We finally got my 70th Birthday Trip originally scheduled for 2020 completed in 2022… The essense is a 250+km trek from the shores of Lac Leman (Geneva/Lausanne). Departing Montreux, through the resort town of Gstaad, over the mountains to Adelboden and Kandersteg. From here one crosses through the high Alps, passing Oeschinensee, Bluemlisalphutte and eventually entering the Jungfraujoch region (Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald) and exiting over Grosse Scheidegg to Meiringen. From here one can shorten the route and end the trek, or finish the final 50km to Buochs on the Vierwaldstattersee (Lake Lucerne), via the route passing by Engelberg Titlis. We actually modified the final route and push farther east and ended at Altdorf at the Southeast end of the Lake. I thus completed the route which my daughter Erica and I did east to west from Leichtenstein to Aldorf in 2019.

I’ve spent many days in this area, hiking and riding trains and buses. Hutte are readily available along the route, so pack weight isn’t an issue though there was maybe as much as 10,000m climbing involved. I hope if you ever have a chance you can follow my route.

For those interested in the details of my trip in 2022 you can access with this Trip Link.

I am planning to hike this trip West to East, and stop at Altdorf, rather than go all the way to the eastern boarder. The trip is know as: Via Alpina or Swiss Route 1 Trek.

Here are the basic stages: (Remember you need to read these segments from bottom to top to understand the West to East route.) You can also on the maps see photographs along the routes.

These are from the SwitzerlandMobility 🇨🇭 website:

Remember we hiked Routes 1.20 to 1.07 in decending order, and on the maps from West to East.

Listed below is the official Route to Altdorf, Grindelwald and Meiringen

Our original plan was to go from Lauterbrunnen  by train to Wilderswil, and then take the cog railway up to Schynige Platte. From there I will hike to the Faulhorn overlooking the whole valley with views of the Jungfrau, Monch, Eiger and the overall panaroma from the Schilthorn to the Wetterhorn. From the Faulhorn this hike will continue and pick up the main route again at Grosse Scheidegg.

We actually ended up with the add in a train ride from Kandersteg along Thundersee to Interlaken and up to Murren, where we hiked up and back to Rotstockhutte, while our daughter and son-in-law hiked over the Hohturli, staying in the Gspaltenhornhütte SAC before rejoining us at Berghaus Alpiglen.

There is also some useful information on the SAC site, but since there are not many Hutte on the via Alpina, it is not that useful, though for two of the Hutte mid trip it does provide route information to the Hutte and can be used to make Hutte reservations.