Hiking at Flumserberg – Maschgenkamm to Spitzmeilen Mountain Hut

This hike up to the Spitzmeilen mountain hut is 13 km long with 587 ascent and 594 descent and starts and ends at the top of the Maschgenkamm gondola station. Unlike my hike to the Legler Mountain Hut, for this hut hike I did not take the fastest and easiest route either there or back, instead I took a slightly longer and more challenging round-about route. I enjoyed this route, but as it ended with a steep climb at the end, I might choose a different route (the faster, and easier route) back if I were to hike to this hut again.

When our younger son was in secondary school, on one of his class trips he stayed overnight at the Spitzmeilen Mountain Hut. Ever since then I have had the hike up to this hut on my to-do list. And while it took me a few years to get to it, I am really glad to have now done it. It was really nice to see where he had gone.

Detail Summary

Additional Info

Getting There

To get to the start of this trail you need to take the Bergjet gondola from Tannenboden up to Maschgenkamm. To get to Tannenboden, you can either drive there and park in the large paid lot there, or take the train to Unterterzen and then take the gondola from Unterterzen to Tannenboden. If you take the train, and your ticket is not on your Swiss Pass (i.e. you have a paper ticket), you need to exchange your paper ticket at the cashier desk for a Flumserberg card. If your ticket is on your Swiss Pass (you have a GA card, for example) you can use the Swiss Pass card at the turnstile to get on the gondola at Unterterzen. Once you are at Tannenboden, you can purchase your tickets for the Maschgenkamm gondola (The BergJet).

(Photos above are from a previous hike – it was much more crowded this time.) At Maschgenkamm there is the Panorama Restaurant and the start of several trails, including ours.

The Trail

To start the trail, we had a couple of options. We could take one of the lower trails that go around the Zigerfurgglen peak, or we could take the middle trail and hike up over the peak. All three trails meet back up again on the other side of the peak. The two paths that go around the peak form the 2 km Alpine Flower loop trail. The peak is a little bit of a scramble but not bad and it has some pretty great views (we did it when we hiked the Height Route), however as the loop we planned for today was already a challenging hike, we didn’t feel the need to add more to it and so chose to take one of the flat groomed paths that go around the peak. So, left of right? The path to the left (labeled Spitzmeilen SAC) has views very similar to the rest of the hike, while the path to the right has very different views from the rest of the hike. For that reason, we decided to take the path to the right.

On the other side of the peak, all three trails meet up again and the lower (faster, easier path) to the Spitsmeilen Hut branches off from there. For our loop, we followed the middle path a bit further to where the higher path to the hut (towards Sächserseeli) branches off. You can see both paths in the third picture below.

There were fantastic views over the valley from this path. The path was a bit narrow with a fairly steep slope down (not overly difficult) but it would have been nice to have sticks for balance. During some of the very narrow bits, we got caught behind a slow group with several small children, aged 5 or so, tied in a line hiking along the path. When the path widened a bit, we passed them by and started to make better time. Beautiful views the whole way, including this lovely view over a small lake (the Sächserseeli).

After passing the Sächserseeli, we started to follow the signs to Spitzmeilen SAC. As the trail curved around, we passed some cows and we got a great view down into the valley where more cows were grazing.

After crossing the stream at the center of the valley, we started the final hike up to the hut. The cows were hiking along with us.

As we approached the hut, it was really interesting to see the change in the rocks – it was all red shale here. Such a beautiful color! We were happy to have the hut in sight, as we were ready for lunch.

For lunch at the hut, we both got the Alpermagronen with applesauce. I then took some time to walk around the hut to check it out. I was surprised to see they had their own chickens! And in case you are wondering how the hut is supplied, I snapped a picture of the service gondola loaded with the day’s trash to head down. From our table, we had a view of the small stream in the fourth picture. I walked up the trail by the stream to get the final picture of the hut.

After lunch, we retraced our steps back to the branch of the trail that pointed to Prodalp. Along the way, we saw the trail signs in picture three. I’m not sure where they lead, but it looked a little scary and I don’t think I’ll be coming back anytime soon to hike that trail.

Leaving the scary trail behind, we continued on and then took the trail branch towards Prodalp. On the trail, we passed the same herd of cows we saw earlier and there was also bull in a separate pasture here. It made me a little nervous as surely one skinny electric fence wire couldn’t stop a bull. The trail then descended into the valley and passed the Alp Fursch farm/hotel/restaurant. We didn’t stop to try the restaurant but we did buy some cheese and refill our water bottles.

After passing Alp Fursch, the trail followed the road for a bit as its started the climb back up to Maschgenkamm. When the trail left the road, it was a bit of a steep climb. There were some lovely views though, which we stopped several times to admire (ok, to rest).

After passing the Bergrestaurant Maschgenlücke, it was the last short bit back up to the gondola. I was worried about missing the last gondola down but we made it in plenty of time and even considered getting a drink at the panorama restaurant before heading down. In the end, we decided we were ready to go home and just hopped back on the gondola.

This was a great hike, and I’m glad I did it. Flumserberg is a great hiking destination and so easy to get to from Zürich. Lucky for me, there are many more trails there for me to do!