Männlichen - Kleine Scheidegg 2016 & closed trails

Hi ! My family (husband and 3 kids ages 17,15, and 12, and I) will be coming to Switzerland from the States from June 19 - 29. I grew up in the States but my father is from Switzerland and I have visited Switzerland many times throughout the years . This is the first time we are coming with the kids ! We wanted to do some hiking while we are here. From looking at webcams, this site, regional sites - I have a couple questions:

1) It seems the snow coverage this year on the higher elevation trails is on the later side - is this accurate ?

2) Any predictions on when the walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg will open ? Of course I know no one can predict - but a guess based on other years with similar snow coverage ? I am following the "open trails in the Jungfrau region" link, but I would love to know the latest in the season anyone can remember it opening .

3) When a trail is listed as closed (ie rotenboden to riffelsee to riffelberg) - is it barricaded off or is it "go on your own risk" ? I know there is a recent thread on Zermatt hikes, but I am asking more about what "closed" means. We are experienced hikers with proper clothing, etc...(and I won't be cavalier, especially with our kids) but I am just curious :-)

Thank you so much !

Welcome juliteuscher!

1) Yes, that's correct.

2) Currently it's closed. I would expect it to open the coming weeks, but I don't have more information. Normally (on average) it would have been open by now. Theoretically, at that elevation, trails can open in May, but close again in July. It's rare, but not impossible.

3) No one will prevent you from going anywhere, there are no fences or anything like that. But it would not be a smart move to be honest. Snowy trails can be dangerous, and there could be other reasons to close trails too (landslides, collapsed bridges). There are plenty of trails at lower elevations as well, so I'd strongly recommend to stick to those if the higher ones are inaccessible.

I hope this helps!

Thank you so much for your quick reply. We won't take any risks on closed trails, especially since we are going with our kids ! :-) - but I was just curious and appreciate what you have said (and have noted it.)

<<"We are experienced hikers with proper clothing, etc...(and I won't be cavalier, especially with our kids) but I am just curious :-) ">>

Make sure that you have hiking staffs... good shoes or, better, boots.

Slowpoke

We do have all that you have stated, but I will make sure we err on the side of caution. And, by the way - I love the photos you shared on the thread about where to take a good photo of Lauterbrunnen - they are stunning. Thank you for posting them.

Glad you like the pictures. Nice thing about Switzerland....it is hard to get a bad picture.

I posted a bunch from the Männlichen- KS trail recently, but can't remember in which thread.

If I can't find the thread, I'll post them again.

I was up there (Männlichen) on June 15th in 2015 with my grandson.

The trail was open, but the promised short opening in the clouds turned out to be true but insufficient for good visibility. So, we did not take that hike.

There was still a lot of snow around, and the trail ....we did start along it.... was quite wet. Snow melt from above was plentiful.

So, we came down, went to Mürren for lunch....still fogged/clouded in to the point of very poor visibility. Went to Brienz, walked up the main street to Jobin, where I got another music box for my granddaughters collection. Fantastic wood carving there. Brienz is famous for it. Jobin is the biggest and best name.

Slowpoke

Hi Juliteuscher-

For more pictures along the Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg trail, scroll down in this thread:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/lucerneaccom modationitinerary

Slowpoke

Interesting link for Teuschers...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ L%C3%B6tschberg_railwa y_line

Read down a few paragraphs. You will see:

<<"A retired member of the cantonal government and judge, Wilhelm Teuscher

studied route options and concluded that the current route was

feasible.">>

Slowpoke

Again, beautiful photos - thank you for the link. We will see what the weather does in the next few weeks.

Yes, interesting tidbit for Teuschers in that link - thank you again. Teuscher is my maiden name - no denying my Swiss heritage on my father's side !

If you cannot hike at the altitude of the Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg Trail, here is a trail that we have enjoyed many times:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/bls-sudrampe-trail

It has enough variety (as well as food half way along the trip from Hohtenn to Ausserberg) that perhaps the teenagers will not get bored. ;-). Since the management changed hands a few years ago, the beer garden above Raron has been fancied up a little bit. Last several visits there, surprisingly, no Kartoffelsalat, and the Rösti are very very full of onions and are not really the best, in my opinion. I always ask for "keine Zwiebeln, bitte" or skip them.

From Spiez to Hohtenn is 50 minutes via Kandersteg, of course. It will take a while to get out to Spiez.......

Attached is a screen grab for June 23.

Slowpoke

Yesterday I saw some people walking on the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg route, so I thought I would check it out today. From Mannlichen it said "track closed due to avalanche and rockfall risk". We went past the closed track sign, the track looked ok initially, with ice banks either side of the track. As we neared the area below the Tschuggen peak, the track ahead was basically cut into snow and ice for quite a way towards Kleine Scheidegg. There were two obvious rock slides that blocked the track further on. We probably could have continued but discretion is the better part of valour, so we turned back.

We have been in the Jungfrau area for 2 weeks doing walks, mainly on the lower routes as the higher routes are closed. We started to think that not much effort was being made to open the higher tracks, or that the tracks were not being checked to see if they were ready to be opened. However, it was obvious that work was being done on this route. I now know that if a track is closed, it is closed for a good reason.

From what I saw, I would say it would be a few weeks before this track is opened.

Many thanks for your useful update!

Hi Mrsylky -

The update is very useful. Thanks.

<<"From what I saw, I would say it would be a few weeks before this track is opened.">>

The shaded place by Tschuggen is always the problem.

You may be surprised how quickly they can clear those obstacles, but the issue is whether more will appear..at least until more of the snow has melted.

Sometimes there are also heavy snow drifts very near to Kleine Scheidegg.

Slowpoke

Thank you for this detailed information - definitely one to consider ! We will see what the weather does in the next week !

Thank you Mrsylky and Slowpoke for all your input ! I literally just got off the Mannlichen panoramic webcam and I actually can not believe how much the snow has melted this past week - wow ! We will watch and see what the weather does in the next few weeks. Even if we can't do the walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg - that is ok. I am happy that the "Royal Walk" is open and the fantastic views can still be enjoyed. I also remember the area right below Kleine Scheidegg is beautiful (Wengeralp) and we can walk that along with the many other trails that are open.

We will be staying in Wengen while we are in the B/O region and then in the Valais region the rest of the time we visit. I am actually more familiar with the Pennine Alps since that is where I have spent a lot of time on my visits throughout the years. I am also watching a couple of the hikes in that region as far as snow goes ...but regardless - the unmatched beauty of the Alps will be enjoyed by us whether we are at a high or low elevation ! :-)

Thank you again !

You are absolutely right: you will have a great time, there are plenty of trails to enjoy! Please find some trail suggestions for the Valais here: www.myswissalps.com/va lais/activities.

For what it's worth - I noticed the Panorama Trail / Männlichen - Kleine Scheidegg is open today, despite the layer of snow they received last night !...I know there are several people who have been posting (including me) that are arriving in the Jungfrau region this coming week... And, MeteoSwiss is predicting a warming trend next week as well - of course realzing you can't know the weather details this far in advance but the "trend" is probably accurate... looking forward to arriving in beautiful Switzerland this coming weekend - we are staying mainly in Valais (Crans Montana is our base) with a few nights in Wengen later next week :-) . Thank you again for all your input !

Thanks for your update, have a great time!

Good luck.

Sounds like you might have a chance for the Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg walk.

Slowpoke