Altmann

Want to see the most beautiful sunset?

The Altmann is a bit like the little brother of the Säntis, the highest peak in the Alpstein. It’s a touch harder to reach, though, and the descent takes a while. If you want to catch an unbelievable autumn sunset up here, you absolutely need a headlamp for the way down. The whole route is really just T3, except the final summit passage (T5), which is fairly exposed and definitely nothing for anyone afraid of heights. But you can do the entire hike beautifully without that summit passage — and either way you get a long, wonderful day to enjoy in the Alpstein.

From the Stauberenkanzel cable car station, a well-trodden, scenic path leads to the Saxerlücke. In autumn the clouds often hang low and you get to walk above them — simply glorious. On you go to the Mutschensattel. The Zwinglipasshütte tempts you with a cheese platter and a cold drink. It’s about 3 h to here if you keep up a good pace, but with plenty of time and breaks you can easily add another 1–2 h. From here it isn’t far anymore (though still steep) to the Altmannsattel, and up onto the Altmann (about 1 h of climbing).

If you don’t stay the night at the Zwinglipasshütte, you can descend to Wildhaus (about 3 h), where the buses run until late into the night.

How it went for me: we combined this tour with a multi-pitch climb up the slender Südrippli. That’s why we set off relatively early (the first cable car up to the Stauberenkanzel), and later stashed all our climbing gear at the Zwinglipasshütte to head up the Altmann and take in the absolutely magnificent blaze of colour from the sunset. It was definitely one of my most beautiful days in the Alps.