Kandersteg Tourism - Sport + free time


	Village information
	Accommodation
	Sport + Leisure
		General view
		Agenda
		Hiking/Climbing
		Climbing fix rope
		Biking
		Ski + Snowboard
		Cross country-skiing
		Ice-climbing
		Other sports
		Weather
	Mountain-railways + buses
	Holiday planning
	Impressions
	Services


	Over the old Gemmi trail
	Kandersteg - Gemmipass - Leukerbad, total walking time 6 h 50 min. Most popular pass route from the Bernese Oberland into the canton Valais. Apart from the steep descent from the top of the Gemmi pass to Leukerbad, this is a very pleasant, easy hike, providing impressive panoramas of the Valais Alps and a unique view from the top of the Gemmi Pass. A refreshing dip in one of Leukerbad's warm spring soothes away all signs of fatique. Moutain hike from the Gemmi Pass. -> Map


	Journey back :	from Leukerbad by bus, change in Leuk to the train. Via Brig back to Kandersteg.
	Alternative 1:	Eggenschwand - Sunnbüel by gondola. Time saved 2 h 15 min.
	Alternative 2:	Eggenschwand - Sunnbüel by gondola, Gemmispass - Leukerbad by gondola. Time saved 3 h 45 min.
	Rest possibilties on the way...	·Restaurant Sunnbüel, phone + 41 33 675 13 34 ·Berghotel Schwarenbach, phone +41 33 675 12 72 ·Berghotel Wildstrubel, phone +41 27 470 12 01


	The Gemmi The Gemmi is a very old pass which is said to have been used as early as the Bronze Age. Its original name, in the form "Curmilz", is found for the first time in a chronicle dated 1252. "Curmilz" is from the Latin "culmen" = peak, summit. From old travelogues we know that the Gemmi was regarded as frightening and dangerous and was only used by bearers, partly via ladders. Sebastian Münzer who dared a trip over the pass around 1540 wrote that his heart and legs were trembling as he left Leukerbad to climb the moutain. By 1677, there were already transport regulations for crossing the Gemmi: "When a gentleman or a lady, a male or femaile person wants to go to Leukerbad across the Gemmi and is heavier than average, he or she shall take twelve men; if he or she is medium heavy, ten men or eight, and if light, six of four men. As a reward, they shall be given 20 "Batzen" (ten-centime coin), half a measure of wine, bread worth half a "Batzen" and half a pound of cheese." In 1805 one guide wrote: "Once the terrible path is reached, the traveller faces backwards and is blindfolded, before the bearers continue on their way singing." As late as the end of the 19th century, many tourists used donkeys or the Gemmi cart to cross the pass, but nowadays there is a wide bridle path over the Gemmi. back

Kandersteg Tourismus, CH-3718 Kandersteg, tel. +41 33 675 80 80, info@kandersteg.ch