UKC

Just booked to stay close to Meiringen in Bernese Oberland for a couple weeks in summer

Very interested in biggish easy mountains, easy long trad rock climbs, mountain via ferrata 

what's good?

thanks 

John

In reply to John Kelly:

Loads to go for. We rock climbed for two weeks, a liking for granite slabs useful at times.

Gerstenegg

Tällistock - Susten pass

Steingletscher

Sommerloch

Mittagfluh

Räterichsboden

Tschorrenflue

Didn’t do any peaks but they seemed popular. we did wander along the traverse path under the eiger north face on a bad weather day. Free parking at the start point nothing else is cheap there!

In reply to John Kelly:

Grimselpass and Sustenpass are close by. Mostly bolted though although the odd route feels friendlier with a bit of gear. 

Ferratas at Tällistock Via Ferrata (VF4A) and Little Wall (VD)Tierberglihütte Klettersteig (VF3B)

Plaisir Guides cover these areas. I think most are now in Plaisir West 1. If you don't want to part with lots of CHF for the guidebook then Vertical Life (app) can be paid for on monthly basis so a lot cheaper than buying 2 books. 

Lots of great walking too. Plus you have to try meringue in Meriringen I ran down from Hasliberg and had giant meringue and coffee for breakfast

In reply to Mike-W-99:

Thanks Mike 

The Tallistock looks good but maybe just via ferrata as the routes are a bit beyond me and I don't often get chance to clip a bolt

Considering a 4000m peak if I can find one with a reasonable objective risk

Prices, I'm worried, went Slovenia last year which was dead reasonable

In reply to John Kelly:

I’m crap, only did the ferratta there! Worth it for the rather unique ‘gondola’ up the hill. We walked down!

In reply to Fiona Reid:

Just read the logbook comments for ' tierberg....VF'  another possibility and maybe on to the peak beyond.

Will check out the Plaisier W

Thank you 

John

In reply to Mike-W-99:

Can't beat a bit of summer holiday VF, perfect for family trip, clip the kids on and forget about them 😁

In reply to John Kelly:

If you've got a car then Sarnen (north of Meriringen) has a Lidl and an Aldi which helps keep the costs down. 

Alternatively if you take our approach, fly to Basel, buy as much food as possible in France and then drive to Meriringen. Most food is about half the price in France compared to Switzerland. 

In reply to Fiona Reid:

Flying to Geneva and picking up a car, problem is 3 ravenous kids, I struggle to lift the weekly shop but will get what we can before crossing the border

In reply to John Kelly:

If you were looking for for two countries where prices are diametrically opposed, congratulations, with Slovenia and Switzerland you’ve hit the jackpot. 

In reply to John Ww:

Thanks JW, I think😁

In reply to John Kelly:

If you look easy routes plus beautiful walks :the standard route of the Dossen from the Dossenhuette plus descent through the valley towards Innertkirchen.

Spent some time at Engelhoernerhuette.

After living in Switzerland for last 20 years food prices seem ok  

check out Migros website the most popular supermarket in Switzerland for food prices before you go  

https://www.migros.ch/de.html

For example 0.5 kilo of pasta for 2 Swiss francs....

In reply to dhuhkosi:

2 CHF is about £1.58 that's a lot more than you'd pay in the UK for 500gr of dry pasta unless you're going for M&S or Waitrose type stuff.

My mate lives in Switzerland and also doesn't find the prices too £££ but then he gets paid in CHF and that makes all the difference. 

In reply to Fiona Reid: I was just trying to be helpful to give an impression on food prices if you find it too expensive then Switzerland is not for you....your choice, no?

In reply to dhuhkosi:

Apologies if I caused any offence, the link is definitely useful, thank you

I'm also well aware of what things cost in Switzerland having taken several holidays there in the last 4 years (Hasliberg, Andermatt, Salvan and Martigny).

It's a brilliant place to visit with some awesome climbing. If you're savvy then it needn't bankrupt you. FWIW, we generally opt to cook for ourselves, try to buy groceries either in France or go to Lidl/Aldi to keep the costs down.

