Heaven and hell on a two days hike in the mountains above Elm

When a heat wave was rolling in, I simply couldn’t stay at home to browse through the few job offers that I was interested in and therefore decided to spend another couple days in the mountains. Checking the map for a challenging hike, I noticed a super long blue and white alpine trail close to Elm in the canton of Glarus and it intrigued me that much, that I had to take a closer look. :) It turned out, that it was possible to spend the night in an emergency shelter at the end of the trail and that I could connect it with a second blue and white trail on the next day. Overall, it just sounded superb: not only my desire for a scramble would be satisfied, but I also could do everything with just a daypack and if all went well, I would reach for the tenth time a peak in Switzerland that is over 3000 meters above sea level. As Elm wasn’t really around the corner and I wanted to “sleep in”, I only arrived at the starting point around 10 o’clock. Taking a back road at first to walk to the Tschinglen cable car, I did that under a clear blue sky.

Just after the start, taking a look back towards Elm

Coming upon the cable car station, I spontaneously decided not to use it, but instead head upwards through the lovely Tschinglen gorge. What was awaiting me today was an overall ascent of 2000 meters and being ready for that challenge, I started to ascend right away. The slope in the gorge wasn’t too steep however and since I walked in the shade for most of the time, that first part was quite enjoyable. Reaching a plateau at the end of the ascending slope, two surprises were awaiting me. The first one was the Martinsloch. The Martinsloch is a pretty famous hole in a mountain, as twice a year the sun shines exactly through it and this can be witnessed even from the far away village of Elm. Usually many people attend this nature spectacle, but so far I neither had seen the hole nor the sun shining through it. :) As you can imagine, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Martinsloch, but the good mood instantly vanished when I saw the second surprise. Huge telephone masts lined the plateau and looking up ahead, it seemed as they were going all the way over the mountains, more or less the same way I had to go as well.

The Martinsloch was to the left of this picture and can't be seen on here. The telephone masts however were a good indicator of where I was going to :)

Well, there was nothing I could do about it and so I just continued with my ascent until I reached another plateau. In theory, that part would have been very lovely as well, but it was kinda difficult to ignore all the ropes and wires around me, as they simply disturbed the scenery far too much. Coming upon the end of that plateau, another steep ascending slope had to be conquered and while there were a couple nice views to be had, the next plateau looked even worse than the one before. :( The masts seemed even huger and to my dismay, there actually was a mountain hut built right underneath the ropes. If other people like to stay there I can’t say, but I definitely wouldn’t want to spend a night in that hut, even though the custodian welcomed me very warmly.

If you're staying for the night at the Martinsmadhütte, you will at least have the best phone reception ever :)

Unfortunately for him, my time was too short for a break and moving on right away, I eventually set foot upon the blue and white alpine trail. Walking straight ahead, a massive rock wall soon appeared in the distance, making me wonder where exactly the trail would go through. Well, chains started to lead the way at the bottom of the wall, marking the beginning of an intense scramble. Before long, I had to put away my walking sticks, as I had to use both of my hands to climb further upwards. Going slowly, I was glad for the help of all the chains and when I had reached the end of the rock wall about 10 minutes later, the rush of adrenalin finally started to recede. Wow, that was fun and for a moment I completely had forgotten the telephone masts until their whiring brought me back to reality. :)

The view at the end of the climb

A break was well deserved now and to a beautiful view over my surroundings, I sat down on a rock to have some lunch. Two other hikers could be seen heading upwards and as I knew now where the way would be going along, I was glad to see that it all looked doable from down there. Lucky me, I wasn’t mistaken. :) Moving on after the break, I walked through some rubble first, before I ascended over solid rock for quite a while. Fortunately, the slope was again pretty gentle, so gentle indeed, that I didn't even have to use the few chains I came across.

Looking exactly like an alpine trail should look like :)

Steadily gaining height, the ascending slope was behind me rather sooner than later and once more I had stepped onto a huge plateau at the end of it. Taking a look around, a wonderful view spread out into every direction and for a while I just enjoyed the panorama.

Beautiful Switzerland :)

Finally, I also wasn't close to the telephone masts anymore and right when I was about to appreciate the newly won silence, another noise came to my ear. Not sure what it was or where it came from, I ascended a bit further until the whole plateau eventually spread out in front of me. There were the two peaks that I wanted to scale, there was the dying glacier I had read about and of course there were more wires and ropes. :) They belonged to a skiing lift on the glacier and that was where the noise was coming from. Incredibly enough, there were a couple snowcats at work and I wondered what exactly they were doing there at that time of the year… Well, again, there was nothing I could do about it and so I just moved on. Slowly walking over a boulder field, it didn't take too long until I came upon the glacier and while the trail had been marked superbly so far, the signs suddenly vanished from one second to the other. It took a while to realize that I had to walk over the glacier, but once the realization had sunk in, I didn’t waste another second and stepped onto the ice. :)

The peak in the middle is the Bündner Vorab, while the one to the right is the Glarner Vorab and if you look closely, you even can see the skiing lift on the glacier

To be fair, that sounds more dangerous than it actually was. As mentioned before, the glacier unfortunately is dying and so I mostly walked on hard snow rather than on ice. It made for quite a pleasant walk in fact, more pleasant anyway than the debris that followed again afterwards. :) With the markings reappearing after the glacier, the way still knew only one direction and to the constant noise of the working snowcats, I slowly ascended to the first peak, known as the Glarner Vorab.

Taking a look back to the glacier during the ascent to the Glarner Vorab

Eventually arriving on the top, another surprise awaited me, as three women came along, all carrying a bucket of paint with them. After all the hikes I had done in Switzerland so far, it was the first time that I came across somebody that was responsible for the markings on the trail. Unfortunately however, my brain was too slow to realize and they had walked past me before I could tell them that they had done a terrific job. Sitting down on the peak, I enjoyed the spectacular panorama for the next 45 minutes and at the same time celebrated that I had reached for the tenth time a mountain in Switzerland that is over 3000 meters.

The view from the Glarner Vorab (3018 meters above sea level) towards the Gross and Chli Chärpf, my goal for the next day

In the meantime the snowcats had stopped working, but the silence was only short lived, as down in the valley the military started to practice their shooting. Well, who needs silence anyway? :) When they finally had ended their practice and I was about to pack my things together, I suddenly could hear a nearby helicopter. Looking around, he appeared about 100 meters away from the peak, landed on a flat spot, two people got out to take a few pictures, then they went back in again and off they were once more. Well, what an unusual sight to see! :) Two other hikers arrived on the peak at the same time and we had a good laugh about what just happened.

Just couldn't resist to take a picture of their departure :)

As they were about to do a bivouac in the area, I said goodbye before long and made my way to the Bündner Vorab, the neighboring peak of the Glarner Vorab. It only took around 15 minutes to reach it, about as much time as I had on the summit to enjoy the scenery. Then I had to move on again, as I still had a long way ahead of me and it was already late in the afternoon. What followed now however was probably the best part of today. No more noise, no telephone masts, no steep ascents or scrambles, just Mother Nature and me. :) It really was a lovely descent and even though I had to ascend as well a couple times, I enjoyed the walk thoroughly.

A picture taken during the descent. Looking towards Laax and the canton of Graubünden

Eventually coming upon a tiny alpine lake, I decided that that place would be the perfect spot for dinner. Sitting down on a rock at the edge of the water, I watched the sun go down slowly, while the absolute silence that surrounded me, just felt super pleasant after all the noise before.

For once, the picture captured the tranquility of the moment perfectly

From the lake it was another 15 minutes until the emergency shelter on the Panixerpass came into sight and I had to say that it was the perfect spot to stay overnight. Three Czechs spent the night in there as well, planning to climb up to the Hausstock early the next day.

As the hut also had an oven and some mattresses, the night in there actually was pretty comfortable :)

The Czechs already had left when I got up in the morning, but nevertheless I started my descent back towards Elm already around 7 am. Walking along a rocky path, I made good way until I suddenly beheld an animal peering out of some rocks further down the trail. First, I couldn’t figure out what it was, but carefully getting closer, it turned out to be an Ibex. Nice! There actually was a small herd and luckily they stayed in sight long enough to observe them for the next 10 minutes. :)

Such beautiful animals! :)

Finally moving on, the rest of the descent unfortunately wasn’t that entertaining. Having left the higher mountains behind me, the views were decent but not mind blowing and the same could be said for the trail as well. Arriving at the bottom of the valley about two hours later, I passed the military area and walked along the main road for a while until I came upon a turnoff. Taking the decision that I would do the second blue and white trail as well, I turned left and first had to conquer a steep ascending slope through a forest and across some cow meadows before I eventually reached the skiing hut of Obererbs.

Approaching the hamlet of Obererbs

The next blue and white trail began right there and as you might have guessed correctly, it led steeply up the mountainside just behind the hut. :) With the sun shining bright, the ascent was quite a sweaty affair, but at least the beautiful views were back before long. The trail itself was a bit a mess however, as not only the path disappeared from time to time, but also the numerous signposts that had fallen to the ground and couldn’t be seen anymore were rather annoying than helpful. Overall though, the gorgeous views by far outweighed the messy trail and once a noisy helicopter down in the valley finally turned off his motor, the silence was back as well.

This mighty fine view was my companion for most of the ascent

The more height I gained, the more demanding became the trail, but interestingly enough, the further I walked, the more apparent was the path and the better were the markings. It seemed as they had been newly done, similar to those I had seen the day before. Of course that was pretty convenient, especially once the trail finally turned from grassy into rocky. Soon I had to scramble again and making my way around the Gross Chärpf, I eventually came upon a rather wide ravine. The area around the Gross and Chli Chärpf is well known for rock fall and so it was suggested to move through that ravine as fast as possible. Well, how you should move fast over snow and debris remains a mystery to me, but I did my best to traverse without stopping too much.

