Finally! After rain and clouds had dominated for weeks, there eventually was a heat wave with some nice weather rolling in. Luckily, one of the best days was exactly on the day I had off work, which made it impossible for me to not head out on a hike. :) For quite a while I had thought about scaling the Pilatus once again. Twice, I had done that already, both times on a different route. All good things come in threes though and as there were still plenty of new trails to explore, I opted to scale that mighty mountain once more. Spontaneously, Ulisse, which you might know from our hike to the Legler hut, decided to join in and while that was no problem at all, a small adjustment to the planned route was necessary. Instead of starting in Kriens, we changed the direction and began our walk at the lovely hamlet of Eigenthal, intending to end the hike at the cable car station in Kriens if all went well. Unfortunately however, there was no early bus to Eigenthal and therefore we only started to walk at 9 o’clock on a beautiful Tuesday morning.
Hiking along the main road, the first couple kilometers were flat and served as a nice warm up. While there are many different ways to get to the top of the Pilatus, I had decided to not take the standard route, but instead chose a way that (hopefully) had as many good views of our surroundings as possible. For us, that meant a little bit more ascending, but as it turned out, the additional effort was well worth it. :) So, coming upon the first turnoff, we took a right turn and began to walk upwards on a wide gravel road. Soon we had gained some height and not only the steep ascending slope took our breath away, but also the first proper view that we got towards the Pilatus mountain range.
Passing by a big farm, trees surrounded us before long and glad for the shade, we continued our hike on the relentlessly steep slope. Another reason why I had chosen this route was that I had hoped for some solitude and that was exactly what we got. No one else was on the trail and with the odd farm here and there, the scenery was as idyllic as possible. Taking the shortest way towards the Hirsboden Alp, we left the woods behind for the moment and followed a path through a farming field, always with the impressive Pilatus mountain range ahead of us.
Approaching the Alp, we came upon a turnoff with a signpost pointing in three different directions, but unfortunately none of them had a name written on it that I recognized. Not sure which path we had to take, the farming lady of the Alp was nice enough to help us out. Basically at the same time she gave us the directions, she also complained about the military, the bad weather and her neighbors. So we stood there listening for about ten minutes, before we eventually managed to say goodbye. :) Taking the way she had pointed out, we started to descend towards the Alp Stafel. After the rather muddy trail on the farming field, the wide gravel road was a welcome change and walking downwards instead of upwards certainly didn’t hurt us either. :) The next junction was soon upon us though and heading back into the woods, another steep ascent awaited us. At first we walked along the mountainside and as the trail was pretty overgrown, it felt more like a walk through a jungle than a walk on a mountain in Switzerland. :)
The higher we got however, the less "jungle" there was and starting to head up in serpentines, we decided before long that it was time for a break. As we didn’t want to stop in the middle of the slope, we moved on until we had it behind us and spontaneously decided also to descend on the other side to the next Alp to take a break there. Sitting down on a bench at the Alp, we ate a snack and gave our legs a well deserved rest.
Moving on once we had our strength back, we crossed over a plateau and faced the final slope up to the ridge of the Pilatus mountain range. It was another steep rise to tackle and demanded quite some effort from us, but coming upon the ridge, the beautiful view towards the other side easily made us forget our struggle. The Alps of Switzerland were mostly free of clouds and many of the famous mountains could be seen already. Not only the panorama was stunning though, but also the path we took. Walking amidst bushes, tress and some deep furrows, the landscape almost looked a bit surreal. :)
It was pure pleasure to walk along that trail and as it went straight ahead for a while, we also had a short break from ascending. The next rise wasn’t too far away however and while the scorching sun and the steepness of the ascent made us sweat a lot, the gorgeous views in every direction definitely made up for the effort. Coming upon a turnoff once the slope had leveled off, we had the possibility to visit a nearby peak called Widderfeld. Deciding against it, we turned left to follow the mountainside towards another peak called Tomlishorn. Before long some chains helped us down a particular rocky part and as it was nothing too difficult, even Ulisse enjoyed the short scramble. :) Passing underneath the massive Widderfeld rock wall, we ascended again on the other side, when suddenly a chamois appeared about 50 meters away from us. Taking a closer look we could see about three or four of them grazing on the steep mountainside. What a lovely sight! :) Moving on along the ridge once we had left the Widderfeld behind us, we walked another five minutes before we decided to sit down and take our lunch break. It was already way past noon and we also wanted to enjoy our solitude for a final time before entering the crowded area around the Tomlishorn and the Pilatus.
