Via Alpina 1 Stage 2: Elm to Urnerboden

Morning is dark inside the thick conifer woods where I’m camping just outside Elm village. I go through town in daylight but still well before the sun rises above the mountain tops. My legs are sore from day 1 efforts that no amount of stretching could heal but as soon as I warm them up, I can walk with reasonable dignity.

Morning in the conifer woods

Elm is little more than a double row of buildings along the valley road. The Via Alpina cuts across town and climbs on the opposite side of the valley over trails and a mesh of tarmac tracks to reach the upper floor where the slope recedes and gives way to the usual mix of meadows and chalets, then proceeds along the slopes on a super scenic traverse with the impressive walls of Hausstock mountain closing the view at the upper end of the Sernftal.

Eventually I get to the berghaus in Obererbs, at the end of a narrow road where there’s post bus service. It’s a Sunday and the bus runs bring successive loads of walkers and tourists.

Paradigm Swiss

Hausstock mountain closing the view

Looking back to Elm, Foopass beyond

Postbus getting high into Obererbs

The trail gets much quieter above Obererbs on its way to Richetlipass. The approach is beautiful as the route goes over a side ridge and the view opens to a huge cirque with the pass at the other end. Down on the grassy basin there’s a stuffed hut and lots of cattle.

Richetlipass

Beautiful cow

Richetlipass is very scenic on both sides with a radically different view on each. On the west flank, it plummets straight down into the floor of a valley with a braided, glacial stream running along. It’s beautiful and quite dramatic. On the downside, it’d be tricky to find a single spot to camp before said valley floor, some 400 m down the slope.

Richetlipass

View down from Richetlipass

Down on the valley the Via Alpina meets a farm and a wide track that it follows down all the way to the main drain and Linthal town. The best views are upstream towards the main Alpine divide though:

Beautiful mountain scenery

By the time I get to Linthal, it’s mid afternoon, it’s very warm in the sun and my feet are toast. My whole body is complaining and I take an extended break of nearly 1 h. Linthal is sleepy and uneventful for my heavy mood.

Linthal

The route crosses the main valley and climbs on the opposite side to gain the upper floor, go over a shoulder and into Urner Boden, a side valley with a marked glacial profile. I’m well into the evening when I get my first view with the valley floor dotted with farms and Urnerboden village in its picturesque setting over a knob at the back. The Klausenpass area is visible at the far end with the setting sun as a background to ruin all your unfiltered photographs.

Urner Boden valley, looking west towards Klausenpass

I pitch in twilight, not far from the road or farm buildings but well away from the main village in an attempt at discretion. Not many trees in flat areas though so I’m not only visible but a magnet for heavy condensation as the temperature plummets with the sunset. It’ll be a wet morning.