The trail did go along the snow to the left and all the way through the debris to the saddle in the middle

It actually went pretty well, but somewhere in the middle of the ascent to the Chärpfscharte a new noise came to my ear. Stopping short, I beheld a fighter jet that flew so close to the mountains that I was able to see the pilot. At least this time the noise was gone as fast as it came. :) Arriving at the Chärpfscharte, the peak of the Chli Chärpf jutted out majestically right in front of me. It looked impressive and I knew that the final ascent would be short but intense. Chains greeted me at the bottom of the first rock wall and while I managed that part without too many problems, the second part seemed to be way more difficult. Luckily, I noticed in time some other chains to my right and having a closer look at them, I realized that there was another way. It turned out that that one was much easier and it made the rest of the ascent a piece of cake. Reaching the peak about noon, a stunning panorama unfolded into every direction and while it had been quite an effort to get up there, I instantly knew that it had been worth the struggle. Not even the military, which had started to shoot again, could disturb my joy. :)

What a gorgeous view! Looking towards the Linthal valley

Spending an hour on the Chli Chärpf, it was a huge reward for everything I went through the other day. As I now also was able to see towards the Linthal valley, I spontaneously decided to walk down on the other side to Betschwanden instead of going back to Elm. The distance was more or less the same, but the panorama on the Linthal side seemed to be a bit more attractive. :) Starting to descend, I came upon chains way too soon, but this time, they were a real help to get me down from the mountain. It was a rather intense scramble, but also because I was too lazy to put away my walking sticks. :) Well, it can’t get any worse I thought, but oh boy, was I wrong. Coming upon a steep rock wall, I had no other choice than to put the sticks into my backpack, as I definitely had to use both of my hands to get down there. A few iron steps had been built into the wall and together with the mandatory chains, the descent was just about doable.

To get down a wall like this, I usually follow the so called “Three Points Rule”. The rule defines that you always have to hold on to something with at least three parts of your body, for example both hands and one foot. The remaining foot can be moved until a stable position for it is found. Then one hand is moved while the other hand and the feet remain where they are. And so on and so on. So far, that rule helped me a lot during my scrambles in the mountains :)

Happy, once I had some solid ground under my feet again, I continued the descent along the rocky trail and while the rush of adrenalin slowly dwindled away, I finally had more time to marvel at the stunning scenery. The further down I got, the easier became the trail and without any more scrambling I arrived at the Leglerhut, which boasted some splendid views over the surrounding mountains. Having all the difficult parts behind me, it was time to celebrate and so I sat down on the terrace for a cold and refreshing beer. :)

The views were just insane. This one was taken before I arrived at the Leglerhut (can be seen on a ledge towards the left)

The hike was far from being over however and too soon I had to resume my descent. At first though, I was in for one last surprise. :) About 10 minutes after the Leglerhut, the Ängiseen appeared out of the nowhere and I was blown away once more just about how beautiful Switzerland simply is. Marveling at the lakes for a while it was a pity that I couldn’t spend more time there, but at least that gave me a good reason to come back one day. :)

The Ängiseen, a paradise on earth :)

Passing by the lakes, the rest of the descent to Betschwanden was more work than pleasure. While the walk was lovely enough in the beginning, it turned into quite a struggle towards the end and I was glad once I had reached the bottom of the Linthal valley. I also was lucky enough to be right on time for the train back to Zurich and me and my tired legs were more than happy to get some well deserved rest. Wow, those were two intense days and while the first day was kinda conflicting, the second day definitely made up for it. Or to use some Swiss German words for once, it simply was “dä Füdliblutti Wahnsinn”. :)

Highlights of the hike: the scramble up and down the Chli Chärpf, the panoramic views from all three peaks and reaching for the tenth time a peak over 3000 meters

This hike is for you if:

- you’re an experienced alpine hiker

- you’re looking for panoramic views over the mountains around Elm

- you always wanted to see the Martinsloch

- you can ignore all the wires and ropes on day one

This hike is not for you if:

- it’s your first alpine trail ever

- you have no scrambling experience

- you mind walking over scree, debris, rocks or ice

- you’re looking for silence :)

As mentioned above, this one is only for experienced hikers. Not only because of the scrambling, but also because it's an exhausting hike on mostly rough terrain. Additionally, not every part is marked perfectly, so you definitely need to know how to orientate yourself. As most of the walk from the Martinsmadhütte up to the hut on the Panixerpass was an unofficial trail in the past, it's not on every single map yet. But the trail in that part is marked extraordinarily well, with the exception of that one part where you have to walk over the glacier. Actually, I guess that the only reason that this became an official trail is, that the glacier is in a pretty miserable state and will be gone before long. Please also note that the ascent up to the Chli Chärpf and the descent to Betschwanden after the Leglerhut are sometimes not marked all too well. So make sure you also have a map with you, when you only want to do the hike over the Chli Chärpf. If you want to sleep in the emergency shelter on the Panixerpass, please note that you have to pay a couple bucks for the overnight stay and also for the firewood if you want to use it. To shorten this hike, there are two possibilities. The first one obviously is the Tschinglen cable car with which you can save yourself quite some time and altitude. The second one is on day two, where there is a bus going from the turnoff on the main street to the skiing hut in Obererbs. Again, you could save yourself some time and avoid another steep ascent. :)