Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #258074 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
Fully revised and updated with all sorts of new walks; accurate descriptions of lowland and alpine trails, extended trips and easy day walks; high quality, two-colour route maps; extensive planning advice with details on transport and accommodation; and an easy-to use French, German and Italian language guide.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
This book - whilst probably in need of an update now - has accompanied us on a number of walking holidays to this country. We have seldom needed additional maps and the transport and accomodation suggestions are first class. It is so excellent not to have to try and work in a circuit to get back to the start and the car! One can easily walk from somewhere to somewhere else and get back to ones accomodation easily using the worlds best transport system. There is a good mix of walks including a number outside the usual hiking areas. The author I suspaect is very fit and I would join other reviewers in urging caution if following suggested timings as these tend to be ambitious for the less than super-human - however all Swiss walking signs show the distance to the next place of any significance in terms of time required not distance and these are often paced more for us mere mortals. Have not attempted any of the hard category walks yet but have not at any time felt unsafe or overly exposed. All walks in the Alps or for that matter even the Yorkshire Dales need to be taken seriously and walkers need to have the equipment and knowledge to cope with what can be thrown at them - especially by the weather - in addtion to this all walkers need to know there is no shame or dishonour in turning back - we have done twice due to unexpected snow and despite the grumpy faces it was the correct thing to do! Follow these rules and the book you should be both safe and very happy...

Great book for serious hikers
As someone who lives in Switzerland, I went on many mountain hiking trips. The routes suggested in this book are in my opinion really the top that Switzerland has to offer.
The directions are clear and up to date, and we never even used additional maps.
One thing you have to consider is, the time estimations and difficulty levels of the hikes are for experienced people in good physical shape. It doesn't count stops to enjoy the view, rest, eat, take pictures, etc. So you will have to find out for yourself how long it really takes... But once you figure it out, it is the best book in this category, and although I have several hiking books this is the one I use the most.

Too many innaccuracies
This book tries to cover far too much. Many of the easy walks are of little interest to anyone who really likes hiking, whereas many of the walks graded moderate or higher require far more experience and a better head for heights than the author suggests. In addition, the timings of the moderate or moderate-hard walks are generally wildly underestimated, particularly those that use alpine paths (the blue and white dotted ones). The author also fails to point out the degree of exposure on some of the walks, using words like "exhilarating" instead of terrifying and descriptions such as "no real exposure" for steep paths with alarming drops over loose scree or crags.

I would like better information regarding the dangers of the routes. I like high alpine walking, but not on badly eroded paths above gullies. This book doesn't provide such information,leaving walkers like me in potentially precarious situations. Scores of high mountain routes and mountain ascents in Switzerland do not require the level of skill and lack of fear necessary for many of the walks in this book.

In summary, this book provides too little information about the risks of each walk and underestimates the time required. Both are aspects which can have serious consequences for those who are not serious mountaineers.