In reply to John Kelly:

Errr, unless my geography fails me, Geneva airport is in Switzerland, and so is Meiringen, and at no point in the journey between the two would you cross the border into France...

In reply to John Ww:

Good point, we generally head south into France but I agree the most direct line to Meiringin is entirely in Switzerland, might have to do a very small detour. Thanks

In reply to John Kelly:

I would suggest

Out of the airport, take the A1 / E25 towards Lausanne

Exit at Jn 10 (Coppet) west onto the

D15 (Rte de Divonne)

Over the border into France (just depends how the Swiss border guards are felling on the way back in)

Take 3rd exit at roundabout onto Av. du Crete d'eau to the Carrefour supermarket.

Hope that helps, JW

In reply to John Ww:

Spot on

Thank you 

In reply to John Kelly:

Just remembered that the big hydro tunnels near the mittagfluh are well worth a visit if the weather is gash.

All in german but our guide would give us the occasional translation of the less easy to understand bits.

In reply to Mike-W-99:

Thanks Mike,

I've got shed load maps and couple of guidebooks arriving by next weekend so be able to tie all this good info to locations and work out some options 

Cheers John

In reply to John Kelly:

I’d definitely make the trip to the Trummelbach Falls in the Lauterbrunnen valley - I can still remember being completely stunned  by them when I was a 7 year old boy. It’s about a 40 minute drive from Meiringen.

In reply to John Kelly:

Biggish easy mountains... there are 9 4000ers in the Bernese Alps, and none of them are easy! If you discount taking the train up to the Jungfraujoch and doing the Mönch or the Jungfrau (not to be recommended: acclimatization problems are guaranteed if you've not prepared, there's a very high accident rate, and it's damned expensive) then all the summits are remote and involve long walk ins and a lot of vertical metres. That having been said, the situation of all of them is magnificent!

Two you might consider are the Gross Grünhorn and the Gross Fiescherhorn; both are technically not difficult. The normal routes on the Schreckhorn and Finsteraarhorn are magnificent, but a step up in difficulty. Stay away from the normal route (West Flank) of the Eiger (not quite a 4000er); route finding is notoriously difficult, especially on the descent, and if the clouds roll in (frequent) it turns into a potentially deadly chosspile.

You might like to consider the Blümlisalp (3667m) on the NW corner of the area; there's a well-placed hut, and the more exposed sections on the normal route have metal belay stakes. Doable in two days from Meiringen, you shouldn't have big acclimatization problems, and technically not difficult. If you want more, there's the traverse of all three peaks (Blümlisalphorn, Weisse Frau and Morgenhorn) - technically harder and a very long day out, but supposedly brilliant (I haven't done it). 

In reply to McHeath:

Thanks - not massively important that it's 4000m, looking for 'safe' glacier, low objective danger, probably aim to be up and down in a day and quite happy to give up if it's all too much, only really been up to 3800, Blümlisalp might be just the thing.

West flank of Eiger doesn't appeal, reading an account recently and IIRC they climbed the 1938 route but had a mad epic on the descent

John

In reply to John Kelly:

Salbitschijen

We went here rock climbing, it was a really nice place. I think theres something for most people. 

Theres plenty of multipitch stuff around, some bolted, some less so. 

As stated before, not so easy on a shoestring, but cost isnt everything.

Enjoy

In reply to Kevster:

I've heard people rave about the south ridge, hadn't realized that it's within range, probably going to be a bit tough for a family day out but it can go in the possible pile 

Thanks John 

Edit PS - seems to be shed load of HVS with an E1 crux too hard for me

In reply to Kevster:

 

It's posible to make it reasonable though it probably involves a degree of 'local' knowledge.

I'm more familiar with the Interlaken area of the lakes, but for example of the top of my head:

The beach at the nort-east end of the Thun lake at Unterseen is free and has free parking, both pretty unique features for Switzerland and and a great place to enjoy a few hours on a sunny day.

Free parking is hard to find in towns. Usually best to park just outside and have a little walk. Don't be tempted to catch the bus or you'll get a nasty surprise.

