The Alpine Pass Route, Switzerland, Europe - A Trekker's Guide

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Stage 5: Altdorf - Surenenpass - Engelberg

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Distance: 28 kilometres
Time: 10–10½ hours
Start altitude: 447m
High point: Surenenpass 2291m
Height gain: 1844m
Height loss: 1289m
Maps: LS 246T Klausenpass & 245T Stans 1:50,000
Accommodation: Attinghausen (30mins) – hotels, with dormitory accommodation; Brüsti (3½hrs) – gasthofs with dormitory accommodation; Blackenalp (7hrs) – alphütte with dormitory accommodation; Stäfeli (8hrs) – berggasthaus with dormitory accommodation; Engelberg – hotels, gasthofs, youth hostel, camping
Transport options: Bus (Altdorf – Attinghausen); Cable-car (Attinghausen – Brüsti)

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Although this is another exceptionally long stage, it is also one of the finest of the whole Alpine Pass Route. The trail is clearly defined and, given good weather, there will be magnificent views almost every step of the way. But once again, unless you have sufficient days in hand to turn it into a two-stage route, all but the most determined of walkers are advised to take advantage of the transport options available, for by doing so you can reduce the day’s demands by about 3hrs, thus enabling you to enjoy it without pressure. This is, after all, a stage to absorb in every detail, and if there’s a section which can be ignored, it’s the road walk from Altdorf to Attinghausen, and subsequent steep, mostly forested, uphill path to Brüsti. These can by relieved by taking the local bus to Attinghausen, and cable-car from there.

Above Brüsti, where the cable-car discharges, the approach to the Surenenpass is full of variety, and with views down to a stem of the Vierwaldstättersee (the Lake of Lucerne), or south into the secretive Waldnacht Valley, while from the pass itself the ice-crowned Titlis is seen to the south-west. For much of the descent to Engelberg you will have that mountain in your sights.

The walker’s route to Attinghausen is best begun from the town’s railway station which is located at the south-western end of town, and is approached by a road leading from the post office. From the bahnhof (station) a sign to Brüsti Seilbahn sends you along the street to Gasthaus Walter Fürst, where you then walk first beneath the railway, then the motorway using underpasses, to the river. Cross the River Reuss and follow it upstream to

ATTINGHAUSEN (469m, 30mins) Tourist information (e-mail: tourismus@attinghausen.ch, website: www.attinghausen.ch). Hotels, shop, restaurant, PTT, bank, cable-car to Brüsti. Accommodation at: Hotel-Gasthaus Krone (beds and dormitory, Phone 041 870 10 55, website: www.kronehotel.ch), Hotel Pouletburg (Phone 041 870 21 84, website: www.pouletburg.ch).

The village of Attinghausenis overshadowed by its neighbour, Altdorf, but earns a place in Swiss history as the birthplace of Walter Fürst, Baron Attinghausen who was one of the original conspirators against Habsburg rule – Schiller’s William Tell has Fürst as one its characters. Today Attinghausen appears to be something of a commuter village without much character, but it’s well-placed for trekkers on the Alpine Pass Route and provides a useful alternative overnight stop to the busier and more expensive Altdorf.

Note: Walkers intending to catch the bus from Altdorf to Attinghausen will find the bus stop near the Tell statue in the main square. Ask for Attinghausen Seilbahn. Once there you will find that the cable-car station is unmanned. Alert the operator at the middle station (it’s a two-stage lift) that you wish to ride the cable-car by pressing a yellow button on the wall as you enter the building. When you get a response from the intercom, ask for ‘Bergfarht, bitte’, enter the cable-car, close the door and press another yellow button. This signals that you’re ready to start. Payment is made at the middle station.

The path to Brüsti begins by the side of the cable-car station and rises along the right-hand side of a stream, crossing near the intermediate station (25mins) where a sign suggests it will take another 2½hrs to reach Brüsti. The way resumes on a track that winds steeply through pasture and forest to Hochiberg, reached about 30mins before coming to

BRÜSTI (1525m, 3½hrs) Accommodation at: Berghaus Brüsti (beds and dormitory, Phone 041 870 10 77), Berggasthaus Z’Graggen (beds and dormitory, Phone 041 871 06 38), Skihaus Surenen (beds and dormitory, (Phone 041 870 76 72)

Outside the cable-car station a signpost indicates the uphill path to the Surenenpass. It takes you past a few houses (including Skihaus Surenen in 5mins, and Berggasthaus Z’Graggen in another 3mins), and along a short vegetated crest bright with alpenroses in early summer, and with bilbrerries and stunted pine trees. A short rail-guarded section descends a little, with views down into a scoop of pasture with a few farms and huts below, and across Altdorf’s valley to mountains flanking the Schächental.

