UKC

I have to be in Winterthur / Zurich in early June and have a short weekend free. I don't know Switzerland at all.

I'm after suggestions for a longish one day walk / run starting from Engelberg.

Or are there better bases? Easy access by train is a requirement.

In reply to Mark Torrance:

on the other side of the valley from Titlis, there's a fair big circular route if I remember rightly. I ran half of it a couple of years back but headed back at one of the huts as I'd headed out far too late. Sorry I'm no more help than that but I don't even have a map for the area. I like Engelberg, I'll be back there myself this summer.

In reply to mrchewy:

Thanks very much. Could you identify the route from this?

http://tinyurl.com/k3suzp6

In reply to Mark Torrance:

Some ideas/info (swiss resident):
To get into the mountains, cable cars and buses as well as trains are useful, www.sbb.ch will give the bus links as well, if not cable cars. To hire a taxi to get from a train station up to a trailhead can be a good option as well.

For a short weekend, maybe somewhere a bit closer to Zürich than Engelberg would be better. The area on the north side of the Walensee (south east from the Zurichsee) under the sheer faces of the Churfirsten peaks is quite spectacular and has some options, here from my experience (but done as hikes, not running):
-Walensee north shore traverse Weesen-Walenstadt (or the other way), 5-6hr hike, ca.700m ascent or more depending on route (not always by the lake shore!), straightforward for running, mostly good paths.
-Shortish circular hike around Walenstadtburg (bus from Walenstadt), above north east end of lake
-Long hike over Hinderugg from Walenstadtburg, descent on other side or return over Nideri (col further east) but potentially excessive descent to the valley from Lüsis (1900m descent in the day, 1500 ascent).

For quick access to high ground the following spring to mind in the Glarner Alpen, south of the Walensee (but not much closer than Engelberg now):
-Area around the Stausee Garichti, "Mettmenalp": train to Schwanden, bus up to "Kies (Niederental)" (written "Chis" on the map you linked), cable car up to Mettmenalp pt.1608.
-Area above Braunwald: train to Linthal, funicular to Braunwald, chair lifts to Gumen pt.1901 at the foot of the Eggstock, some mountain huts in the area to stay at.

You should not be short of options, I guess it depends a bit how rough you want the running to be.

Richard

In reply to rlrs:

Thanks Richard. Walensee looks quicker to get to, and good.

Maybe hitch to Lusis > Nideri > Hinderugg > loop below cliffs back to Walenstadtburg? http://tinyurl.com/k3suzp6

Am I likely to find snow on Hinderugg in early June (of a form that can't be handled in fell shoes)?

In reply to Mark Torrance:

I did the route in the other direction than you suggest and was lucky enough to be offered a lift on the way down from Lüsis, but I wouldn't bank on being able to hitch on the way up: a taxi would be the best bet. Another option would be to descend on the north side of Hinterrugg and take the cable car down from Alp Sellamatt (pt.1390) to Alt St. Johann, in which case the way up from Walenstadtberg is much more interesting than from Lüsis (although the landscape on the north side of Nideri is very interesting). If you're free to choose where you stay, this makes some sense, and it's not impossible to get back to Zurich from there.

June should be ok regarding snow, I have the feeling there may still be some in sheltered gully-like features, i.e. in places in the "Valsloch" on the south side of Chäserrugg, but unlikely to be impassable, and there hasn't been so much snow this year. One must check at the time of course. Current status from webcam at Chäserrugg (next to Hinterugg), not the best view ever:
http://www.bergbahnentoggenburg.ch/fileadmin/webcams/chaeserrugg/webarchiv/

The website hikr is good for trip reports (mostly in German though), e.g.:
1)Tour on the north side from March
http://www.hikr.org/tour/post77874.html
2)The way up from Walenstadtberg:
http://www.hikr.org/tour/post72370.html
In this report note the picture of the signpost, the caption "P.1543, wir wählen die Blau-Weisse" indicates the blue-white path (harder than the red-white, in turn harder than the normal yellow paths) giving a shorter but more difficult/exposed route. This point and path you can see on the map, the point is east of the hut at Alp Tschingla. I went this way in ascent and I remember a short steep section using tree routes for balance, not really difficult, then a slightly awkward/exposed traverse over the hillside, which would be dodgy if not snow free and dry. Blue/white paths can be much more serious than this though, especially on the steep, grassy terrain of this area.

Have fun!

Richard