One of our New Year's resolutions is to go to the mountains more often. Last year, we managed only a couple of times as we spent most of our weekends in the garden, but this year we will do it differently, so that we have a bit more time for other things than gardening as well. And what is a better way of starting the new year than going to the mountains? Lots of sunshine, amazing views, fresh air, lots of snow and some hiking - that's what we want!
It's been cloudy and foggy since we arrived back from our Christmas break, and some days it was even raining, so we were craving the real winter with lots of snow and sunshine, and we couldn't wait for the weekend to get it. We planned to leave on Sunday at 8 am, but as usually my husband didn't manage on time and we left at 10 am! Luckily, it is only about one and a half hours driving, so we still had enough time for our adventure. And we arrived right on time for lunch 😊
Let's go!
Säntis is nestled in the heart of the Swiss Alps, and it's easily reachable by car or by bus. There are regular lines from nearby places although I'm not so sure about the schedule as we came by car. There is a large parking area, but there were so many cars that we struggled to find a place. We drove around and then towards the exit when we spotted one remaining slot right in front of the hotel. It couldn't be any better!
The mountain is part of the Alpstein massif which is well known for its unique geology. When you stand in front of Säntis you can see that it's a large rock formation. You can climb to the top, but you have to start from another side as it's not approachable from where we were standing. It is a difficult hike and you need special equipment in winter, so we opted for the cable car as I can't do such complex hikes due to my hip anymore. Can you see that pal on the top? This is where we are going first!
The cable car goes every 15 minutes and costs 52CHF (ca 60USD or 55EUR) per person. You need to book it in advance as there are 85 places each ride, and believe me that it can get crowded. We were surprised that our ride was half empty, but what we didn't notice was that there was a strong wind warning, and this might be the reason why families with kids stayed in the valley. Well, there is enough for them to do too as there are maintained hiking trails, snowshoes trails, they can also do sledging, and we noticed some people skiing at random places too.
Let's go to the top!
The ride takes 10 minutes with more than 1100 meters gain in altitude! You can feel the pressure in your ears and at some point it gets a bit scary as it goes very close to the mountain and you can see the rocks only a few meters in front of you with BIG NOTHING under the cabin. It also gets wobbly when it goes over the safety pals. But when you focus on the views you will enjoy it.
Yes, that's our cabin 😊
Almost there...
And this is how it looks like when you exit the cabin...
The cable cars in Switzerland are usually very expensive, but you also get a very nice experience. They are clean and safe, and there is always a chatty driver who greets you, gives you some tips and then wishes you a very nice day. Some cable cars also have TV's with info, and there is always some music to make the ride even more enjoyable.
The cable car takes you to 2473 m above sea level, but the summit is at 2502 m above sea level, and there are various platform from where you can enjoy the views. You can also go hiking as there are many hiking trails, but most of them are closed for winter. There are many signs providing you relevant information about the trails.
Even when they would be open, it would not be possible to go hiking due to the wind that day. I must say that I have never experienced such strong wind in my life. First of all, we couldn't even open the door to the platform. There were two people pushing from outside and two people pulling on the inside to get it open. When we went out, the wind took my breath away instantly. I panicked a bit and it took me a while to start breathing normally. The platform was icy, so I struggled to keep my balance as well, and taking photos was a huge challenge. The funny thing is that it looks so calm on the photos 😊
This is a hiking trail called 'Himmelsleiter' or 'Ladder to Heaven'. Well, if you tried it in that weather than it would literally be the ladder to heaven for you.
We came from somewhere down there...
It's in the direction of Zürich.
On the right, we can see the Glarus Alps and on the left there are the Lepontine Alps.
The majestic Altman right in front of us...
And here are all the trails...
I've heard that the trail to Seealpsee is really beautiful. You need to reserve a whole day as it also take more than 2 hours to get from the Seealpsee to the closest parking place. We did that trail and it was lovely.
As you can see the stairs were not really clean, so it was good that there are railings...
In summer, you can enjoy lunch in the restaurant below. But don't worry, when you come in winter there are two restaurants in the building too, so you won't stay hungry.
