Logbook 8: Spitzmeilenhutte
Distance: 11.7km | Elevation Gain/Loss: 954m | Total Time: 3:55
It was the Ascension day holiday here in Switzerland. So, I decided to ascend into the mountains like any well-respecting Swiss would.
The weather window was precarious to say the least with overnight storms bringing snow and winds in the early morning so my hut options were limited to those with fairly low elevation to avoid the worst of the snow and fairly short approaches so I could bail back to my car relatively easily. I also didn’t have hours to drive on Wednesday afternoon, so the list narrowed down fairly quickly, and I landed on Spitzmeilenhutte above the Flumserberg ski area.
From Zurich, the Steinbrugg parking lot is a short ~65min drive. The drive up the Schistal valley is gorgeous and becomes quite very quickly. It was one of the few valleys in Switzerland I lost cell reception in, a rarity!
The hut sits within the Sardona tectonic area, a UNESCO heritage site, and is a ski touring paradise in the winter.
From the parking lot, it is a fairly easy 6km hike up 950m. Half of the route is on farm roads which provide a nice switchback ascent which gives a nice break to your legs between the more steep trail parts that essentially go straight up the slope.
The weather on the ascent was perfect with intermittent clouds and cool temps. Except for the handful of farmers doing spring prep work, I am certain I was the only person in this entire valley but there were plenty of animals along the hike. The Swiss Safari included a deer, a few rabbits, many marmots, a couple of ptarmigans, and a pheasant that defecated all over the trail as it flew away after I nearly walked on top of it accidentally while it hid near the trail…
At 1,800m asl the snow started to show up. The area is filled with blood-colored red rock. The iron-rich "sernifite”, as it is locally known, is 250 million years old and was part of the Permian desert before it collided with the European plate and got shoved up into the mountain structures it occupies today. In a way, I was walking on an prehistoric desert surrounded by snow, a bit odd.
The last challenge was to get up and over the Sässli step, a 150m-tall cliff wall that the hut sits atop. There was a stubborn snowfield holding onto its last legs, occupying much of the trail, so I had to do some off-trail scrambling up.
Once up on the Mad Plateau, the snow situation got a bit more serious. Thankfully, the constant wind and late season freezing / thawing created a thick crust which allowed for easy travel. The main trail section through the rocky cliff area though was complete covered in drifts so I went up and around for a safer route.
After a few minutes, the hut came into view:
The clouds started to roll in as I got to the hut which was a bummer as I wanted to get photos of the Spitzmeilen peak. But, you will have to settle for a more professional photo of it as it quickly became shrouded in clouds:
Thankfully, the clouds broke briefly around sunset, so I was able to get a few nice shots of the Hochsfinsler and Steingassler peaks in their last moment of alpenglow:
After a meal and tea, it was time for some sleep…
My 6:00 am alarm awoke me to an entirely different world outside:
There was a brief weather window from 7:00 - 8:00 so I packed quickly, had my breakfast, put on all my winter gear, and went for it.
On top of the plateau, winds were 30kmh gusting to 50kmh with snow coming down practically sideways. Luckily, only ~5cm of snow had actually accumulated so route-finding was not too hard and with boot spikes traction was no issue.
Visibility was far better than forecasted and the faint sunlight coming through the cloud layer allowed kept some of the shadows so I could see hazards a bit better than I expected. The red rock covered in snow was beautiful amid the harshness of the blizzard.
Once I made it off the plateau, it became nearly dead calm, and the scenery, while different than the prior day, had a stark beauty to it:
As I made it through the freezing line, the snow turned into rain and mud. The abruptness of this transition zone always amazes me. Within 10min of walking you can go from a winter wonderland to a spring environment.
A few more steps and I was back to my car. Thoroughly drenched, I quickly packed up and headed home:
