Backways and Gems_Andermatt Area_Switzerland

glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Cheap Digs...Hotel Steingletscher/ Sustenpass


Ok...not REALLY cheap, but damn unbeatable for what it is and WHERE it is!.
Juuust short of the last bit of the climb up the Susten- Western Ramp is the Hotel Steingletscher, the "poor cousin" of the Belvedere on the Furka.
Same idea, similar location...on, what used to be, the edge/ tongue of the glacier, the Steingletscher in this case.
Well frequented by the local bike-scene, the outside terrace and sun-umbrellas 10ft from the Susten-hairpins got that intense "Rallye Monte Carlo" feel to it.
The Hotel itself is a bit of a Grand Old Dame just oooozing "life at the Pass" for the last 100 years.
Nice.
SFR90/ head sees you snuggled and fed at Halfboard.

http://www.sustenpass.ch/de/Angebote/Hotel-Restaurant_Steingletscher

http://www.sustenpass.ch/de/Angebote/Hotel-Restaurant_Steingletscher/Preise


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Steingletscher/ Stein Glacier

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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Cheap Digs...Susten Hospiz

Just far enough from the Susten Pass Summit to be Out-of-this-World is the Susten Hospiz.
http://goo.gl/maps/MrdbX

No noise, no buses (the access road is too narrow)...and all Old School.
http://www.sustenpass-hospiz.ch/
They're open from the day the Susten opens... to the day it closes for the winter...this is Alpine Pure.
The more rock up, the cheaper it gets. Bring some mates and take a 4-berth with the amenities on the floor, and halfboard drops to SFR 70 per head.
That's pretty damn good for a location like that!
Or quite possibly have the bunk room to yourself for SFR25/ night or SFR 35 with breakfast/ SFR65 halfboard.

Stein Lake, just down the road

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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Aare Gorge....Meiringen


http://goo.gl/maps/SOg5n

Point B on the map shows the western access to the gorge, Point C the eastern side.
It's STUNNING!...and a leisurely 2hrs walk+gawk.
Pay your SFR 8.50 and either take the bus back to Meiringen or use the bouncy footbridge across the Aare to catch the train back to Meiringen.
Great escape if the weather's too nasty for a good ride.

http://www.aareschlucht.ch/en/Welcome#.U568qSjrjhR


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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

THE GLORY DAY!! Rosenlaui - Schwarzwaldalp - Grindelwald - Roof of Europe - Grindelwald -> Rosenlaui

GREAT-WEATHER only day!!

This is one of the most expensive...AND MOST EXHILARATING...days in the Alps you'll ever have.
Bang-for-Buck it's a bargain because it's a day you'll never forget. It's a once-off.
And to get the most out of it, get hustling EARLY. Meaning, keep the camera handy on that early morning hop across the Furka/ Grimsel or Susten from where ever you stayed the night...a sunrise over the main ridge of the Alps could be on the cards and that's one hell of a start...to one hell of a day!!

Just off the usual Andermatt North-Loop is another one of those hidden gems, something virtually unknown.
Climbing a few hairpins from the Innertkirchen/ Aare Gorge Eastern End, there's a turnoff to Rosenlaui, as you're cresting the hill.
http://goo.gl/maps/C2Xf7


Personally, I rather like the tight, narrow stuff winding its way through the landscape. There's a road just like that, meeting up with the main road, climbing the first, steeper rise.
It turns off route6 at a small, standalone bakery (I think) with a bus-stop out front. The "Schwendi" is a cute, lil' single-laner (all sealed). Just to add some extra "colour".
http://goo.gl/maps/murc9

The Schwarzwaldalpe sits more in the bottom of a scenic, wide bowl than in a valley....all of it framed by the scraggy peaks, it's just about unreal.
That's where the bike-ride is over! More on some stuff around here later, there's a world-reknown wood-carver up here with fantastic pieces on show, a "water-saw" which is a marvel of 1800s engineering, lots of lakes, streams, small restaurants and huts to read some stuff, planting the bum on one of their timber decks, enjoying the sun and views.

IF you've stayed at one of the places in the Rosenlaui (which sort of covers the whole "bowl") and are aware that with a phone call to the Schwarzwaldalpe Hotel a day-pass for the Grosse Scheidegg Road can be arranged for the once-in-a-lifetime-ride over the top into Grindelwald.

Otherwise, the regular yellow Post-Bus from Meiringen will pick you up at the Schwarzwaldalpe Hotel. Try to get there by about 9am...and get a return ticket to Grindelwald Station.
http://www.verkehrsmittelvergleich....p/ankunft/schwarzwaldalp_08_00-11_59#timetabs

The narrow road across to the Grosse Scheidegg high above Grindelwald follows a gentle climb and seems to be on a permanent collision-course with the ice-clad Wetterhorn towering within an arms reach.
A few stops to drop off and pick-up walkers...then the bend where the Eiger, Moench + Jungfrau come into view, blocking half the skies. :shock:
The bus-ride takes about 50mins all up.

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From the Grosse Scheidegg it's all downhill into Grindelwald.
Walk across to the ticket office before taking a few gulps, closing your eyes and popping your VisaCard on the counter.
This is gunna hurt...but only once!
The Top-Of-Europe!
http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/
http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/quick-navigation/top-of-europe/fares/ The Grindelwald-Jungfraujoch return trip is just on SFR200.

Breathtaking? Hell Yeah!

