Switzerland – Valais (Sion, Zermatt, Brig) September 17, 2019
I have continued to stop seeing museums on my mad rush to finish Europe. It is a welcome respite as after about 1000 of them, many repeat themselves, are expensive and take a lot of time. I am limiting myself to seeing all the regions and miss as few WHS as possible.
This trip through the Alps was a welcome change from all the flat land for the last several months. The Alps are spectacular limestone mountains with jagged peaks, quite similar to the Canadian Rockies. The valleys have impossibly green fields punctuated by small log and stone huts and high story-book villages with a prominent church. Munster and the two towns south of Furk Pass are almost completely Swiss-style houses – 3-story, fitted logs allowed to age to deep brown, stone ground floors, balconies, flower boxes, shutters and wide eves.
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch.
This World Heritage Site (2001) national park is in SW Switzerland. Covering an area of 82,000 ha, it is the largest glaciated area in Western Europe with 35,000ha of glacier. The Aletsch Glacier is 23 km long and has a maximum thickness of 900m. Half is higher than 2,600m and the highest mountain is Finsteraarhorn (4,270m) with 8 other peaks over 4000m including the precipitous 20km long north wall of Jungfrau, Monch and the Eiger. The summit ridge separating the canyons of Valais and Berne is the main watershed of Europe – water flowing to the north flows by way of the Aar River into the Rhine and the North Sea; water draining south flows via the Rhone River into the Mediterranean.
Climate to the south tends to be drier and to the north is wet sub-oceanic climate. In the north rainfall exceeds 220cm, mostly in the summer and in the south only 100cm.
The Jungfrau Railway built between 1870-1912 turned the area from inaccessible to very accessible and visited by large numbers. Footpaths are well developed on the periphery but nonexistent through it so the center is accessible only to experienced mountaineers. 37 shelters and 5 mountain refuges provide 1,582 beds managed by the Swiss Alpine Club.
The highway climbs on a long series of switchbacks up to this hotel almost at the top and then tops out at Furk Pass.
Hotel Belvedere, Obergoms. In the NM “Bizzarium” series, this older 3-story stone/wood construction sits completely surrounded by a hair pin curve of a switchback with nothing but a narrow sidewalk separating it from the road. It is closed and not open to the public.
St Gotthard Massif. Four of Europe’s most important rivers – the Rhine, Reuss, Ticino and Rhone – originate in the range. The 90km Four Headwaters Trail leads you to their sources. Can do a single-day segment or a 5-day continuous hike. Starts in Oberalppass, Maighels-Hutte, Val Maighels, Maighelspass, Vermigel-Hutte, Gotthardpass, Glacier Reuss, Lucendropass, Piansecco-Hutte, Curia, Ticino Glacier, Nufenenpass, Obergerstein, Gletsch Rhone glacier, Sidelen-Hutte, Furkpass.
NOMAD MANIA Switzerland – Valais (Sion, Zermatt, Brig)
World Heritage Sites
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
Sights (Temporarily Reinstated)
Leukerbad Spas
Matterhorn
Borders
France-Switzerland
Italy-Switzerland
XL: Saint-Gingolph (France/Switzerland)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Gant-Hohtälli Cable Car
Glacier Express (Zermatt-St. Moritz)
Klein Matterhorn Aerial Tramway
Sierre-Crans Montana funicular
Museums
Bagnes: Musee de Bagnes
Sierre: Musee du Vin
Zermatt: Matterhorn Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Brig: Stockalper Palace
World of Nature: Binntal Nature Park
Festivals
Caprices Festival
Combat des Reines (Battle of the Queens), Valais
Zermatt Unplugged
Botanical Gardens: Orsières: Alpin Flore-Alpe Botanical Garden
Theme Parks: Port Valais: Swiss Vapeur Parc
Caves
Grotte aux Fées
Lac souterrain de Saint-Léonard
Ski Resorts
Crans-Montana
Verbier
Zermatt
Pedestrian Bridges: Randa: Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge
Vehicle Museums: Martigny: Fondation Pierre Gianadda
Villages and Small Towns
CHAMPÉRY
GRIMENTZ
SION
Museums: Art Museum of Valais
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Tourbillon Castle
Valère