The Leiternweg
This page is included, not as recommended walk, but as a warning that not all walks shown on Swiss walking maps are quite as they appear. You may wish to avoid this route!!
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Our
original plan, on arrival at Saas Grund, had been to walk from Kreuzboden to
Hohsaas, but a study of the map 1: 25000 map revealed an apparently more
interesting route. We decided to take the Gspon Hohenweg (path No. 8) from
Kreuzboden (2397m) to just before Grüebe where at 2453m a path goes uphill
(path No. 65) towards the lakes at Ze dri Seemjine. Here the Leiternweg (path
No. 59) traverses the slopes of the Jegihorn at about 2800 m before eventually
dropping down to the Weissmieshütte at 2726m. I estimated that this should be
possible to walk in about 3 to 3½
hours, based on the information on signposts and the map. From the
Weissmieshütte it is a further 1¼ hours to the gondola cable car station at
Hohsaas. A good day in the mountains we thought. We were wrong!
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The stunning view from Kreuzboden looking across to the Mischabel range above Saas Fee
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The section of the Gspon Hohenweg path between Kreuzboden and the junction of the route up to the Ze dri Seemjine crosses the boulder field below the Jegihorn.
About 1 hour after Kreuzboden we took the path signposted to the
Leiternweg and Ze dri Seemjine. The path climbs steeply up a small valley but
soon becomes indistinct and so we had to rely on a few cairns and red/white
blazes. After about 45 minutes, we arrived at the junction with the Leiternweg
path. The letters SAC and an arrow pointed the way towards the hut but,
puzzlingly, the yellow signposts were completely blank. We decided to look at
the lakes but only saw the lower one, as the larger lakes are higher up in a
corry.
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The appalling "path" through the boulder fields below the Jegihorn summit. Some of these boulders are over 2 metres high!
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The point on the Leiternweg where the path appears to end - it goes over the rocks at the bottom left corner of the photo. In the middle of the photo can be seen the Weissmieshütte. In the background are the Lagginhorn and Wiessmies.
There appeared to be no way forward, so we retreated about half a kilometre to the lowest point on the path. Fortunately, there was a safe and relatively gently sloped dry gully, with grass and small stones, which allowed us to descend to Kreuzboden. We arrived in the valley at Kreuzboden 5 hours after leaving. The terrain was by far the worst we have ever experienced and the walk was not one that we would like to repeat.
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The Jegihorn with the "route" shown in red.
We would like to hear from any reader who has any experience of this route. Click here to email us