45 minutes later we were on our way again and first descended to a small saddle, before we began with the final ascent to the Tomlishorn. Rounding a corner after some time, we eventually could see the trail coming from the Pilatus and as we had expected, there were quite a few people. People in sneakers, people in sandals, it basically was the usual what you see when a cable car is nearby. :) Standing on the rather crowded summit, we enjoyed the spectacular 360° panoramic view, together with some helicopter action, as they had to pick up something from right underneath the peak.
Not staying too long, because we were running a bit late, we finally made our way towards the Pilatus and after the continuous up and down from before, we weren’t mad at all that the well maintained trail went straight ahead for the best part. Some sections of the path were even made of concrete and so it was no surprise anymore that there had been people with sneakers and sandals on the Tomlishorn. :) The views remained spectacular throughout and arriving at the Pilatus restaurant, it was time to sit down to get a well deserved dessert. :) The initial idea had been to use the cable car somewhere along the descent if we would run out of energy, but now we were already that late, that we only had the choice to take it from the top, which we decided not to do. That meant, we had to hike all the way down to Kriens, but that seemed absolutely doable, as we had about eight more kilometers ahead of us. Before that however, we scaled the lookout just next to the famous hotel and marveled at the stunning scenery for a while.
Saying goodbye to the peak way too soon, we started our descent along some serpentines in a huge gravel field and before long passed a few people that were still heading upwards. Two Germans crossed our path, panting heavily, telling us that they started walking in Lucerne, ran out of water and food and now tried to catch the last cable car back to civilization. With about 15 minutes left to reach it, they were definitely too far away, but they carried on anyway. Wondering what would happen to them, we kept on descending until we reached the lovely chapel at the Klimsenhorn. From there we could have walked back to our starting point in Eigenthal, but as we were too late to catch the last bus, we opted to head down to Kriens as planned.
Continuing our walk through some more rubble, the views simply remained superb and every now and then we had to take a short break to marvel at the panorama.
Once we finally had left the gravel behind for good, we reached a turnoff where we took the way towards Fräkmünt and soon afterwards hit some ropes for the first time. The Germans had warned us that we had to do some scrambling along the way, but as the ropes weren't necessary at all, we only had a good laugh. When we hit the first chain a little while later, we suddenly weren’t sure anymore which one of them the Germans had meant. When there was another chain literally a 100 meters after that first chain, our laughter definitely subsided. In the end, there were so many chains, that we stopped counting at some point. Clearly, our pace was slow, as the path was steep, rocky, wet, full of roots and with all the scrambling it took us a lot longer than anticipated to reach Fräkmünt. To be frank with you, that descent was a real pain in the ass and we were glad that we hadn’t chosen to ascend there. :) At Fräkmünt, the slopes eventually leveled off, the trails widened and even though we had to walk a lot in the forest, it was a much more pleasant descent from there. Views there weren’t too many anymore, but that was okay, as our legs began to feel tired and we basically only wanted to go down to Kriens as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the trail seemed to go on forever. We certainly had underestimated the distance and were now suffering from heavy legs and sore muscles. When finally the terminus of the cable car came into view, we had to realize that there was no bus anymore and we had to walk all the way down to the heart of Kriens. It was way after 8 o’clock once we arrived at the bus station, which meant we had been out and about for more than 11 hours… In my opinion, it had all been well worth it though. The trails were fun, the views were stunning and the weather was perfect, all one needs for a big day out. :) And kudos to Ulisse for doing the whole hike with me, as he never before had walked that much. Until next time, my friend! :)
Highlight of the day: the views from all along the ridge
This hike is for you if:
- you want to check out one of the best panoramic views towards the Alps of Switzerland
- you don’t mind to walk all day long
- you’re looking for challenging trails
- you want to stand on one of the most popular mountains in Switzerland
This hike is not for you if:
- you don’t have any experience in hiking in the mountains
- you’re out of shape
- you’re not a fan of ridge walking or scrambling
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