Muottas Muragl to Alp Languard to Paradis Hutte – Switzerland 9/23/18

 

September 23, 2018

Muottas Muragl to Alp Languard to Paradis Hutte – Switzerland

About 7.5 miles

 

This was an amazing hike.  We had driven through Austria and then to Switzerland to Pontresina, just outside of St. Moritz, the day before.  We stayed at a five star hotel that was a bit too hoity toity for my taste.

 

We walked about a mile to the bottom of the tram that would take us up to the top of Muottas Muragl (don’t ask me to pronounce that) where we would begin our hike around 8000 feet.

The views were stunning.  We were overlooking St. Moritz and the lake, as well as some distant glaciers.

 

These mountains are also home to the largest ibex colony in the Alps, but alas, we didn’t see any today.

 

We did see and hear plenty of marmots.

 

As we wound around the mountain on the Panoramic trail the views were most impressive and the trail well maintained.  The grasses and shrubs were starting to turn fall colors.  The trees are mostly evergreens, so the contrast was quite striking.

 

Here’s some video too.

 

After about two hours we reached the first hut at Alp Languard where we would later take the chair lift back down to Pontresina.

 

However, after a quick break, we decided to continue hiking up to Paradis-Hutte to try and see some ibex.  This was a pretty steep hike that added another mile and a half or so, but gave us our best views yet of the glaciers.

 

The second hike was a challenge, but beautiful.  When we got to the Paradis-Hutte we were tired, but the views were amazing.

 

After reveling in our place at the top of the world for a while, we headed back down the trail to the chair lift and took it back down to the valley below.

Once we got back to the hotel we had a two hour private spa session that was the perfect way to end a day of hard hiking.