Via Ferrata - Führenwand

Me and Niklas took off at 4 pm to do a Via Ferrata, and as happy beginners, we went straight for the "difficult" of course. How scary can it be? Well, it was a bit scary. At least if your name is Niklas and you suffer from vertigo as soon as you click out of your skis.

But, it was a stunning climb up to Führenalp, especially the last part where you climb on a rope ladder for 30 meters. The weather today was perfect bluebird, 23 degrees - and we wouldn't recommend to do it in anything but dry weather. There are better places to slip. (No worries, Via Ferrata is perfectly safe. But slipping is never fun.)

As we were beginners, we also managed to miss the last lift down, so we had a nice jog down the mountain instead. And found a brand new downhill biking trail, which will eventually end up on this blog too.

Here are some pics:


Yes, that's the guy with vertigo to the right.













Niklas examining the ladder closely.




















In this picture, he still has no clue what awaits.















"Slowwwwlllllyyyyy, sloowwwwlllllly."


The climb is about two hours to the top, and you can take a lift down after a cold beer. For the lowdown on what/where/when/why, go to Engelberg.ch's Via Ferrata Guide.

Tip: Lake Lucerne

Oskar & Jon on a pedal boat
Originally uploaded by Ski Lodge Engelberg

If you (or your feet!) feel like doing a day excursion from Engelberg, Lucerne is just a 60 minute train ride away. Grab some grilled chicken and baguette at the station, walk over the bridge and rent a pedal boat - and pedal away. The cleanest lake in Switzerland, an alpenpanorama and a picnic. Life isn't just about hiking...

VIa Ferrata - Brunni

Yesterday, we were testing the Via Ferrata-trails on the Brunni-side. Via Ferrata can be described as rock climbing for beginners, a more advanced form of hiking. Brunni has several trails, and we started out with easiest one. There are several Via Ferrata-trails in the Engelberg valley, ranging from easy to difficult. A difficult one is right next to Fuhrenalp, where we go biking - looks pretty steeeeeeeeeep.

A link to Engelberg.ch with all trails.

Mountainbiking at Führenalp

Me, Elin & Joline killed it today...or at least we made it down from Führenalp in one piece. 23 degrees, sunny and beatiful today.

(Green is where you take the lift, red is when you bike.)

Hiking: Engelberg - Grafenort - taking the train back

Today we logged another great hike in the valley. We found a nice service called Quikmaps, so you get a better picture of where we've been.

We started at the tourist center, walking up along monastery and up through the forest to Flühmatt. I stayed at the Flühmatt farm during the winter season 2003, at Fränzi & Bixi. So I've walked this 40-minute hike more times than I can remember.

From Flühmatt, we continued all the way up to Brunnihütte, and then we turned north and had the mountain ridge on our right hand side. Loads of cows, beautiful flower fields and stunning views. We ended up in Grafenort, 500 meters below Engelberg, and took the train back to the village. After enjoying a cold one down at Gasthaus Grafenort.

Eric
















"Hmm, I think its upside down"
















90 minutes to Brunnihütte
















Cow attack! 22 degrees, sunny and nice.
















The swiss know their signs.
















Aaaahhh.
















Lunch with a view. And a BBQ too!
















Gasthaus Grafenort.

Hiking: Rugghübelhütte – we could see it all the way from our Lodge!

For this week’s hike, we decided to go for Rugghubelhutte, as it’s early in the season and there is still snow left on north facing slopes. During dinner Tuesday evening, we looked up on the mountains north east of us, and spotted the hütte Oskar had pointed out for us.

(look, just left of the red flag it is, you might have to zoom a bit...)

On Wednesday morning at a quarter to 10 we started from the Lodge. You could take the Brunni cable car, which would save you an hour and a bit, but we felt strong and wanted to do it the proper way. With Elin being a former cross country skier and Joline ex-road racing cyclist, I didn’t have to wait. It was more the other way around to be honest… Wet of sweat we got up to the hütte, which serves nice food and actually has 80 beds for stayovers (seems to me as very tight, as the place isn’t that big at all). After investing in beer and soda, we sat down outside and hungrily ate the salmon pasta salad Elin had prepared.