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Grindelwald in the bowl, the bus-trip comes across that shoulder on the left, which is the Grosse Scheidegg.


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Top of Europe

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...and if it's your lucky day, you'll be part of the photo-shoot.:whistle:


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Back to Grindelwald, then the bus-trip up the Grosse Scheidegg again.
If head and heart aren't full enough yet, pick any of the following stops and walk the rest of the gentle downhiller back to the Schwarzwaldalpe.
Having a cuppa at one of the huts along the way, the peak of the Wetterhorn above, is a great way to digest the stunning impressions of the day.

Before climbing back onto the bike, try for a short (yeah, right!) stop at the "water-saw", a marvel of yesteryear's engineering and fully functional.
http://saege-schwarzwaldalp.ch/e/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnIuQcaRKTA
 

glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Cheap Digs...Gurtnellen Limited rooms!!

Trying to make up for all the dosh blown in the post above, here's another place to save a few bux.
This one's a true gem though, as it's the local Gasthof with a few rooms upstairs.
There's even WiFi in the place, if pretty slow. Best of all is the location.
And the home-made cream and butter....and the food!!...and the cute,little terrace out the side with the sun-umbrellas....shit, you know where this is going. #-o
Just 6km north of Wassen...and most of that is a twisty, narrow single-laner out of the busy, bustling traffic-channel of the Goeschenen Valley, climbing onto and beyond the shoulder above the valley into a genuine
spot-of-peace.


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It's quiet up here...the views fantastic, the surrounds typically alpine-rural. Life on the mountain-slopes.
Small garage for the first few bikes, but who cares, nothing's ever gonna happen up here. Drying room for wet gear.

B+B Sfr 42-48
Halfboard Sfr 62-68

http://www.gasthaus-bergheim.ch/

http://goo.gl/maps/46O3s

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I mentioned homemade icecream and hot berries, did I?

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The small church 2 mins walk, with the stunted / chopped bell-tower is a story on its own....DON'T MISS having a look!!



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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Old Sustenweg (Old Susten Track)


For those curious what the old, original Susten Pass road out of Wassen looked like....there's a little left of it.
It's STEEP, it's NARROW and had a few cobblestoned hairpins just above town in 2009.
No idea if it's still the same, but worth a quick look. Only 3km or so. There was talk around to close it for through traffic once the
old bridge wasn't safe anymore.

http://goo.gl/maps/C7vIv
 

glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Goescherenalp and Goescheneralp lake

Branching off the old route2 (NOT the autobahn) in the center of Goeschenen is a little road leading west, up a valley. First wide and rolling, it soon turns more rugged and craggy.
Awesome little single-laner leading to the Goescheneralp and the lake beyond, which is fed from the glaciers just above it.
It's another dead-end and as most of them, WELL worth a look!
The road is quite something, too!
All sealed.

Oh...coming back to Goeschenen, tack just around that little roundabout on the right, that small bakery is famous for its apricot flans, melt in the mouth stuff!

http://goo.gl/maps/0R0Y2



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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Rossmettlen Road

Hadn't really planned to include this one here, but MichaelJ brought it up a few days ago...so, here it is, just for the mention.
The road has a "no-through" sign and a "use at your own risk" byline...so it's up to you if you want to either "risk" it or not.
It's also pretty hard to find and to enter/ exit from the main route2.
The turn-off is inside the avalanche gallery of the Goeschenen-Gap and looks like a turn-off into a maintenance tunnel in the hillside.

http://goo.gl/maps/W5s93

It's STEEP and only the hairpins are sealed, the straights in between good gravel. After the climb it levels out and dips/ weaves (good gravel) along the hillside, climbing steadily.

Rossmettlen is an old military settlement high above Hospental and has GLORIOUS, uninterrupted views....panning from the saddle of the Oberalp Pass towards the south and the Gotthard ramp, the Reuss Valley at your feet, the Furka and everything beyond and above. It's stumping!
Not a road for heavy tourers + 2-up, it's narrow and slooow.

There was some annual HooHa going on up there...yes..they used to walk the ridges with torches at summer solstice.
Only ever been up there once....and can't find the photos, which would be old scanned-in prints.

Here are a couple of pinched shots from a pushbike site.

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The old Fort Baezberg ruins

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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Schoellenen Gorge---Devils Bridge


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöllenen_Gorge

This shot shows it nicely..."transport spaghetti".
The old road, the new road, the railway punching straight through.

http://goo.gl/maps/fzxY4

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Plenty of historical stuff around...it's a MUST-stop, if even just for a couple of photos and a short walkaround.


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Mountain rescue showing their mettle


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glitch

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Re: Backways and gems_Andermatt area_Switzerland

Lake Toma (Tomasee), the cradle of the River Rhine

Right near the top of the Oberalp Pass, just above Andermatt, is the Tomasee.
http://goo.gl/maps/rOfxr

Usually referred to as the origin of the Rhine, the Toma Lake is a leisurely 1.5hr return walk from the carpark at the hairpin in Surpalits.
Just ride 50m on the firm, smooth gravel to the small, semi-hidden parking area on the right.
If the boom is up, one can ride another 3/4km, leaving the bike at the cow-stables, where the walking track starts.
It's a very pretty and rewarding bimble across the meadows...making it even better is the short detour via the Badushuette http://www.badushuette.ch/
which is open through the summer months only, a popular stop for the hikers.
Bring your kayak....it's 1300km down-river from here to the river-mouth in Holland... :eek:


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