06^Apr Sat
07:30

Saturday seems to be very sunny 😎 - so, who's up for another stage of the Via Alpina? Well… Not me, which is why I'll go from Kiental to Kandersteg with a detour to Öschinensee. Come and join :)

This is basically the stage 1 of the "Lötschberg-Panaromaweg". As teased, I plan to also see a tiny bit of the Öschinensee. Will return to it later on, when doing stage 13 of the Via Alpina (no date as of now).

From Reichenbach in the Kandertal at the beginning of the Kiental valley, Europe’s steepest postbus route leads via Kiental village to Griesalp. Pochtenschlucht gorge, for example, has a gradient of up to 28%. […] The hiking trail starts in Kiental, at the base station of the chairlift. The first 500 altitude metres of the tour are strenuous and take roughly 1 ½ hours, but once you have reached Ramslauenen, the worst is over. […]

As the hike is quite long, I do NOT (❗️) plan to make a lot of stops.

As usual, I'm planning to go to a restaurant for dinner in Kandersteg after the hike - because I'm hardly going to cook at home any more :)

· 🚶 Start point (for the hike): Kiental
· 🏁 Destination: Kandersteg
· ⏳ Duration: about 9 hours of hike (⚠)
· ↔️ Distance: 28 km (⚠️)
· ⬆️ Ascent: 1'668 hm (‼️)
· ⬇️ Descent: 1'452 hm
· ⏬ Lowest point: 926 m
· ⏫ Highest point: 1'688 m

(Note: data taken from swisstopo and LocusMap. Different apps calculate these data differently.)

Equipment

· Hiking poles: Suggested
· Proper boots – long distance!
· Layers of clothes
· Sun protection
· Water: something to drink.
· Picnic: There’ll be a short stop after 50% for eating a bit.
· Money: Nothing special.

Links:

· Telegram Group Chat (🥾 Hiking in Switzerland ⛰️)
· Linktree (collection of links)

Route (GPX):

· LocusMap (click on Export — THIS is the route we're going to go)
· SchweizMobil (the same…)

Public transportation

From Zürich in the morning

Meeting point: You meet in the train IC 1 from platform 31. I will come from Winterthur and rush to the platform. I'll try to reserve seats. As soon as I know where the seats are, I'll update — this will be on the evening before, after 20:00.

1. 07:32 → 08:28, IC 1, Zürich HB - Gl. 31 → Bern - Gl. 3
2. 08:39 → 09:19, RE1, Bern - Gl. 9 → Reichenbach im Kandertal - Gl. 1
3. 09:27 → 09:42, Bus 220, Reichenbach i. K., Bahnhof → Kiental, Ramslauenen

Back from Kandersteg at the evening

It very much depends on the time we arrive at the destination. PLANNED JOURNEY, with reserved seats. There's a connection every 1 hour.

1. 21:15 → 21:44, RE1, Kandersteg - Gl. 1 → Spiez - Gl. 5
2. 21:54 → 22:24, IC 6, Spiez - Gl. 3 → Bern - Gl. 1
3. 22:31 → 23:31, IC 1, Bern - Gl. 10 → Zürich HB - Gl. 13

Tickets

No special offers at the moment.

Make sure to have tickets for the trains/busses.

IMPORTANT
The organizer is not responsible for any bodily injury or other accidents that might happen during the hike. By signing up on this activity, the participants agree that the organizer will not be held responsible in any way. Although the hike is not complicated, it is each individual responsibility to ensure that they can do the hike and check out the trail.