Alpine Pass Route

The Alpine Pass Route is a long-distance hiking trail through the Alps in Switzerland. It starts in Sargans in eastern Switzerland, and crosses the heart of country westwards to finish in Montreux on the shore of Lake Geneva. The total route covers over 350km (220 miles), crosses 16 mountain passes, and takes around 20 walking days to complete.

The Route

There are a number of variations on the precise route, but the following stages are fairly standard:
* From Sargans over the Foopass to Elm
* Over the Richetlipass to Linthal
* Over the Klausenpass to Flüelen
* Over the Surenenpass to Engelberg
* Over the Jochpass to Meiringen
* Over the Grosse Scheidegg to Grindelwald
* Over the Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen
* Over the Sefinenfurgge to Griesalp
* Over the Hohtürli to Kandersteg
* Over the Bunderchrinde to Adelboden
* Over the Hahnenmoospass to Lenk
* Over the Trütlisbergpass to Lauenen
* Over the Krinne to Gsteig
* Over the Col des Andérets to Col des Mosses
* Over the Col de Chaude to Montreux

The central portion of the route through the Berner Oberland is the most spectacular, with many hikers choosing to hike a few passes rather than the whole route in one go. The excellent transport connections give many possibilities for breaking it up.

ignposting

The signposting along the route is excellent, with countless signs, markers and arrows. Most of the signs carry the name of the next pass or town, but increasingly the green square "Via Alpina" signs are being introduced. This route is now called route number 1 of a collection of long-distance walking routes.

References

* "Alpine Pass Route", Kev Reynolds. Cicerone 2004 ISBN 978 1 85284 405 9

External links

*en icon http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routen_detail.cfm?id=317158
*en icon http://activityworkshop.net/hiking/alpinepassroute/
*en icon http://www.geocities.com/stephenrabone
*de icon http://www.wandersite.ch/Alpenpassroute.html