Tested for you: the pitfalls of winter hiking in Dallenwil

Last Sunday, a family hiking day was on the agenda. The seven of us wanted to trudge through the snow together. The meeting point for the hiking day was conveniently located in the middle of Bern and Zurich – at Lucerne train station. The plan was to go on a short, crisp winter hike above Dallenwil behind the Stanserhorn followed by a fondue chinoise chat in Hergiswil. It was supposed to be a really cozy family day in the snow. However, not all parties were equally motivated. I already expressed my concerns about altitude when planning the hike. “Hopefully it won’t rain up to 1,200 m above sea level.” Instead, the junior of the family only looked out of the window on Sunday with the weather situation and wrote in the WhatsApp family chat “ühhh das schiffet” (which is Bernese German and translates as “oops, it’s raining twine out there”). A subsequent squabble by the proponents of the alternative programme caused a slightly soured mood on arrival at the meeting point in Lucerne. This was cheered up during the gondola ride from Dallenwil to Wirzweli. It’s snowing! A general sigh of relief. After all, Mother Hulda stuck to our program.

But the next tricky nut to crack follows immediately. Where do we have to go through? The information board at the Wirzweli mountain station neatly lists all snowshoe trails, but the Wirzweli-Gummenalp winter hike is missing from the offer. As it happens, everyone in the group has relied on the others and so we stand disoriented in the snow flurry with the hiking descriptions by Thomas Widmer and Wandersite.ch, but without a map. We follow the path in the direction of the Gummenalp cable car and shortly after passing the Langbodenstübli alpine inn, we start to wonder whether we are following the right path. We don’t see anything of the great panorama, the gloves are soaking wet and the snow is blown directly into our faces. The mood subsides again. We promptly take the wrong turn and after a thirty-minute ascent we are faced with nothing at the Chüeneren alpine dairy near Aecherli. From here on, there’s only virgin deep snow. With these amounts of fresh snow, this means a sweaty ascent to the Gummenalp without snowshoes, which we can now at least spot from afar. The decision to stop the winter hike at this point and postpone it to a nicer winter day is unanimous. After all, that. On the way back to Wirzweli we catch the right turn-off to the winter hiking trail.

The day ends on a conciliatory note with a fondue chat à discretion at the Seerestaurant Pilatus in Hergiswil. We laugh together about this combination of bad luck with weather, trail and winter hiking and we agree: The main thing is that we were in the fresh air!

Practical information and tips for the winter hike Wirzweli-Gummenalp

The route can be found on the map below. The hike starts at the Wirzweli mountain station and leads via Langboden, Vorderegg to Hinterer Gummen. The outward and return routes are about 8.5 km long, include an ascent of 420 meters and a descent of 420 meters in altitude. The hiking time of around 2.5 hours can be shortened with a chairlift ride from Hinterer Gummen back to Wirzweli. In contrast to the many snowshoe trails, the trail is poorly marked and be sure to take your snowshoes with you in case of fresh snow.

The cable car from Dallenwil to Wirzweli can be used free of charge with GA. The regular price for a one-way round trip is 21.60, with a half-fare travelcard it costs 10.80. The walk from Dallenwil train station to the cable car station is just under 20 minutes – alternatively, a call-a-taxi runs on this route.

Further information can be found on the website of Wirzweli.