Stage 2: Sargans → Weisstannen

Via Alpina · Day 2 of 20 · km 28 of 392

Distance

13.2 km

Ascent

+818 m

Descent

−296 m

Estimated average time

4 h 15 min

Highest 1,047 m · lowest 481 m

13.2 kilometres, 818 metres of ascent, 296 metres of descent, 4 hours 15 minutes of walking, an estimated average; highest point at 1,047 metres, lowest at 481 metres.

Technique: easy · fitness: medium

What Clotilde says

Vaduz → Montreux

A short stage of 13.2 km: take the time to visit Sargans Castle before you set off. Then head for the Weisstannental. Listen out in the forests: the black woodpecker, Europe's largest woodpecker, hammers out its nest holes there. Tonight, in Weisstannen, you sleep in the valley through which the ibex came back to Switzerland.

Montreux → Vaduz

You leave Weisstannen down the Seez valley, and 3 h 45 min later, here you are in Sargans. Before you go, say goodbye to the mountains: this is where, in 1911, the first ibex returned to Switzerland were set free. On the way, the black woodpecker, all black with its red cap, is at work in the forests. It never takes a holiday.

Along the way

• The ibex of the Weisstannental The ibex had vanished from Switzerland, hunted down to the last one. It came back through this valley: in 1911, the first reintroduced animals were released in the Weisstannental.

In the nature guide

Black woodpecker

Sources: Wikipedia, "Weisstannental" (German); Canton of St. Gallen, "Steinbock".

See on SwitzerlandMobility (new tab)

Distances, ascents, walking times and route: Federal Roads Office FEDRO, cantons, SwitzerlandMobility Foundation — Hiking in Switzerland (ch.astra.wanderland), open data OPEN BY.