Hut to hut hiking in Bernese Oberland in July

Hi,

With two friends I am planning a hut to hut hike from June 30- July 7 and I would love some recommendations. We are in good physical shape and would like to hike between huts where there are great views and hopefully not too many people. We're prepared to hike between 8-12 miles per day and prefer more remote simple mountain huts.

Do you have recommendations for a nice loop the goes from different huts? We fly in and out of Milan on June 29 and returning July 8, so plan to take the train to Interlaken or Kiental.

We are thinking of doing part of the Via Alpina, and sleeping one night in Rotstock hut and night 2 ending at the Obersteinberg Inn (if we can still get a spot).

We're also interested in the hiking the Eiger trail, and possibly around Lake Oeschinensee.

Do you have any recomendations for routes that include some of these highlights or others we should look into?

Thank you!

Virginie

Hi Guys,

A Swiss Adventure, you've picked the right place! The Oberland has some of the best placed huts in Switzerland for hikers.

If you start in Mürren, you could go to the Rotstockhütte, then rather than go to the Obersteinberg, cross the Sefinenfurgge pass and hike to the Gspalthornhütte. If you time it right, it should be open. It opens on the 1st July. Stay a night there before dropping down to Greisalp. From Griesalp you can then climb towards the Blümlissalphütte for a night and continue on towards Kandersteg via Oeschinensee. This route is spectacular but also very strenuous. If you want to make it a bit easier, from Griesalp, take the Post Bus to Reichenbach, then the train to Kandersteg, or you can walk from Griesalp to Kiental, which is on the way, and take the bus from there. You can get to Oeschinensee from Kandersteg.

The normal caveats apply. Everything depends on the weather. It can (and does) snow at any tine of year at these altitudes. In sunny weather watch out for sun burn. Book ahead, I know you wanted somewhere with good views, but with good views come more people and the huts can get booked out. I don't know what the Cell/Mobile/Handy coverage is like, but have the rescue number, just in case. The general number is 112. For helicopter rescue dial 1414.

This map shows the path to Giesalp.

www.edwinwandert.com/w p-content/uploads/2015/0 8/Kartenausschnitt-Gspaltenhornh%C3%BCtte -pdf.pdf

If you prefer a paper map, the topographic maps published by the Bundesamt Für Landestopographie are a marvel. The 1:50000 scale map 'Berner Oberland'. Blatt (sheet) 5004 gives an excellent overview of the Oberland. For more detail, check out the 1:25000 Mürren sheet 1248.

I hope this gives you some ideas. You're going to have a Grand Time!

Alan

I can't add anything to the excellent reply by Alan, except that you can find the paper maps here: www.myswissalps.com/hi king/maps

Thank you both very much for your tips! I need to take a closer look at the maps to see how that all works out, but it's very helpful.

Just curious about Obersteinberg, is it worth it or not? It seemed like a nice place to stop, but I see you suggest skipping it, so just curious to know why (again I need to look more closely at the map, perhaps it just does not make sense geographically).

Merci!

Virginie

Hi Virginie,

I suggested skipping obersteinberg because it takes you too far up the Lauterbrunnen Valley. You would have to double back to get to the Rotstockhuette. I haven't been that far up the valley so i don't know if it is worth the excursion. If you have the time, maybe you could go and do a report when you get back (a report would be much appreciated in any case). Have a look at Google Maps as well. Use the 3d feature to get a better idea of the topography. Just type in Obersteinberg, Gspaltenhorn, etc and you'll be able to work out where all the key points are, relative to each other.

Alan

Thank you very much Alan.

Yes, I'll be sure to post a report after our trip.

Best,

Virginie