GELTENHÜTTE

Geltenhütte [367 Kb]

Geltenhütte is about a three and a half hour walk south from Lauenen, located near the southeast corner of the Bern canton. I had been to the area in February 2006 for a walk to Lauenensee in the snow, and returned four months later on June 17 for this walk. While many of the trails at higher elevations are still covered with snow, Geltenhütte is at a low enough elevation, 2002 metres, that it is mostly snow free relatively early in the season.

Lauenensee [264 Kb]

One can start the hike to Geltenhütte either from Lauenen or from Lauenensee. I opted to start from Lauenen, in part to evade the parking fees at Lauenensee, but adding about an hour each way to the walk. There are a number of route options between Lauenen and Lauenensee. There are two road routes on either side of the valley and also a walking trail that remains close to the river. I used the road route on the west side of the valley to reach Lauenensee. The road climbs through forest for about a kilometer before reaching open pasture country as it approaches Lauenensee. Although the easy trails around Lauenensee are popular with famlilies, the trail leading beyond Lauenensee towards Geltenhütte is much less travelled but very esthetic. The trail climbs alongside the Geltenbach river for about a kilometer, passing numerous waterfalls, before reaching the open meadows of Undere Feisseberg from where the impressive Geltenschuss comes in to view. The trail continues alongside the Geltenbach to the head of the valley and then finally climbs steeply the final two kilometers to reach Geltenhütte.

Geltenschuss [441 Kb]

In addition to the fine scenery, one of the highlights of this early season walk is seeing and hearing the tremendous volume of water pouring through the river and over the numerous waterfalls. Just below Geltenhütte is a waterfall which emerges directly from the cliff face through underground channels; the trail was ingeniously constructed to sneak between the cliff and the waterfall, although not sparing the hiker from getting a bit wet. I spent about a hour at Geltenhütte, enjoying a large mug of cold beer while soaking in the views and chatting with some Dutch hikers who had driven ten hours from Holland to spend a few days at the hut and bag some peaks. I returned to Lauenensee by the same route, then to Lauenen via the river trail. At the Hotel Alpenland in Lauenen I stopped for yet another dinner of rösti, beer, and espresso out on the patio, enjoying the view back to where I had just spent the day hiking. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain started just as I reached my car for the drive back to Geneva.

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