[Removed user]

21 January 2018 at 18:29:58 #814103

Hello, My family and I are looking for information, insights and ideas about doing a 7-10 day trek around Lauterbrunnen region mid to end of July. We are in the beginning stages of planning, so we are open to other areas too. Our kids are 13 and 9 years old, pretty athletic, and used to altitude. If anyone has thoughts on if this is doable with kids or where to go, we are much appreciative!

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[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 19:10:11 #874853

Hi Krowell-

Sounds great.

If your not familiar with Switzerland, there is a lot of useful stuff here:

http://www.myswissalps.com/ge ttingstarted

Here’s a start on the SAC Huts:

http://www.sac-cas.ch/en.html

Are you familiar withe the online map resources for the region?

There are several…some very detailed. Let us know if you want more information about them.

This web site has a useful link for the area:

http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

Follow the contained links for more detail.

This bit of light reading is good on hikes in the area. Kim, the author, hikes a lot:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/tips-about-wengen-and-the-jungfrau-region-by-kim

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

21 January 2018 at 19:47:55 #874854

Thank you Slowpoke.

We did live in ChamBlanc,VD for two years, so we are familiar with Swiss travel, but we had young kids at the time and never got to the hut to hut hikes. Thank you for the resources. I’ve been diving into the SAC website. I’ll follow up with reading Kim’s blog.

Cheers.

krowell

[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 21:23:10 #874855

Hi krowell. –

I was more concerned about hiking maps. I just threw in the general information link as a routine procedure.

This site has a few threads on the topic of hut to hut hiking.

Use the search box and enter “hut to hut.”

Do you know SchweizMobil?

See the discussion here:

http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/itinerary-advice-8/page/3

on the Via Alpina through the Jungfrau region. Check my post on January 18 at 1204.

Actually, a good portion of that thread relates to hiking maps.

You already know about die Wanderwege, so some is redundant.

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 21:29:55 #874856

Hi ktrowell-

<<“We did live in ChamBlanc,VD”>>

I can’t find it. My maps keeps sending over near Besancon.

What is it near?

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 21:33:13 #874857

Here is another resource:

http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/alpine-huts-sac.html

My Switzerland is the Federation’s tourist office.

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

21 January 2018 at 21:55:49 #874858

Hello,

We lived close to Chavannes de Bogis.

Thanks again for the information. Super helpful.

Anything else you run across is very much appreciated!

cheers,

Krowell

[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 22:50:12 #874859

<<“We lived close to Chavannes de Bogis. “>>

One of my colleagues at Geneva was a frontalier. He lived in Divonne-les- Bains.

Before our labs were in Meyrin, they were in Versoix.. Used to eat lunch at the restaurant Vieux-Port, in the old days when it was especially good.

Another friend has a place near Begnins. We’ve eaten lake fish at a restaurant specializing in fresh fish from the lake,in Gland, near the lake.

http://www.hotel-restaurant-de-la-plage.ch/en

Stayed a couple of nights at a simple inn in Celigny when I had to work in Geneva during the time of the Geneva Auto show at the last minute, and there were no rooms to be had closer to Geneva..

Nice part of the world. It was nice of Napoleon to give it away, don’t you think?

<<“Anything else you run across is very much appreciated!”>>

Glad it is helpful. I’ll keep my eyes open.

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

21 January 2018 at 23:44:47 #874860

Check out this map.

Open the menus and turn on “Hiking Trails.” You can also use “aerial view”

map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLa yer=ch.swisstopo.pixel karte-farbe&layers=ch.bav.ha ltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swiss tlm3d-wanderwege&layers_visi bility=false,false&E=2 501957.50&N=1132457.50 &zoom=8

Obvious potential for the Jungfrau region.

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

22 January 2018 at 11:13:35 #874861

<<“<<“Anything else you run across is very much appreciated!”>>”>>

1.-Classic. describes/mentions all the huts as part of the descriptions of various trails.

Walking in the Alps by Kev Reynolds.

ISBN 1-56656-343-7

2.- The Bernese Alps- a Walkers Guide

Cicerone books

Kev Reynolds is the author.

Lists a zillion hikes individually.

ISBN 1-85284-451-5

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

22 January 2018 at 13:39:10 #874862

If you are looking for the true mountain hut environment (vs pensions, etc), my impression from my former climbing days is that with a few exceptions, Swiss huts are positioned at high elevations as launching points for technical climbers who wish to summit major peaks. This means they generally don’t string together well for multi-day hiking, and you find yourself going up to a high point to hut 1, then descending to a valley and moving laterally to the next hike up to hut 2. (Or, you do glacier crossings– not recommended for the untrained.) Great exercise and wonderful environments, but not necessarily what the average hiker is seeking.

If you aren’t insisting on true mountain huts and are willing to stay in pensions and hotels along the way, then you can stay at a lower elevation and it all works.

BTW, a place where hut to hut hiking does seem to work well, at a lower altitude, is the Tirol in Austria. They have a super system of mountain huts at reasonable elevations (1500- 2000 m) and connected to one another by direct routes. Check out the Adlerweg, for example.

Apologies to everyone for plugging a non-Swiss alternative on this website.

NTL

[Slowpoke]

22 January 2018 at 14:43:30 #874863

<<“Apologies to everyone for plugging a non-Swiss alternative on this website.”>>

Hi NTL

You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. 😉

Thanks for the very useful perspective on the huts.

It you hike the national routes, or the via Alpina, does that fit your category of “better connected with available accommodations” that you described?

<<“If you aren’t insisting on true mountain huts and are willing to stay in

pensions and hotels along the way, then you can stay at a lower

elevation and it all works.”>>

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

22 January 2018 at 17:33:32 #874864

Hi NTL-

<<”

If you aren’t insisting on true mountain huts and are willing to stay in pensions and hotels along the way, then you can stay at a lower elevation and it all works.”>>

Second reply-

Do you think that these national routes fit your definition of “lower elevation, etc.?

http://www.schweizmobil.ch/en /hiking-in-switzerland/routes/nat ional-routes.html

Each of the links has further links with a lot of information about interesting places and accommodation as well as height profiles for each stage, and detailed map.

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

22 January 2018 at 18:14:38 #874865

<<“Anything else you run across is very much appreciated!”>>

Here’s another one.

100 Hut Walks in the Alps, by, you guessed it, Kev Reynolds.

Possibly, you can find it someplace other than Amazon if you wish.

smile.amazon.com/100-Hut-Walks-Alps-multi-day/dp/1852847530/ref= sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516644612 &sr=8-1&keywords=kev+reynold s+walking+in+the+alps

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

23 January 2018 at 3:06:12 #874866

Slowpoke– Going back to your question a couple of levels up, yes, if you hike the Via Alpina (as I am this summer, coincidentally), you won’t be staying in mountain huts (with maybe a couple of exceptions), but rather in Gasthauser, Pensionen, Hotels, etc. All fine, but not the classic alpine hut that I understood Krowell was looking for (not to mention a lot more expensive).

Forum members who are in country can maybe confirm this, but given the massive amount of snow falling in the Alps this winter, I wonder if the high elevation huts (c. 2500- 3000m) will even be accessible before August.

NTL