Ueschenen multi-pitch sportclimbing

If I was to describe the biggest difference between the Swiss Alps and the mountains of my home in New Zealand, I would say “access”.  Access for rock climbing and mountains is so much faster here.  Roads, lifts and better hiking tracks allow you to get to a greater variety of things in a shorter time.

The day after Monika and I did the Blüemlisalp traverse the weather was still great, so we wanted to get out and do some more climbing.  Admittedly our legs were at little tired after the day before but with so many different options here in the Bernese Oberland it was easy to come up a fun plan.  We headed to Ueschenen (2000m) for some multi pitch sport climbing.  Ueschenen lies in a valley above Kandersteg about an hour’s drive from Interlaken.  It’s famous for generously bolted limestone routes on good limestone with a quick 40-minute approach.

We choose a route we hadn’t done, Salü Res 5c+, as the perfect unwind after the alpine climbing the day before: low stress and a high fun factor.  The route has relative consistent grades of 5c, 5c, 5c+, 5c+ and is 120m long.  The style of rock climbing varies from friction slabs and pockets (not a giveaway at the grade) to steeper climbing at the top.

The whole area has fantastic scenery and it was satisfying looking across to the Blüemlisalp where we were the day before.

The alpine flowers were in full bloom on the approach hike through the alpine meadows.  Monika was in her element, photographing one of her favourite subjects (look out for the next blog post).  A picture perfect day out enjoying the Bernese Oberland area.

This website is still very new.  Through this blog and our Instagram & Facebook accounts ( Alpine Dreams Guiding)  we hope to bring you stories describing our life here in this very beautiful part of Switzerland.

Tim