Saturday 29 August 2009 - Path Bagging in Kandersteg

The summertime visitor to Kandersteg with his/her eyes on a good hike or 60 could do worse than head straight for the Tourist Information Office and splash out CHF 18.50 on a customised 1:25000 scale map 'Kandersteg Wanderkarte'. This extracts the relevant sections from four standard 1:25000 maps to centre the map just south of Kandersteg, leaving the visitor fully equipped with just this one excellent sheet.

Imposed on the face of the map are numbers 1 to 60, representing 60 routes varying from short walks in Kandersteg village to multi-day Alpine excursions requiring ropes and ice axes. The back of the map is crammed with information, including descriptions for all 60 of the routes. Tourist Information kindly provide an English translation, so it seems reasonable to start 'bagging' these routes. We are (ie I am) aiming for 20 during our short stay here. And if we return one day to find some of them deleted and new ones in their place, I for one - in true Munroist spirit - will not be at all upset!

We also have Kev Reynolds' excellent walker's guide to the Bernese Alps (Cicerone), but for a holiday based in Kandersteg the above map and translated route guide is all that most people would need.

Yesterday's circuit gained two ticks on the list, and this morning's short stroll to Höh, less than 200 metres above the village, gained another.

The low cloud lifted as we lunched in the sunshine outside the apartment, so this afternoon we took the Allmenalp cablecar (a small DIY affair) up to 1700 metres, to 'bag' two more routes as we rose a further 100 metres, with fine views across the valley to Öeschinensee, before a gentle 700 metre descent back home.

The cablecar trip afforded us a good view of route 56. We won't be doing that on this visit. We had a bird's eye view of both its Tyrolean Traverses (which on closer inspection appear to be optional) - it's a Via Ferrata (Klettersteig) of the harder variety, and we have left our zypers at home.

Allmenalp is a mecca for paragliders - yesterday we could see masses of them from across the valley. But today we were alone in the small cablecar; very few 'fliers' were out due we presume to unfavourable weather conditions, though the ones we did see looked fine.

Despite the promise of a sunny afternoon, it never really materialised; the cloud lifted but it remained dull. So today's image is a rather boring snapshot taken in Kandersteg village during our short spell of sunshine.

The journey here did Sue's muscle problem no good at all, but after two days in situ she reports that it is benefiting from some good books (thank you Susan and Hazel), light exercise, mountain air and sunshine. 

Next day