Pizol

Pizol, St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Hiking Trail : Pizolhutte to Gaffia. 5-Seen-Wanderung

Am writing about this hike nearly after 10 months, finally making up mind to spend quality time on this blog as i find flickr.com consistently insane with their  weekly UI changes. This was my first proper hike, as in, this was my first hike with the hiking boots on.

Pizol, attracts lot of visitors in summer for serious hiking and in winter for ski. One of the beautiful places in eastern Switzerland. Pizol, an alpine mountain in Glarus Alps at 2844m above sea level. 5-seen-wanderung or 5 lakes hike is the classic hike in Pizol. Wangsersee (2227m), Wildseeluggen (2493m), Schottensee (2335m), Schwarzsee (2368m), Baschalvasee (2174m) are the five lakes. This themed hike will cover the five lakes with numerous view points along various peaks. The hiking season starts in July. I planned this hike for 14 July 2013.

Started very early in the morning, reached Sargans from Zurich in SBB train. From Sargans its 15 mins ride by bus to Wangs Pizolbahn, the cable car station. While getting the ticket for the cable car and chairlift, i was duly checked if i have proper hiking boots. Snow was still there in critical hiking path, hence people without hiking boots where requested not to take the hiking trail that still had plenty of snow. Cable car ended in Furt and chairlift started from her till Gaffia. From Gaffia another chairlift ascended towards Pizolhutte. Along with me in the chairlift was a lady in her 60s. We exchanged greetings and whereabouts, she in her broken english and me in my elementary german. She apparently thought i didn't knew about the difficulty of this hike and started guiding me.

Chairlift ended at Pizolhutte, and the hiking trail started with clear sign postings that mentioned 5-Seen-Wanderung. It is a 5 to 6 hour hike, hence  came prepared with enough water, fruits, sandwich and energy chocs. Gulped some water, cleaned my camera lens and started the hike, following a bunch of fellow people. It was a treat visually with multiple peaks flanked around the hiking trail. The peak Wildseehorn was in front. Already i was walking over pile of snow. In few mins the steepest ascend started. To add more difficulty, it was all  with snow. I had to carefully follow the footpaths already set by the people in front. It was so steep that my hands came to help me move forward steadily. I hated one view from there - looking downwards. It was frightening. 

It took 20 mins for me to get out of this steepest part of the hike. At some point i felt as if returning, but would have missed much of fun ahead. It was much of a relief after reaching Wildseeluggen to see Wildsee at 2493m. The view of the lake was simply amazing as it is in the picture below. Wildsee gets its water from Pizol glacier and is milky grey-white.

For High Resolution, please visit PrK | Photography

The view - taken from above Wildsee - provides a panoramic view of Wildsee (2493m), Pizol gletscher, Pizol Peak (2844m), Graue Horner and Hochwart (2671m).

The trail continued to its right towards the next lake. Patches of snow was everywhere and i missed the assisting sticks that would have been so helpful. I had to just sit and slide in most of the places along the footpath made by others in snow. Reached Schottensee (2335m) with some ease, though sliding in snow for most of the time and inspiring views invited down under. The path then ascended towards Schwarzsee.

The trail ascended gradually. It was steep and took a lot out of me. I managed to ascend with few stops here and there. It was one of the peak tops. Atleast 50 fellow hikers enjoyed the view and relaxed on the top. I did my luck there with my legs hanging out on the peak edge. Eternal it was. Had a look at the hiking trail ahead and it was challenging. Use of hands was mandatory as you had to gradually slide between two rocks.

For High Resolution, please visit PrK | Photography

Crossed the difficult descend towards Schwarzsee. This lake was almost fully frozen. A deep ascend was inviting me again. This was steep as other ascends and reached the top with fewer stops. The peak had a lot of Cairns - pile of stones to mark the peak. Then a long steady trail started towards the last lake Baschalvasee (2174m). The path started ascending all of a sudden. It was very steep. There came one of the challenging path of the trail. It was a narrow path - just for one to walk at a time and a steep valley at the right. I had to carefully plan my steps. As a top up for the scenario, there was a steep descend that ended downward abruptly. I just slid along, luckily balancing and stopping without falling ahead. 

Reached the last lake Baschalvasee, after descending down a lot of steep steps. Last bit of trail started with snow patches here and there. Had to slid along in some places. Then it steadily descended towards Gaffia chair car station. I had to rush to catch the last set of chair cars on time. Down the way, fellow traveller in the chair car pointed me to the River Rhine and mentioned that across the river is the tiny country Liechtenstein. I got to Sargans by bus and then took SBB to Zurich. 

It was a wonderful hike and well marked trail. Lot of thrilling moments and challenging tricky paths. It was ascending and descending regularly giving lot of strain to my thighs and legs. The view of the lakes, peaks, Pizol glacier, cairns, were just amazing.

How To Reach

From Zurich HB to Sargans by SBB.
From Sargans to Wangs Pizolbahn by bus.
From Pizolbahn to Pizolhutte by Cable car and Chairlift.