A walk up to the majestic Rophaien

Back at work after my Scotland trip, it wasn't before long and I had another day off. :) As the weather was supposed to be on the good side, I decided to pay a mountain a visit, which existence I had discovered only recently. Having a new place of residence since about half a year, I soon noticed that I was able to get to some areas within one day that were too far away before. The canton of Uri is one of those areas and right there the impressive Rophaien attracted my attention. Apparently, it’s quite a popular mountain to climb, but as I was going on a Tuesday with the prospect of thunderstorms in the afternoon, I didn’t expect too many people. Arriving at around 9 o’clock in the village of Flüelen, it took a short stroll from the railway station to pick up the designated hiking trail. It went upwards right away and shortly after I passed a beautiful church, the path took me into the forest.

A look back to Flüelen and its magnificent church

At the end of that first slope, a turnoff led me to the left and rather surprisingly downwards. Having seen the Rophaien from afar, as well as having seen the steep ascent on the map, I definitely didn't expect a descending slope in between. :) Well, the descent was only short-lived, as the next turnoff was soon upon me and brought me back onto a proper ascending slope. Up and up it went, until I came upon a few houses that featured a first view towards the Lake of Lucerne and its surrounding mountains. The forecast actually had said that the sun would shine in the morning, but the sky was overcast and the sun nowhere to be seen. On one hand that was nice, as the ascent definitely was more pleasant, on the other hand it was kinda a pity, as the views certainly weren’t as beautiful as they would have been with a blue sky.

Well, not only the clouds were disturbing that first view... :)

It didn’t matter too much however, as the woods swallowed me again before long and the views were gone for quite a while. Another turnoff eventually led me onto a blue and white alpine trail and I was curious what it had to offer. Ready for a good old scramble, I first had to wait a moment, as suddenly some rain drops were falling. Fortunately, it didn’t intensify, so I decided to move on, but kept a close eye on the sky, as it hadn’t been the plan to ascend on such a trail while it was raining. Well, in the end it turned out that the path wasn’t too difficult. Steep? Yes. Narrow? Yes. Rocky? Yes. But I barely had to use my hands and there weren’t too many sections with chains either.

Just a beautiful path in the woods :)

So I kept on ascending until I came upon a plateau with a lovely alp. Again some raindrops came down from the sky, but once more I walked on, as this time I could see most of the remaining ascent and there were still plenty of trees to give me some cover if necessary. For a while the trail followed the mountainside, before a turnoff to the right took me back onto a steep slope. Eventually, the trees started to recede, which was sort of a blessing, as the views that unfolded were simply fantastic. With the Lake of Lucerne and its impressive mountains in full view, the rest of the ascent took me longer than expected, simply because I had to stop frequently to admire the panorama. :)

Wow! Just wow! :)

Unfortunately, the clouds so far hadn't cleared away and an especially dark one was coming in when I was on the final ascending slope. Behind that cloud however, I could see some blue sky as well and that was what kept me going. It didn't go without any rain though, as right when I was below the summit, some huge drops started to fall. There were three people on the peak and understandably they fled right away, as the massive cross on the top definitely would have attracted lightning. Lucky us, or I should rather say lucky me, the rain cloud moved on pretty fast and having another look into the sky, I could see no other rain approaching. So while the others decided to get down of the mountain, I scaled the peak and marveled at the absolutely stunning view. The Lake of Lucerne to my feet and the mountains of Central Switzerland all around me, it just couldn’t get any better. :)

What a view!

Trying to judge how much time I would get before the next rain cloud was arriving, I first of all decided to sit down and have some lunch. After all, it had been a strenuous ascent and I was quite hungry. While I sat there filling my stomach, one more rain cloud passed by a bit further to the south and as soon as that one was gone, it eventually started to open up. All at once the sun was shining and while the views got better with every minute, the best part actually was that I had it all to myself. :) In the end I spent over an hour on the Rophaien, enjoying every second of it. :)

While I hadn’t expected too many people, I certainly didn’t expect to have the summit for myself for a full hour :)

The view from the peak to the other side. Just as fantastic as the one towards the Lake of Lucerne :)

Unfortunately however, a long descent was still ahead of me and not wanting to get home too late, I was back on the trail eventually. Taking a different route to get down of the mountain, the first part was on a lovely red and white trail and brought me to another alp with some good views. Turning left there, I followed a gravel road for a while until it petered out and another blue and white trail leading into the woods wanted to be conquered. Not sure what was awaiting me, it turned out that the next part was pretty much a déjà vu from the ascent. Steep? Yes. Narrow? Yes. Rocky? Yes. But again no scrambling, chains or anything similar. That was fine for me though, as I definitely prefer clambering upwards over downwards. :) Eventually leaving the forest behind, the trail followed the mountainside for a while and that was actually the most challenging part, not because of the difficulty, but because the track was marked rather poorly. The big amount of cow paths that littered the mountainside didn’t really help and more than once I was searching for the right way.

At least the view was still perfect in that part :)

It was a minor nuisance however and before long I was back in the forest on a properly marked hiking path. For once the section in the woods was rather short though and walking over the ensuing cow fields, I soon came upon another alp. From there on I was back on a red and white trail and surrounded by trees once more. I shouldn’t leave the forest for quite a while and just following the way downwards, there was plenty of time to think about life and my holidays in Scotland. :) All told, not much happened during the descent, a couple nice views here and there, a closed off street that I unknowingly walked along and an unexpected detour which made me doubt if I would catch the hourly train back home.

In lack of any other pictures, I want to share with you this lovely moment captured somewhere along the trail :)

Despite the detour, I arrived in the small town of Sisikon on time for my train. If there would have been a beautiful spot at the Lake of Lucerne however, I certainly would have stayed in Sisikon a little while longer. The sun was shining properly now and the sky was as blue as possible, there were absolutely no signs yet of the upcoming thunderstorms. Unfortunately though, the shore of the lake was inaccessible and therefore I headed home without my well deserved beer for once. :) What an awesome trip that was, even though the ascent and the descent were pretty exhausting. Well, as far as I know myself, that was the first, but surely not the last time on the Rophaien, as I would like to get up there one day when there are absolutely no clouds in the sky. :)

Highlight of the day: definitely the views from the summit!

This hike is for you if:

- you don’t mind a long and steep ascent/descent

- you want to try a blue and white trail for the first time

- you’re looking for a stunning view over the Alps of Central Switzerland

- you can handle other people on the summit :)

This hike is not for you if:

- you’re looking for a good old scramble :)

- remoteness is important for you

- you’re out of shape

As the trail from Flüelen was well maintained, the ascent to the Rophaien wasn't too hard to find. The same unfortunately can't be said for a part of the descending route I took. :) Repeatedly the trail was marked rather poorly, notably during the walk along the mountainside (around point 8 to 10 on the map above), as well as before and after the alp at around point 12/13. Regrettably, the path between point 6 and 13 can't be found on the most common apps, so the navigation with GPS was a bit harder than usual. If possible, try to navigate with the Swiss Mobility App, just make sure you have some reception or you have it downloaded beforehand. Of course there are other routes up and down the Rophaien, the shortest one would be from Riemenstalden and it's the only way to skip some part of the ascent/descent. As mentioned above, the blue and white trails were steep and narrow, but technically not the most difficult, so this might be a good opportunity to try out such a trail for the first time. In the end, no matter how, the most important thing is that you just head up there, as the views from the top are absolutely incredible. :)