Just an hour south east of Zürich in-between the jagged Appenzeller mountains and the beginning of the Glarus Alps, lies the Lake of Walen. Beautiful enough to inspire a solo piano piece by Hungarian romantic composer Franz Liszt, called Au lac de Wallenstadt. Lake Walen (Walensee) is a deep, dark and mysterious pool that lies at the foot of this equally inspiring alpine hike below the Churfirst peaks.

The hike begins at the not so charming Rehab Clinic Walenseestadtburg and continues West through a more charming chocolate box swiss alpine landscape above the lake. Not many minutes later you pass the compulsory stop of ‘Paxmal’, the peace monument built by eccentric Swiss artist and stamp illustrator Karl Bickel.

From the monument you climb a very steep zig zag to the beginning of the high plateau. There is a whole other wold up there with panoramic views of peaks in all directions and a ‘teletubbyland’ rolling snow fields east back towards Walenseestadt. This route allows for spectacularly close-up views of the Churfirsten rock walls and fjord-like Lake Walen below.

After a hurried jog for a couple of hours because you didn’t realise the snow would be thigh deep and you start stressing because you’re wearing shorts and sneakers, and your girlfriend already got stuck in a snow drift up to her armpits, this causes you to get pretty stressed. After a little more stress you arrive at the perfectly located Alp Tschingla, here you can relax with a bottle of Rivella and enjoy the view.

Now its a seriously vertical descent through a gorge-like forested valley that ends back at Walenseestadtburg.

(Length - 11km)

By Nick Ashby

www.montyfairview.com