The Himmelsleiter from another side...
We were so lucky with the weather! After a while, we could see that it started to get cloudy, but we still enjoyed the beautiful skies.
Normally, you can walk to all the levels from outside, but as you can see the stairs are not maintained in winter, so we had to return to the building all the time and fight with the door again and again.
When you look at the right upper corner you will see small crystals flying around. They were so painful! We were lucky that we had our sunglasses as the ice crystals were hurting our faces and I wouldn't like to get them in my eyes. It was some sort of natural peeling 😊
There are four expositions inside of the building - Säntis – the weather mountain, the world of ice, the geology, the history.
Apparently, Säntis is home to weather records, so there is an entire exposition about it. You can learn about weather extreme conditions, and see tools that are used for measuring. It's an interactive exposition, so you can also create your own tornado.
I find this box interesting as there were tools used for condition measuring. The one on the left is called hair hygrometer as in the past, human hair was used to measure the air humidity.
Here we could learn about snowflakes and how they are created.
The highest snow precipitation in the Alps is 816 cm. I was surprised by that number even though I don't know if I expected it to be less or more, but I didn't expect it to be 8 meters.
This shows the comparison of glaciers around the world to the biggest glacier of the Alps called The Aletsch Glacier (the small blue cube). The biggest cube shows the volume of all glaciers around the world to the Aletsch Glacier.
I think there is no other museum with more beautiful views...
At some places, the snow covered almost the entire windows...
Here you can see how it looks like in summer. There was also a model of the massif.
The best views!
Let's go to the history part of the museum...
Among other items, we could see traditional crafts, musical instruments, clothes, and we also learned about the history of the cable car and its operations.
Those wooden figures are so pretty!
When you go hiking in Switzerland, there is a 99.9% chance that you come across cows with such bells. Sometimes those bells are smaller, sometimes as big as on the picture. I'm not a big fan of the sound that those bells make, and I can't even imagine how it is for the cow to wear it and listen to it day in and day out.
We are not done yet! I said at the beginning that we went hiking and so we did. We spent about 2 hours on top and then we went back down to do one of the theme trails called Laternliweg or Lantern trail. It's a beautiful hike along the illuminated lantern trail.
But first, let me tell you about our ride back down to the valley. There was a music band in our cabin, and they started playing their instruments and singing as soon as they boarded. We enjoyed some traditional Swiss music and YODELING. I don't know if you ever heard yodeling, but it's very loud and in the closed cabin it is almost unbearable. However, the Swiss seemed to enjoy it and they were singing along and clapping. Soon, almost everyone in the cabin was yodeling and you could see the foreigners praying to get down as quickly as possible. I was among those too! 😊
It was like a different world in the valley. It was nice and warm, and there was no wind - the perfect conditions for our hike.
Laternliweg is a round hike that takes about 40 minutes to complete. It is an easy hike in the woods where you can enjoy tranquility and some beautiful light conditions (weather permitting).
This time we had to be careful as there were many people sledging down the trail too.
The days are still short and we were slowly approaching the sunset...
It was too early for the lanterns to be lit, but we loved the hike anyway.
From time to time, Säntis was peaking from behind the trees...
And here it is in its full glory - it was funny to think that just a few moments ago we were up there fighting the wind and now we were enjoying the sunshine and almost spring weather.
It was getting dark, but we were in no hurry as we thought that our drive back home would be fast. Little did we know that many more people had the same plans and our trip home would take almost 3 hours, most of it spent in a traffic jam.
Those trees are so tall. I'm sure that if we would come a few days earlier they would be all covered in snow. That would have been even more beautiful.
I could sit there and watch the skies...
We're coming to the end of the trail already...
Last few photos before going back home...
We had such a great time even though we almost flew off the platform 😊 When you're in Switzerland, I would definitely recommend you to explore Säntis. You won't regret it.
As I mentioned, the drive back was not easy and I got car sick in the traffic jam, so I went straight to bed when we arrived home. But it was all worth it!
I hope you have enjoyed another trip with us.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina