The Lötschen Pass which was the northern extension of the trade route from Italy over the Simplon Pass was a very busy spice route. Kandersteg and its isolated hamlet, Gastern, were used as overnight stops along the way.

In 1696 the government approved implementation of plans to improve and extend the old Roman Way across the Lötschen Pass. A company of soldiers was assigned to this task and they worked side by side with the people of Kandersteg for three summers.

Albrecht von Haller, later a doctor and scientist in Bern, hiked across the Gemmi Pass from Wallis to Kandersteg in 1728. This was a time when the alpine beauty was generally ignored out of fear of unnamed horrors. Even the alpine air was condemned by doctors as unhealthy and stultifying.

The tourists, who were accustomed to the comforts and amenities of the cities, soon made themselves heard by the government in Bern. They found it an impertinence that they were expected to stay in the simple farm houses in Kandersteg.

In the summer of 1860, two Englishmen, a vicar and a doctor and an American arrived in Kandersteg and asked for a guide to take them to the top of the Blümlisalp (3663 m above sea level). The young Fritz Ogi was the only person with enough courage to take the job.