Steingletscher or Stein Glacier

 

Friday 6th September 2024

After a couple of grey (ish) cloudy days we awoke to bright sunshine and a cloudless alpine sky today so I was keen to make the most of it and get to the Aareschlucht River Gorge walk.

The east entrance is a five minute walk from the campsite up a fairly steep path.

On the way I passed a bridge over the river Aare.

It appears to go nowhere except to a cliff face, but after crossing, it becomes clear it's the entrance to the railway station set inside the mountain ! 

Who knew ?

A bridge to a cliff face ?

Oh wait, it's the railway station

There's a station at each end of the gorge and the admission ticket allows a return trip on the train.

The gorge is amazing, a miracle of nature, to create such a spectacular feature in the landscape.

A blue alpine river carving it's way  through rock formations over centuries to such effect. 

It leaves you speechless.

The walk entrance

The boardwalk can be seen clinging to the vertical cliff face
quite a achivement of engineering

I decided to pass on the train back and walked the return route instead, it's surprising what else you see walking in the opposite direction.

After returning to the campsite, I did water duties and we set off along the Susten Pass to a remote place I'd read about from another motorhomer who was told about it by some Germans a few years ago.

Our destination is the blue ice of the Steingletscher (Stone Glacier), at the end of a 1.5 mile private toll road from near the top of the Susten Pass, a bonkers cliff-side road built during the Second World War which seems these days to mostly carry sports cars and endless motorbikes.

We’ve come up high, to 2100m above sea level, and the temperature’s dropped a good few degrees but the sun is keeping us warm.

The sound of turquoise-blue glacial meltwaters sliding over smooth rock drifts in through the windows, yes we’re in a heavenly spot in Switzerland.

This place clearly well known by the Swiss and German motorhome and campervan community, as there are plenty of vehicles enjoying the various parking places along the off-shoot valley road. 

It’s not an obvious spot though, requiring you to drive between a hotel and cheese shop. Once past them a STOP sign is painted across the road, alongside a small ticket machine.

Popping either €5 or 5CHF (both currencies are widely accepted across Switzerland) gifts you a ticket which lasts until midnight on the day after, so allows for an overnight stay. 

The road is a little narrow and steep in places, but easily passable when there’s no snow, probably from about May to October.

It's called the Umpol Obererparkplatz below the Stone Glacier off the Sustenpass and is a wonderful place to be able to stay overnight and wake up to these views.

Imagine the price of a hotel room here with these views if there were a hotel to stay in ?

So a motorhome with hot and cold water, beer, food and a comfortable bed is the only answer :)

I feel so thankful to be able to do this, and enjoy these places and experiences.

PS remarkably we also have a pretty good 4G wifi signal which is remarkable considering where we are.

We're under the blue blob

Steingletscher Glacier with the parking area beneath 

Steingletscher or Stein Glacier

Steingletscher or Stein Glacier, apparently it's contracted
quite a lot in recent years

 Socks with Sandles, sorry, but I wanted to show my afternoon view

 Another view of the Steingletscher Glacier

and another, lol
I do wish I had a drone for even more and better photos from above

I'm hoping the clear skies will give a display of the stars tonight, so I'll be outside wrapped up in my fleece later on as I'm expecting it'll be quite cool

On another note, Louis did a quite small leap over a stream earlier on a walk and landed awkwardly, he's having difficulty putting weight on his front right paw.

It isn't painful in that he let me touch and rub it, so I think he's probably pulled a muscle and a day or two of rest will sort it out, hopefully.