliffs that towered above our campsite, we were
excited as today we would be completing our loop over the Bernese
Alps. To mark the occasion we were keen to find one more good walk,
this time from the west of the range and our first destination was
Kandersteg. From here we would be hopping on a train to pass straight
through the mountains to emerge in Goppelstein, right on the fringe
of the Valais region where we had started our loop in Martigny some 2weeks earlier.
Rather than
descend straight into the Valais and seek out a place to stay for the
night we had decided to take a 'detour' and explore an area that had
been recommended to us by Shirley and Robin in Grimentz way back inJune – the Lotschental Valley. The valley was almost entirely cut off until the first railway was built between 1907 and 1913 and tourism has been slow to arrive in the area, so we had been told that it remained
almost unchanged compared to other parts of the Alps where an abundance of cable
cars, restaurants and trains, which make much of the rest of the
Swiss Alps so easily accessible, can also occasionally feel a little
busy. So, turning left as we drove off the train we began the steady
climb through a long tunnel to emerge into bright sunlight at the
foot of the Lotschental. Driving up the valley in the warm sunshine
we admired the mountain ridges that hemmed in the glacial bowl. Not
quite as high as other parts of the Alps (there are no 4000m peaks
visible on the drive), but made equally as spectacular since without
such large permanent snowfields you can appreciate the severity of
their summits which appear razor sharp from the valley floor. The
drive was also quiet, with barely any cars on the road, creating a
very peaceful atmosphere in such fine weather.
Our destination
was a parking area at Fafleralp right at the head of the valley at
1763m, a 400m climb from the train which we reached shortly before
1pm. We found it remarkable to think that just that morning we had
woken up just a few tens of miles to the north of here in a
completely different valley separated by the mass of the Breithorn, apeak which we had approached from the north just 4 days earlier and
now sat looking at it's southern flanks. Also, to the east of where
we sat and just over the head of the Lotschental was the magnificent
Konkordiaplatz, where 3 glaciers meet to form the gigantic Aletsch Glacier we had visited in July. The jigsaw of the Bernese Alps was
starting to feel very familiar to us and it was satisfying to see how
all the pieces fitted together.
After a spot of
lunch we set off to hike a little further up the valley to reach the
Anenhutte at 2358m, perched next to the tongue of the Langgletscher
which sits at the head of Lotschental. It was the first hike in some
time that we could set off in our summer gear and the warmth was a
welcome change. Making our way slowly along the very gently sloping
path, passing small tarns on the way, it took us around an hour to
reach the foot of the real climb to the hut, rising around 400m over
the next kilometre alongside the remnants of the glacial moraine.
Having been able to see the hut and glacier as we had progressed up
the valley, the climb immediately hid our 'prize' away from us as we
sweated up the short, sharp ascent. However, this only made the
arrival all the more rewarding as we were once again treated to the
beautiful view of the glacier stretching right up to the valley head,
but in even closer detail so we could now make out all of the
crevasses and undulations which reveal how massive these ice sheets
still are.
For some reason we
were lucky enough to arrive to find a very handy bench with
absolutely nobody else around. Having passed a fair few people on the
trail we now seemed to be the only people up here and so were able to
sit in the sunshine and enjoy the view just to ourselves for the next
half an hour. It was a very special moment. For our descent we chose
a slightly different route, choosing a path that stayed a little
higher on the southern flank of the valley to give a different
perspective along the entire valley, with the river glistening in the
afternoon sunshine. Perhaps it was the fine weather, or the
excitement of completing the loop of the Bernese Alps, but we both
felt perfectly relaxed and deeply happy here. It really felt like an
unspoilt wilderness and we felt lucky to be here.
Arriving back at
the motorhome at around 5pm we made ready to move on in search of a base
for the night somewhere in the Valais. Today's walk had been just
right for out tired legs. Just long enough to challenge us, but not
exhausting, beautiful along the length of the route and with a
magnificent view at the end.
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