Here is this video impression on Facebook.

• description

From our Hotel Bellevue Hohfluh Hasliberg you drive 33.2 km by car to the Hotel Handegg / Gelmerbahn on the Grimselpassstrasse. You can park on the left in the parking lot to the Gelmerbahn. The tourist development of the Gelmerbahn, which was previously only used by the power plant operators of the KWO Kraftwerke Oberhasli, is quite new.

In the past, you had to drive to the Künzentännlen post bus stop and then laboriously climb to the Gelmersee. Now this is very much simplified by the railway. But be careful: the train doesn't run too often and the number of seats is very limited. Nowadays you have to make a reservation. Here is a link to reserve the tickets. 

Please keep in mind that not only the ride on the Gelmerbahn is very adventurous, but that you only reach a few tourist destinations at the top. The hike around the Gelmersee and / or the path down to Künzentännlen and back via the Säumerweg to back to Handegg is semi-alpine. We were only able to master these stretches because we had been hiking in this area since 1980! So it is better to book the return trip if you are not experienced in the alpine area. Of course, this excursion to the Grimselwelt is unforgettable. Incidentally, the Gelmerbahn has a maximum gradient of 104%, which corresponds to an angle of 46 °.

From the mountain station of the Gelmerbahn we keep to the left and continue on the left bank halfway up. There is only one way that has been blasted in by the workers. At the end of the lake you can also continue to climb to the Gelmerhütte. We decided against it to continue to circle the lake to the right. It goes through a rock gate, at a crash on a cement-made and tacked route, over a strong flowing mountain stream (without a bridge!) And on a path that is sometimes only a foot-wide path to the weir of the Gelmersee.

From here you can go back to the Gelmerbahn or, as we have done, the steep mountain path on steps, laid out by the Swiss military, down to the pass road at Kunzentännlen, a post bus stop. We continued on the old Säumerweg over the "Hälen Platten" (the "bad" Platten, a few steps hewn in the early days) further down to Handegg.

This is a walking distance of 8.0 km.

That was the highlight of the hiking tours with my mother in 2002. My mother was 74 years old at that time.

• Road map

•  Gelmerbahn map

•  hiking map

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