Prices in Lidl are almost reasonable, Migros are not amazing, coop is to be avoided. One exception, the Coop by the tourist office in the centre of IL has a hot counter of snacks and lunch food which are susprisingly well priced. Grab a snack there and sit in the square outside to watch the paragliders flying over and listen to buskers playing music.

There's BBQ spots located all around in picturesque loctions, they are very well equiped and have free wood to use. Great places to go in the evening and cook stuff bought at Lidl.

Wine, beer and alcohol in general is cheap. Noticeably premium scotch can be had cheaper than in the UK. Grab your choice and take it with you for that BBQ and after-tipple.

Coffee is ridiculously expensive. Take it with you from the UK.

Cable cars are expensive, but it's not always necessary to book the full hog. For example a grand day out is to take the lift only half-way up Stockhorn, have a beautiful stroll to the col, climb one (or several) of the high quality routes up to the summit, enjoy some of the best views in the Oberland, walk back down to the halfway lake, have some food that you stashed there before heading up, and then walk back to the bottom through the forest trails.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Thanks really helpful advice, will have a look at Stockhorn, turns out there are 2 of them one above Zermatt

 Coffee fiend, hold bagage

In reply to John Kelly:

Ah, the one above Thun i mean. About a 45 minute drive from Meiringen.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

Yes found it but will have to await guide book (weekend) to check routes, thanks John

In reply to John Kelly:

Some ideas in the Sustenpass:

Biggish easy mountains: Sustenhorn or Grassen from the Tierberglihütte / Sustlihütte respectively (not done either).  The approach to the Tierberglihutte even has a via-ferrata (klettersteig in this part of the world)

See hikr for trip-reports:

https://www.hikr.org/dir/Sustenhorn_5284/ ...etc

Easy long trad rock climbs are hard to come by in this area, easy long climbs on bolts with abseil descents are available. This easy long rock climb on the Trotziggplanstock you at least have to scramble off, also from the Sustlihütte (did part of it, years ago):

Suedgrat (AD)

Note that the crag marker for the Trotzigplanggstock is/was too far west, I have requested it be moved east to c.1.4km due north of the Sustlihütte. Also, the climb does technically finish on the Wichelplanggstock, on the extension of the ridge.

The Südgrat on the Undertalstock climb a bit further west looks nice too:

Steingletscher

Away from the Sustenpass, the klettersteig on the Schwarzhorn, north-east of Grindelwald, is a nice short day (if using the cable-car! Maybe you can get a tourist card that lets you use them free/cheap, being very optimistic!) with great views of the Eiger etc. (did it twice, years ago). Or if you can manage the walk in from the valley, they generally have scooter-bikes you can descend on (for a price, most likely).

In reply to rlrs:

Thank you, more options the better, I've now got guides and maps of the area, as you say not much trad but easy bolted routes to modest peak would be great for me, the 4000m peaks look fairly challenging and I may not bother, I'm interested in a via ferrata that wanders around the bottom Eiger.

Sustenhorn looks good

Struggling with the German guides

In reply to John Kelly:

One more daytrip to a biggish mountain would be Galenstock (3580), where you start from Furkapass and the glacier part is negligible. The ridges around Sidelenhut are bolted albeit alpine style, so you need at least a small rack. Furkahorn and Bielenhorn come to mind. 

In reply to John Ww:

Geneva airport is in both France and Switzerland, when going to Chamonix I would normally fly to the Swiss bit, go to the French bit to rent a car (much cheaper) and then avoid the Swiss motorways to avoid buying a vignette.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Many years ago I bought some fags in the airport, unfortunately on the Swiss side , got back to Britain and they wanted to throw me in jail, importing from outside EU, they were quite cross 😁

In reply to tjekel:

Galenstock looks spot on in terms of difficulty and distance - the normal route isn't in my guide so a bit more research

Furkapass - good jumping off point 

thanks 

John

In reply to John Kelly:

https://www.summitpost.org/galenstock/150839

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

True enough, but the OP isn't going to France/Cham, he's going to Meiringen, and avoiding the Swiss motorways might be a tad difficult.