Colin Chapman
Perched atop Sefinenfurgge – the second highest pass on Switzerland’s Via Alpina – we soaked in our last views of the Eiger and Mönch (two of the Bernese Alps’ most famous peaks). We were eager to see the Blümlisalp massif ahead, but weren’t exactly excited about our next task: descending 3,700 feet over 3.6 miles into a valley and then immediately ascending another mile and 1,200 feet. Excited or not, that’s what it was going to take to reach our next hut, Berghaus Bundalp. Before we started downhill, a quick headcount revealed we were missing a participant.
“Come up here!” we heard from a small shelf above. The voice belonged to our missing hiker. We assumed the shelf was simply a photo spot with a different perspective of the valley below. But we were in for a big surprise… From the shelf, our curious hiker had spotted a high route etched into the rocky slopes below Bütlasse mountain. We pulled out our map and were astonished to realize this high route snaked past five peaks and four glaciers, and through a UNESCO World Heritage Site on its way to Berghaus Bundalp. A quick team meeting rendered a unanimous verdict: skip the valley and take the detour along the high route.
Crossing scree fields, descending ladders, and bypassing hollowed-out snowfields, the group remained patient as I constantly checked in to make sure everyone was comfortable with the terrain.
A lively team meeting at Sefinenfurgge. Photo courtesy of Colin Chapman.
Rounding a shoulder and turning southeast, we were greeted by a massive cirque situated beneath the towering Gspaltenhorn and Kamel mountains, with the Gamchigletscher glacier dumping a raging torrent of silty water into the Gamchibach river below. The solitude was striking. After a week of sharing trails, trains, and huts with trekkers from all over the world, we felt like we had an entire cirque to ourselves.
But we weren’t alone. In the distance, beyond a broad scree field and below the summit of Gspaltenhorn, was a tiny building. We assumed it was a primitive, single-room hut similar to the Schmadrihütte we’d visited two days earlier. But like a mirage turning into an actual oasis, as we progressed across acres of scree, the tiny building morphed into a beautiful, modern alpine hut: Gspaltenhornhütte.
With beer and sparking water pouring from its bar taps, four varieties of homemade fruit tarts alleviating our hunger, and a deck with sweeping views of the surrounding peaks, glaciers, and rivers, we agreed that Gspaltenhornhütte was the perfect stop on the perfect detour to Berghaus Bundalp.
This article originally appeared in our winter 2025 issue of Mountaineer magazine. To view the original article in magazine form and read more stories from our publication, visit our magazine archive.
