Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
2:4 Val de Nendaz
2:5 Val d’Hérémence
2:6 Val d’Hérens
2:7 Val de Moiry
2:8 Val d’Anniviers
2:9 Turtmanntal
2:10 Mattertal
2:11 Saastal
2:12 Simplon Pass
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
CHAPTER 3: LEPONTINE AND ADULA ALPS
3:1 Simplon Pass East
3:2 Binntal
3:3 Val Bedretto
3:4 Valle Leventina
3:5 Val Verzasca
3:6 Valle Maggia and its Tributaries
3:7 Valle di Blenio
3:8 Vals Calanca and Mesolcina
3:9 The Northern Valleys
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
CHAPTER 4: BERNINA, BREGAGLIA AND ALBULA ALPS
4:1 Val Madris and the Averstal
4:2 Engadine Valley: Left Bank
4:3 Val Bregaglia
4:4 The Bernina Alps
4:5 The Swiss National Park
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
5:1 Alpes Vaudoises
5:2 Les Diablerets to the Rawil Pass
5:3 The Wildstrubel Massif
5:4 Kandersteg and the Gemmipass
5:5 Blüemlisalp and the Gasterntal
5:6 The Kiental
5:7 Lauterbrunnen Valley
5:8 Grindelwald and the Lütschental
5:9 Haslital and Grimsel Pass
5:10 The Southern Valleys
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
6:1 Uri Alps: Dammastock Group
6:2 North of the Sustenpass: Titlis Group
6:3 Glarner Alps
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
CHAPTER 7: SILVRETTA AND RÄTIKON ALPS
7:1 Silvretta Alps: Lower Engadine
7:2 Silvretta Alps: Prättigau
7:3 Rätikon Alps
7:4 The Alpstein Massif
Access, Bases, Maps and Guides
APPENDIX A: Glossary of Alpine Terms
APPENDIX B: Selective Bibliography
APPENDIX D: The Swiss 4000m Peaks
The lovely Märjelensee reflects mountains on the far side of the Aletschgletscher (Chapter 5:10)
Northeast of the Titlis the Engelbergtal is flanked by the Spannort peaks (Chapter 6:2)
INTRODUCTION
Up there in the sky, to which only clouds belong and birds and the last trembling colours of pure light, they stood fast and hard; not moving as do the things of the sky … These, the great Alps, seen thus, link one in some way to one’s immortality.
Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome
After the Mont Blanc range the Swiss Alps contain the highest and most spectacular mountains in Western Europe, as well as the longest glacier, the greatest number of 4000m summits, and numerous other peaks on which the foundations of alpinism were forged. The 1786 ascent of Mont Blanc by Paccard and Balmat may have signalled the beginnings of alpine interest and activity under a veil of scientific enquiry, but in the same decade the Benedictine monk Father Placidus à Spescha was busy climbing and exploring the Glarner and Adula Alps with an undisguised passion for mountains and mountaineering that is now shared by tens of thousands of visitors who flock to Switzerland in summer and winter alike.
With their rich variety of massifs, their snowpeaks and immense rock faces, their glaciers, lakes and waterfalls, their forests, flower meadows and pastures, the Swiss Alps may justifiably claim to be the quintessential Alps, a love of which is not confined simply to those who walk, climb or ski among them, but also shared by the frail and elderly and those content simply to sit and gaze in wonder. Yet thanks to its mountains, more than a century after Leslie Stephen coined the phrase, Switzerland remains for many the playground of Europe.
The Alps are without question the best known of all the world’s mountains, and those that tower over the valleys of Switzerland count among the most easily recognised by both connoisseur and layman alike. The Matterhorn instantly comes to mind, but it is not the only one, for Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are symbolic of the Oberland, and the graceful buttresses of Piz Palü in the Bernina range, for example, are depicted on calendar and chocolate box with as much frequency as the proverbial edelweiss and flower-hung chalet. Yet familiarity with such mountains should not breed contempt, for the beauty of the Swiss Alps remains a perennial gift for all to admire.
The Ried glacier hangs above the tiny village of Gasenried (Chapter