If you’ve never walked on a glacier, you need to add this journey into your bucket list. This trail is special because it is one of the only few hiking trail in the whole of Europe that allows hiking on glacier without a guide. We cross 3 glacier on this hike.
How to get here
Saas Fee is located near Zermatt, a much more famous town where the Matterhorn is the main draw. Saas fee is a smaller town, less crowded and obviously much cheaper to stay. The best part is, if you stay in any Saas Fee hotels
or apartments, all the cabin car and transportation is free to use which is a huge saving to us. So if you are planning on this hike, stay in Saas Fee.
Despite being a Swiss town, Saas Fee is nearer to Milan and Zurich. It will take you 2h 40 mins to drive from Milan to Saas Fee.
Trail Description
The hike is accessible from the Felskinn station in Saas Fee. From Felskinn station, we hiked across the snows of the Chessjen Glacier to reach the Egginerjoch pass (2,988 m). From the pass we went down a glacier bowl before
climbing a small hill to reach Britannia Hut. After a short break at the hut, we descended down to cross Hohlaub Glacier and then Allalin Glacier. It took us around 2 hours to cross both glacier. Finally, we descended down
to Mattmark Reservoir to catch a bus that brings us back to Saas Fee. We took 7 hours to complete the whole trail with 1 hour rest and many phototaking stops.
Chessjen Glacier
Relaxing at the Felskinn Station. We arrived early in the morning and there was nobody around. The Chessjen Glacier is located just next to the station and its a easy cross with clear path.
Glacier path is well maintained
Looking back at the cable car station.
Felskin Station to Britannia hut
After the crossing the glacier, the trail then drops into the glacial bowl beyond the pass before climbing again to the Britannia Hut. You can see the hut in the image on the left…but where is the trail?
Very lucky to have goood weather today
In winter, this area is all ice; glacier bowl.
Descending into the glacier bowl
Britannia hut is in the background.
Mysterious Glacier
Britannia hut is located at the top of the pass. There is a glacier in front and we are not sure if it is safe to cross this glacier. We know that we have to cross 3 glacier but this is not one of them. And the safety pole that marked the safe path is not clear either.
To our shock and surprise, our 2 kids have already crossed to the other side and waving for us to come over. Dont think they know the danger involved. Reluctantly we cross the glacier nervously, praying that there are no crevasses on our path. If you hiking with children, make sure they follow you all the time.
Britannia Hut
The Britannia hut located at 3030 m is one of the most popular SAC huts in the alps and is the starting point of the famous Haute-Route. Among all the mountain huts I have been, this has arguably the best view among all. In summer, there are comfortable dormitories sleeping 115 in rooms of 4 -8 beds which we can book if we are staying overnight. There are many mountain climbing tours and hiking trail in the area.
We reach Britannia Hut in 1.5 hours. If you do not have time, hiking to this hut alone is a worthwhile journey.
What a stunning view!! The great thing about mountain hut in Europe other than its glorious view is the price of food and drinks here. It is the same price you would get from any restaurant in town. In other places, it would be double.
Colourful signboard. Not sure how accurate is the info provided.
While enjoying our snacks, Vincent went up this peak. So much energy.
From the hut, one could glimpse Allalin glacier (on the left) and Hohlaub glacier (on the right). The glacier looks small from afar but they are really huge and it took us almost 3 hours to cross both.
Hohlaub Glacier
Walking on the glacier is a fantastic feeling, mixed with certain degree of anxiety as well. There is no indication of how thick the ice plate we were walking on, certainly there is no guarantee for our safety. We just got to trust and follow the marking people had put on the surface as a guide.
Descending down to the glacier
Tons of rocks to navigate.
Beautiful landscape. We just follow the pole which is quite visible.
Incredile view.
We are on the edge of the glacier!
Sea of ice..it feels surreal being in the center of the huge glacier
We found an ice cave towards the end of this glacier. Wanted to go in the cave but scare it will crash down on me
She found a piece of ice!!
Ice cave from afar.
Land of Rocks
Besides the ice and snow, those rocks and boulders are also never fail to amaze us. It’s like if we ever dare to move a single piece out from its place, all of the others will be falling on us. We were scrambling around the rocks for
an hour and I slipped once and broke my camera lens. Still, I feel very grateful we are safe with only scratches here and there
Finally, allalin Glacier is in sight.
Alpine Ibex
The Alpine Ibex, also known as the Capra Ibex, is a wild goat that lives high up in the European Alpine mountain range. Centuries of intensive hunting reduced Alpine ibex numbers to just a few hundred in Europe. We have hike in Europe for many years and this is the first time we saw a family of ibex.
Allalin Glacier
Finally we reach the edge of Allalin Glacier
Deep crevasses for this glacier.
Have to be very careful walking here. Not sure what to do if anyone slips into these crevases. Luckily the pole that marks our trail is clearly visible.
This glacier is really huge. It took long time for us to reach the other side.
First time encountering a dog on a glacier
Finally we reach the other side.
Surreal landscape. We are in now in the middle of the glacier.
Gobal warming has creates this hole!
Vincent jumping over a small stream.
Descending Mattmark Reservoir
After crossing the last glacier, we climbed up a mountain pass before descending down to Mattmark Reservoir: Europe’s largest earth dam (2,200 m). We took around 2 hours to complete this 7 km trail. This lasts section is tiring. But
it was all worth it. The hike has everything you could ask for; the scenery, mountains, rocks, ice, stream, lakes and glacier.
Looking back at the Allalin glacier below
Looks like a long winding path. It tooks us alomost an hour just to descend to the dam
Flat trail…Feel so good after going up and down through rocks ice and water.
William at the top of the pass.
The color of the water is so turquoise, looks fake, like watercolor.
Finally we arrived at the Mattmark Reservoir restaurant where there is a bus to take us back to Saas Fee.
Trip date: August, 2018 Checkout our full blog at :
https://www.vrcation.net
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