Day 13 – Stoos Ridge Hike, Switzerland

Today was another hiking day, this time along a beautiful ridge in the Schwyz Alps overlooking the tiny town of Stoos, Switzerland. But first, we had to get there! We took the train from Zurich to Arth-Goldau, then switched trains and headed to Schwyz. From there, we took a long bus ride to the funicular that would take us up the mountain to Stoos. It’s the steepest funicular railroad in the world with a 110% gradient! From there, we walked about 15 minutes to the chairlift that took us to our starting point – the summit of Mt. Klingenstock.

The views at the top were spectacular. Unfortunately, Addie was not feeling well, and we decided she couldn’t hike since there were no bathrooms on the trail except at the two peaks. Kendra took her back down the cable car to Stoos, had her rest up, and then they headed up another cable car to our endpoint – Mt. Fronalpstock. They found a place for Addie to relax while Evan, Kate, and I tackled the ridge.

We headed onto the trail, awed by the towering mountains surrounding us and the pristine lakes below. The first half of the hike was pretty easy, featuring a lot of small ups and downs that added up to about 400 feet of elevation gain. The trail was more crowded than I had hoped – there were a few times we had to stop for folks creating a traffic jam while taking photos. It’s a narrow trail, and often there is no room to pass on the left.

Most folks opt to cross the ridge in the direction we did – Klingenstock to Fronalpstock. However, there was a decent number of folks making the trek in reverse. Kendra ended up being one of those people when she hiked toward us to complete the last half-mile of the hike. (Or so we thought… most reviews I had read stated the hike was 2.9 miles long with an elevation gain of just over 900 feet. My watch, however, tracked 3.52 miles and 1,275 feet of elevation. My legs would agree.)

The last mile proved to be the toughest, with 700 feet of elevation change, most of which occurred in the last 3/4 mile. I stayed with Kate, and Kendra with Evan, as we cheered them through the final push. The views at Fronalpstock were equally stunning, and we stopped for ice cream, snacks, beers, and goat petting at the top.

For the trek home, we descended Fronalpstock on the cable car to Stoos. We stopped for more ice cream, listened to a man play his Alpenhorn, then walked to the cable car that took us to the town of Morschach. From there, we took a bus to the Brunnen rail station, then a train to Zug, and another to Zurich. By the time we got back to the Airbnb twelve hours later, we were pooped. Now for a good night’s rest to be ready for tomorrow’s adventure!