72625 posts
I don’t recommend high altitude walking in April.
April is the ‘awkward’ month in the Swiss alps as the snow is on its way out but the summer green has not arrived.
I once tried to follow a ‘Winterwanderweg’ in April and it was not great fun as there was a huge variation – mixture of slush, deep wet snow, puddles of melted snow, mud etc at different points along the way Some parts were dangerously slippery – other were dry as a bone.
As such you are in between the season when there are official winter paths with cleared snow and dray summer paths through the meadows.
803 posts
Hi Jason
According to the Jungfrau website, winter hiking trails including Mannlichen to KS are maintained from the first of December until the end of March. So i would expect 1960man’s description of the trail to be typical for April but if you try the very first of April it might still be passable.
mark
72625 posts
Hi Jason,
My experience with hiking in between seasons is to always check with a combination of the local tourist office / webcams and weather forecast, in order to avoid issues like those 1960man is describing.
The higher up you go the riskier it is that there will be snow/slush/mud or a combination around that time of the year. Perhaps it is best to map a few hikes in your area of interest and then check when you arrive there?
We have a hiking guide here where you can search hikes by area and level of difficulty: http://www.myswissalps.com/hi king
Hope this helps!!
Maria.
72625 posts
Thanks for everyone’s practical advice.
I think I will go for some hiking trails at lower altitude.