Snowshoeing Tour: Passhöhe

How amazing it feels to have the sun on your face, the crunch of snow beneath your feet and blue skies above your head.

 

Those were my thoughts as we snowshoed up this hill in St. Gallen, near the Säntis, our highest peak in the area.

 

 

Our first snowshoe tour of the season took us from the parking area on Schwägalpstrasse near Passhöhe, to Pfingstboden for Yves. and Horn for me, and then back the same route. Our route was thankfully much quieter than at the base of the Säntis, which is a popular tourist area. Here you can see sled dogs who were just starting the tour. The noise was incredible. Though when they finally got off on their tour they all probably calmed down.

 

 

Our route though took us up into the hills running parellel to the glorious Alpstein mountain range.

 

 

The first part of our hike was the same way we had taken on our last snowshoe tour in this area some Winter ago. But we stomped on through the snow to Horn. Please note, these yellow trail signs show the time in takes to these locations for hiking not snowshoeing. As a lot of this was up hill, I would imagine it took double that time.

 

 

Every half hour or so we came across another couple or  fellow snowshoer. But we also saw a couple of Backcountry skiiers, as you can see in the photo above.

 

 

Although there was plenty of snow in this area, it was very hard in areas as it had rained the previous night . Though, we are greatful for any we can get, as down here in the ‘flat lands’ where I live, there is not ‘a drop of snow’, instead only  ‘snow drops’ in my garden.

 

 

On this little Alp called Horn, my husband and I’s ways parted for a while, while he went up to Pfingstboden and I took the opportunity for a  snack and photo break. Unfortunately, I only had my Samsung mobile phone with me.

 

 

 

 

Here you can see my trusty purple hiking sticks from Black Diamond with their snow discs on them, I absolutely love them. They are really comfortable to hold and adjustable. Of course, no tour would be complete without my trusty daypack from Deuter AC Lite 14. And on my feet my MSR Snowshoes which are, strangely enough, made in Ireland of all places.

 

 

 

Unfortunately my blue headband didn’t get much use on this tour as it was simply too hot. There may be snow but the sun made it quite mild, especially since we were snowshoeing.

The return tour was a bit of a challenge the hungrier and moodier I got.  A few snacks are simply not enough when you are burning as much as you are on a 2 hour 45 minute snowshoeing tour (walking time). The views however made up for it.

 

 

There is nothing like Switzerland in the snow! Until next time, thanks for reading!

Jodie