Bellwald - Riederalp
I did this hike on the 5th of October, 2025. A friend of mine was hiking three days in the Aletsch Arena, and I hiked along with him on day 2 from Bellwald to Riederalp. I had once before been in the area in autumn, and really looked forward to come back again.
Full route: Swisstopo
I went with train from Zürich to Brig, where I met my friend. From here, we continued with train to Fürgangen-Bellwald, where we took the cable car up to the start of the hike. It was a nice crips and cold autumn morning walking out of Bellwald, and the cloud cover was quite low.
After a shorter ascent, we came to the Aspi-Titter suspension bridge, which we had to cross. I really like the suspension bridges, and this one was really impressive and in beautiful surroundings. Continuing the ascent, we passed by the valley with the retreating Fieschergletscher. We couldn’t see the glacier itself because of the clouds, but only remnants of it in the valley.
Passing by the valley, we continued on the last part of the ascent up to Aletsch Glacier. Here, it started snowing, and I was very happy as it was the first snow of the season for me. It had gotten more grey and clouded as the time passed by, and walking up, we couldn’t see much of our surroundings.
Luckily, the area around Aletsch Glacier was visible, and even with some blue skies and we had great views walking towards the glacier. As I had done the last time I went to this area, we also decided to take the small detour down to the glacier. There is a hiking path, which is not too difficult, but in parts steep with lose material.
Down by the glacier, we decided to take our lunch break and enjoy the views from a distance before getting closer, as there was a big group of people, getting ready to go onto the glacier. After they left, we went down to the glacier and spend quite some time walking around the area.
The year before, when I was at the glacier, it was not possible to get down below it, but this time, we found a small relatively flat area just at the edge of the ice, where we could get in. It was really amazing to sit under the ice, and look at the intense blue color and all the material and bubbles in the ice.
The trail from the glacier continued with a steeper ascent, but we quickly made our way up and had great views to the glacier below. I have been twice in this area in autumn, and I really like the contrast between the autumn colors and the ice.
As we made our way along the trail running above the glacier, it got more clouded, but we still had nice views. Last time I was here, I could not see the front of the glacier because of clouds, so it was a nice change with the cloudy, yet clear views.
The higher we got on the trail towards the ridge on top, the more cloudy it got. We enjoyed the last views to the glacier before following the trail up and over on the other side. Here, we continued on the trail back to Riederalp. My friend stayed over in Riederalp, and I took the cable car down to Mörel, from where I continued my journey back home to Zürich.