(Joline and Elin walking up the first part of Brunni)

(the viewpoint just above Rigidal- but honestly all of the hike is a long viewpoint - our goal in the upper left corner)

(Elin looking at Hahnen, the mountain on our logo)

(beer and salomon pasta sallad)

There are several roads and trails to choose from to get up to the upper eastern part of the Brunni ski area. From here, just above Rigidalstafel, there is only one trail to follow, as you are walking with a massive cliffdrop below you on your right and one above you on your left hand side. This is the only way to access the fields of which the Rugghubelhutte is located on. We took the decent route down from Rigidal to the left, towards Ende der Welt, through the forest on the east side of Brunni.

(on the way down - really cool rock shapes)

(low tech internet map - black pen points at Rugghublehutte and blue at Rigidal)

We needed 3.5 hours to get up, including some photo and water breaks. We spent an hour and a half up there and walked down in 2.45h. This is a nice day project that can be done without going up too early and still coming home timely before the pre dinner sauna. No tricky parts, and no steep stuff, so people afraid of heights can still do it.

Today I’m slightly tired in my legs, and a bit red in my face as I forgot to put on sunscreen. However, feels good to have been up there. Later this summer I’m keen on continuing up to the ridge north of Rugghubelhutte, and walk down on the back side of Brunni, ening up in Bannalp and later Niederkrirchenbach. But that’s a proper full day thing, and you should wait until July as the back side of Brunni is north facing.(Niklas stopping and drinking)

(Joline looking down towards Ende der Welt and Engelberg)


(appraktly some construction work up at the hütte - and they were lifting everything here with heli!)

On the way down we found this cool little guy on the trail.

Now back to work on our houses! Cheers!

//

Niklas

http://www.oskarenander.com/

Biking yesterday at Führenalp

Visa större karta

Tried the downhill trail down from Fürenalp today. So nice. For a beginner like me it was perfect. Mix of technical sections were you can train your balance, and cruising parts were you can either speed up or enjoy looking at the nature. Take a 5 minute break and drink the water at the waterfall furthest in the valley.

I had to stop and walk down a few tricky passages, but if I get to practice it some more, I might be able to do it without putting down feet. Now I feel it slightly in my leg and back muscles – good feeling after a day on the mountain. Now I’ll go to bed, and tomorrow follow Söderling in the French Open. Elin and Joline will take the bikes and ride tomorrow.

//Niklas

Spannorthütte - 1956 meters above sea level

This is a photo from Spannorthütte, one of the mountain huts in the Engelberg Valley. A night up there costs about 30 € pp with dinner, and we plan on hiking up there during next week. Full report coming up. Check out their homepage here. (German only!)

Hiking in the alps

Welcome! Here you will to able to follow us while we hike the peaks around Engelberg. During the summer, we'll publish pictures, hiking itineraries and maps to the best hiking around Obwalden. From Engelberg, you can reach more than 16 mountain huts (SAC-hütten) for day hikes or longer excursions.

I work at Ski Lodge Engelberg, a cozy swedish-owned lodge. I founded it together with some friends last year, because we missed a place in the alps where you could have hearty breakfast and dinner, a sauna and laid-back atmosphere and staff. A place where we would want to stay ourselves. So we created that place.

Engelberg is widely known for its world class off-piste skiing, (We've skied 150 resorts in 5 continents, so yes, it's true!) What is less known is the hiking which is world class too. The Engelberg valley itself has more than 160 kilometres marked trails, ranging from easy half-day hikes to proper big wall climbing. If that's your game.

We'll be updating here during all of summer, so check back, check out skilodgeengelberg.com or follow us on Twitter to the right.

//Eric