At Grat (1820m), 45mins from Brüsti, there’s a path junction near two alp huts. For the Surenenpass the path angles up and across the hillside to a grassy crest from which you gain a first sighting of the Urnersee leg of the Vierwaldstättersee.

The first time I walked this route views were clear and unhindered off to the lake and far away to Switzerland’s eastern ranges, while wisps of mist played among the grey crags ahead. But the next time all this was reversed as a huge cloud-sea hid all sign of lake and valley, while the ridges of Brunnistock and Blackenstock were sharp in the morning light, their crests outlined with brush-strokes of cornice. Both occasions were full of magic.

Beyond Grat’s green crest you come to a signpost in a saddle marked as Angistock (2031m, 5hrs). Directly ahead you can see the pass (1hr ahead) across a long slope of scree. The path now loses a little height over a rocky area to a path junction, Langschnee (2004m), where one path descends left into the lovely Waldnacht Valley, while ours continues ahead over more rocks and, often, snowfields, before steepening with zigzags to gain the Surenenpass (2291m), about 6hrs from Altdorf, or just 21?2 from Brüsti.

The pass is a rewarding place (given settled weather, that is), for it offers a wonderful vista dominated by the 3238m Titlis which grabs one’s attention from the south-west, yet seems so far-off as to make it difficult to believe that tomorrow’s route crosses its shoulder. Below the pass lie the Seewen tarns, trapped in rucks of pasture. Although the path does not stray to them, they make a perfect site for a picnic, and it’s easy enough to traverse from them to join the proper route down, should you decide to visit their shores. The conventional descent route from the pass curves left, then swings down through pastures grazed by sheep for another hour or so before coming to

ALPHÜTTE BLACKENALP (1773m, 7hrs) accommodation, refreshments (Phone 041 637 12 30)

The buildings here offer dormitory places and a very fine backdrop of a steep-walled mountain cirque topped by the 2887m Wissigstock and Blackenstock (2930m). Nearby stands an attractive little white-walled chapel.

The path becomes a farm track. It passes through a natural ‘gateway’ and crosses the Stierenbach on a stone bridge to break into an open section of valley. In another 20mins it recrosses to the right bank of the stream and comes to a junction. Take the left fork near a waterfall and continue down to

BERGGASTHAUS STÄFELI (1393m, 8hrs) accommodation, refreshments; open late-May to late-October (Phone 041 637 45 11)

From the terrace tables here eyes are magnetically drawn across the valley to a series of cascades and a stab of aiguilles of the Spannort peaks rising against the skyline.

Beyond Stäfeli the track sidles downhill for another 20-30mins to Restaurant Alpenrösli (1258m) (refreshments) where a path breaks off to the left and crosses the Stierenback once more. The path now takes you over pastures and through woods below the Titlis, until you are drawn back across the river and onto the track leading to a paved road which brings you to a cable-car station. Here you have a choice of routes to take you into Engelberg. Either continue on the paved road, take a track about 500m from the cable-car station which goes through farmland, or follow a riverside path cutting left which crosses the river yet again and turns right. This is the Professorenweg which curves round a golf course, recrosses the river and eventually enters Engelberg by the campsite. Whichever route you choose, about 10–10½hrs from Altdorf (6½–7hrs from Brüsti) you enter

ENGELBERG (1002m) Tourist information (Phone 041 639 77 77, e-mail: tourist.center@engelberg.ch, website: www.engelberg.ch). Hotels, youth hostel, campsite, restaurants, shops, banks, PTT, bus services, trains to Lucerne, cable-cars. Lower-priced accommodation: Hotel Bänklialp (dormitory options, Phone 041 639 73 73, website: www.baenklialp.com), Pension St Jakob (dormitory options, Phone 041 637 13 88), Jugendherberge (youth hostel, Phone 041 637 12 92, website: www.familienherberge.ch – closed May and November), Hotel Bellevue (Phone 041 637 12 13, e-mail: bellevue.engelberg@telalpin.ch, website: www.bellevue-engelberg.ch), Hotel Stop (Phone 041 637 16 74). The campsite, Camping Eienwäldli, (Phone 041 637 19 49, e-mail: eienwaeldli.engelberg@bluewin.ch) has excellent facilities, including indoor swimming pool and on-site shop – open all-year except November.

The first of the major mountain resorts visited along the APR, Engelberg makes an excellent walking centre with a number of good routes, several of which are aided by a variety of cableways (see Central Switzerland – a Walker’s Guide (Cicerone Press, 1993)). The town, of course, is much older than tourism, for it developed around a huge Benedictine monastery founded in 1120, but rebuilt following a fire in the 18th century. The monastery, or abbey, was named by Pope Calixtus II, Mons Angelorum – from whose German form the present-day Engelberg is derived. Its main attraction for mountain tourists is, of course, the Titlis, while climbers turn to the Spannörter which flank the valley further upstream.