Ken Baldry's Alpine Advice & Adventures index page

Ken Baldry's Alpine Pages Index

Alpine adventures

Ken's idea of fun is to fill a big rucksack with stuff and set off up the hills and over the passes of the European Alps. I have gleaned quite a lot of useful information & photos. They are here, as you may be interested in doing some of the trips yourself.
If you need any more information, do not hesitate to
e-mail me. I am sure some of my advice has saved lives
BUT note the dates when the walk was done.
Things do change in the hills (especially prices!)

I have only described trips I have done myself & can vouch for. The ones labelled 'Alpine ' demand ice-axe, crampons, rope & companion but the others, the bulk, are within the capability of any fit walker. More information is always available from village Tourist offices & usually, their web sites. In Switzerland, the URL is often just www.village name.ch e.g. www.zermatt.ch although some, e.g. Arolla, are dot coms, as in www.arolla.com & Zinal is zinal.net. Austria is .at.

Just one other thing: you walk on your own responsibility. If you break your neck, that's bad luck or your own fault, not mine.

On-going:-

A gradual programme of revisions, including bigger photos & diagrams now most people have broadband & XGA screens. Also, on a white background, which should make things clearer. I'd like your e-mail opinion on this.

Ken has illustrated lectures about the:-

Cross-Swiss Walk; Chamonix-Zermatt Walk;, Things to do in Zermatt; Stübai tour;
"Summer in the Pennine Alps" (amateur movie);
English Lake District for beginners

which he is willing to give to societies. E-mail him on this link.

Ken on the Ulrichshorn 3925m
above Saas Fee, 1977. See Tour 4 below.
Hair now totally white & a lot thinner (2015).

This link is to Ken's Hints & Tips for walkers.

New September 2015 -

Additions & changes to the "Round Monte Rosa" tour
This will be the last 'heavy duty' hill item I will post. At 72, I'm starting to feel my age & steep rocky paths are beyond my knees & balance. I have an on-going proramme of improving the photos on the site, though.

Back-packing trips:-

1. A walk all the way across Switzerland from Austria to France 1973-1995 and route variations since (ongoing)
2. From Innsbruck Airport to Innsbruck Airport via the Stubai- & Gschnitztaler 1992 (Austrian Tyrol)
3. Round Monte Rosa from-to St Niklaus 1973 & 1975 (includes an Alpine option, revised 29-9-2015)
4. Best ever day in the mountains - The Balfrin Ridge 1977 (This is an Alpine trip, revised 17-10-2010)
5. From Mauvoisin in the Val de Bagnes to Breuil 1999
6. From Kandersteg to Fafleralp in the Lötschental 1974 (includes an Alpine option & revised 1-10-2010)
7. St Luc to St Niklaus - Bella Tola - the best viewpoint in the Swiss Alps totally revised 17-11-2010
8. Visp to Zermatt on foot - The Europaweg high level 'footpath'
9. Chamonix to Zermatt on foot - the footpath "Haute Route" some improvements 17-11-2010 & 23-6-2013

Walks based on village centres:-

1. Zermatt (at the end of the Mattertal & under the Matterhorn. Updated 16-7-2015)
2. Saas Fee (includes Alpine option climbs. Updated October 2010)
3. Grindelwald (includes an Alpine option)
4. Grächen (above the Mattertal)
5. Lenk in Simmenthal (includes an Alpine option)
6. Neustift (in the Tyrolean Stuebaital)
7. Zinal (Val d'Annivers)
8. Bettmeralp (above the Rhone Valley (Goms))
9. Pontresina (in the Upper Engadine near St. Moritz but much nicer)
10. Grüben totally revised 17/11/2010

The village-based walks are less arduous than the back-packing trips described above,
partly because you only need to carry a day-sack.

Remember, 'Alpine' or 'Alpine option' means that you need a companion, rope, ice-axe & crampons & know how to use them but these are all easy climbs. If you have any doubts about your plans, do e-mail me.

Looks around villages:-

The three walkers passes over the Berner Oberland (East to West):-

1. Gemmi Pass from Kandersteg to Leukerbad. Updated October 2010.
2. Rawil Pass from Iffigenalp (Lenk) to Montana
3. Sanetsch Pass From Gsteig to Sion

This link is to a comprehensive index to places on this site

Maps: The pages include the numbers of the Swiss National Survey 1:50,000 maps for each days walk as 'LKxxx' for Landeskarte and the map number for the Kompass maps, defined as 'Kxxx'. Many pages include small maps, taken from the Official Map of the Automobil-Club der Schweiz, (with their permission). These are of varying scales, only indicative & useless for actual walking. If you cannot read a map & use a compass, use this site for armchair mountaineering only.

Heights: are included in the form '1234m' where 'm' is metres above sea level.
Where the route is shown on a photo, it uses Poucher's convention of dashes where it is visible & dots where it goes behind the hill.

Getting there: Details on this page

This link to my page of 'how to get there', hotel advice & Tourist Office links updated 11/9/2009

This link is to correspondence I have had with other potential adventurers & may be of interest to you

This link is to a discussion about rucksacks, a list of what I put in mine & what you don't need

This link is to Hints & Tips, which used to be on this page but now are much expanded

Various other links are on this page

Weather

People are always e-mailing me, wanting to know what the weather is going to be in the Alps.
I wish I knew! It can change from very nice to very nasty, very quickly.

Hit this link to get the current weather from AccuWeather.

When you get there, type in the location for which you want the forecast.

Winter and Ski-ing

I used to think there was plenty of information available because of ski-ing's popularity. However, I am getting so many enquiries that I am gradually including some winter photographs attached to village pages because I have them & you might be tempted, e.g. Wengen, Mürren, Zermatt and Davos more to follow. I will be gradually adding practical advice about the resorts I know as well.