Walking In Switzerland

HAVING a good view of the mountains from your hotel room is a great start to a holiday. Being in a hotel 2000 metres up a mountain is even better. That's how it was on my trip to the Valais area of the Swiss Alps in early September.

We were spirited up to the Riederalp resort in a cable car, zooming over villages, woods and pastures until we were at twice the height of Scafell Pike. It's hard not to be elated when you're this high up and the sun is shining – and you've got two days of Alpine walking ahead of you.

Chapel at Bettmersee

The Bettmerhorn – Eggishorn Ridge

On my first day, thanks to a combination of the high-level resort, an electric bus (it's car-free up there) and another cable car, I was at 2647m by 10am and ready to take on this famed ridge via a blue-white-blue Alpine route.

This is the most difficult grade of Alpine path. To attempt one, you're advised to have a head for heights, sure-footedness, and a pickaxe. I once cried on a big wheel, I had a meltdown on Sharp Edge in the Lake District, and I haven't got an axe. But I'd heard that this is one of the finest ridge walks in the Alps – the path itself has an UNESCO badge. I wasn't going to let a tendency for vertigo get in the way.

Mercifully, this particular blue-white-blue path was airy but not scary, in summer at least. The occasional precipitous drop was overcome by man-made footholds and handrail cables. Our mountain guide, Peter, steered our group over the trickiest steps, and a very thorough approach to footpath marking from the Swiss authorities made it near impossible to go wrong in clear weather.

View from the Eggishorn Ridge; below the Horlihutte at Eggishorn

The Aletsch Glacier
The ascent to the ridge wasn't hard but the sudden altitude made me breathless. Or it could have been the views. I'd been telling myself that I'd be OK if I didn't look down, but it's not an option up here.

The vista took in the Eiger, the Matterhorn, a skyline of 4,000m-plus peaks. And an uninterrupted view of the Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the Alps.

Your first sighting of this giant river of ice carving its way through the valley is awe-inspiring. It's on a different scale entirely, even compared to the surrounding mountains. And the beautiful thing is that you can see almost the entire length of it, rather than just the tip like at the Athabasca Glacier in the Canadian Rockies or the Mer de Glace in Chamonix.

Swiss cow – de rigeur with bells on

Aletsch Glacier

Earlier this year I'd watched a chunk of the Argentiere Glacier near Chamonix come crashing down in the spring melt. It sounded like thunder and made me want to hot-foot it back to civilisation (even though we were watching it through binoculars, from about three miles away). The Aletsch Glacier instilled a sense of calm rather than fear. The soft echo of a river flowing underneath 350m of ice, amplified by the cliffs on the valley sides, is wonderfully peaceful. Someone should put it on a stress-relief CD. It could be the new surf breaking on a beach or frogs singing in the forest. 

The other great thing about this otherworldly view is that you don't have to try very hard to get it. This is the goal-hanging approach to hiking; a 30-minute ascent from the top cable car station and you see things that should only be accessible to golden eagles and committed mountaineers.

The Art Furrer Resort

We descended from the ridge the easy way (by cable car) to Fiescheralp and walked back to Riederalp to our hotel, the four-star Royal in the Art Furrer Resort. You'd think the scenery would be enough to please anyone but Art Furrer, the charismatic owner (and one time ski-instructor to Jackie Kennedy) isn't taking any chances

There was a golf course, a swimming pool, and a spa designed to mimic the natural world outside. Lying on the hot stone beds was like stretching out on a sun-warmed rock, while the plunge pool had smooth stones in the bottom like a riverbed. Letting my muscles relax in here after the hike was a delicious end to the day

The spacious rooms also took inspiration from the great outdoors. Natural materials – wood and slate – and an understated design that wasn't trying to compete with the panoramic views from the room-length windows and terrace.  

View from the Belalp

The Riederalp-Belalp Suspension Bridge

The next day we walked through the Aletsch Forest where the pine trees grow on top of boulders so they can cling to them in winter gales. We were heading to our next height challenge – an Indiana Jones-style suspension bridge which hangs over a canyon formed by the receding glacier.

The bridge was opened in 2008 to make it easier to walk between the two sides of the valley. It's a 124m shortcut over an 80m sheer drop. This time, I didn't look down. It was one-foot-after-the-other and no stopping halfway for photographs. (Though I got about 20 from the other side).

From there, the trail led up to the village of Belalp. This was more strenuous hiking – a 500m climb which was hard work if, like me, you're not used to hot weather walking. Along the way we passed weather-beaten chalets and heard marmots whistling amongst the rocks.

When we reached Belalp, the chapel bell was ringing for a wedding. Not a bad place to say your vows. (I enquired and there's nothing stopping you if you like the idea of an Alpine marriage.) 

View from Hamilton Lodge

The Hamilton Lodge

This cool, folksy hotel is popular with newly weds and couples, and it's pretty clear why. With real fires, cosy candle-lit hideaways, and lots of distressed wood and leather, it's a romantic dream of an Alpine escape. You could describe it as Heidi-esque, if Heidi's Grandfather had installed a kitsch chandelier in the hayloft and built a spa in the goat shed.

The spa included an outdoor hot tub which you'd long for after a day on the trails or slopes, plus two types of sauna, a plunge pool and a relaxation area. The food was good too – a cosmopolitan take on traditional mountain fare.

The next morning we squeezed in a final, beautiful walk across the high pastures around the hotel before taking the cable car to valley-level. In the town of Brig it was hot and busy and back down to earth in more ways than one.

End of hike reward