Lötschenpasshütte

August 11, 2023 by Pat and Bruno ‐ 3 min read

Quick Summary

Hiking from Bern to the Wallis via the Lötschenpass.
- The Lötschenpasshütte is at the saddle of the pass.
We saw quite a few ibex near the hut.
The hike was quite convenient to do with the public transit.
- Took the train to Kandersteg and then took an alp taxi to Selde.
  - This required an additional reservation in advance.
- On the way back we could take the PostAuto back in the Lötschental.

Difficulty	T3
⇄ Distance	10.2 km
↑ Up	1490 m
↓ Down	340 m
Notable Locations	Selde, Lötschegletscher, Lötschenpasshütte, Hockenhorn

Took the train to Kandersteg and then an alp taxi to Selde.
- The alp taxi required a reservation ahead of time.
From Selde we took the only path leading up to the Lötschenpasshütte.
- The path was well marked and quite easy to follow.
We needed to cross the remnants of the Lötschegletscher.
- There was hardly anything left of the glacier when we were there.
- What was left over was mostly covered in scree, so crossing it was unproblematic.
There was one short steep passage shortly before the hut which was secured with steel cables/chains.
There was a route which was not labelled on SwissTopo, but which had white-blue-white markings to the east of the hut.
- This is the route leading to the Hockenhorn.
- We saw quite a few ibex here.
  
  The epitome of 'local' ibexes.
We didn’t end up going all the way to the top of the Hockenhorn as there was still quite a bit of snow.

Difficulty	T2
⇄ Distance	9.56 km
↑ Up	290 m
↓ Down	880 m
Notable Locations	Lötschenpasshütte, Hockuchriz, Stafel (Lauchernalp)

Pat got up for an early sunrise and went to a vantage point along the white-blue-white ridge leading to the Hockenhorn.
- While the weather conditions weren’t particularly favourable, he still managed to snap some pictures of a few of the Walliser 4000ers, so it wasn’t a complete bust 😉
  
  The three most prominent peaks from left to right: The Weisshorn (shrouded in clouds), Zinalrothorn, and Matterhorn.
We hiked down to the south-east from the Lötschenpasshütte to the Hockuchriz.
- This spot offered a nice vantage point over the entire Lötschental.
Continued east to Stafel (Lauchernalp) from where we took a chairlift down to the Lauchernalp cable car station.
- From here we took the cable car down to Wiler (Lötschen; Talstation), from where we could take the PostAuto back.