Logbook 9: Leglerhutte
Distance: 12km | Elevation Gain/Loss: 781m | Total Time: 3:36
A friend from the States was passing through Switzerland for a day so I decided to show him a proper Swiss experience by heading up to a SAC cabin. He was coming from Liechtenstein and needed to head to Zurich after, so the Glarus region was the obvious choice. Leglerhutte quickly became the obvious choice given it was still early in the season and the higher cabins around Linthal / Todi were buried in snow.
Built in 1908, the Leglerhutte was named after the Legler family, a prominent textile family in Glarus who funded much of the first construction.
The hut sits within the Freiberg Karpf wildlife reserve, which is the oldest in Switzerland, at nearly 500 years old.
The actual hiking begins at the Mettmen gondola top station but it requires a bus ride from Schwanden first due to a recent rockslide that closed off the road to private vehicles. The Mettmen station sits next to the Garichti reservoir. There is almost no information on this reservoir anywhere online, and I saw little info on the trail, but I assume it was (maybe is?) a power source for the local communities. Regardless, it is a beautiful reservoir with the view of the Glarnisch wall occupying much of the frame when looking north.
Much of the ascent is a gradual climb up through the Nideren valley floor. The early June timing meant the ground was covered in beautiful alpine wildflowers.
About halfway up the valley the clouds began to cascade over the eastern ridge and filled up the valley bowl. It brought a sort of Scottish highlands or Icelandic vibe to the scene.
As we began the final push up to the Sunnenberg South Pass, visibility went to basically zero as we entered the clouds. Snowline was around 2,210m ASL, but snow travel was easy even without microspikes.
As we rounded the corner to the hut, the clouds began to clear out, and the Glarnisch wall peeked out of the cloud layer.
We then arrived at the hut as the clouds lifted out of the valley. Our bribe to the weatherman must have worked. The hut sits on a flat platform at 2,273m and has sweeping views of the entire Linthal valley with Todi to the south, Glarnisch to the west, and the towns of Schwanden and Glarus to the north.
After checking in, we settled into the hut and met some of the other guests. After plenty of card games, a hearty dinner, and dessert, we packed it in for the night and got some rest.
The sky cleared out around midnight and from my window I could see millions of stars but sadly my camera is not good enough to capture night skies…
My alarm went off at 5:15am and I quietly rushed outside to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises in my life. Instead of trying to describe it, I will just share some of the photos:
The purple haze painted the western faces of the surrounding peaks. It was completely silent with not even a breeze disturbing the calm.
I spent at least an hour wandering around just in awe of the natural beauty. The mountains began to wake up, with marmots starting their morning calls and cow bells filling the valley with song.
The hut awoke around 7 am and we all enjoyed a breakfast before packing up and heading out.
The weather on the descent was completely clear, with white wispy clouds delicately hanging in the blue sky.
Given the area is an active wildlife reserve, I would have expected to see more alpine creatures but the only larger animal we saw was a young mountain goat perched up on a boulder quietly watching us go by. He was too far away to capture on camera and seemed to be alone which is rare.
We made our way back down to the reservoir through the more elevated western route that hugs the Matzlenstock ridgeline.
We dropped down to the gondola and headed back home. It was a lovely start to the summer hut season.
