Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #486613 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

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.

For the serious hiker
I have been living in Switzerland for a few years and bought this book to get some ideas on where to go walking during my weekends. There are over 50,000 km of marked hiking trails in Switzerland, so I just wanted a few pointers on where would be nice to go and guidelines as to how long walks should take.

For where to go - everywhere I have been is beautiful, I haven't taken any walk from this book and been disappointed by the scenery. However, as to how long walks should take - that depends on how serious a hiker you happen to be!

I'm not a fitness fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not unfit either - I do a reasonable amount of 'after-work' exercise. But I have to say, I've only attempted the 'Easy' and 'Easy-Moderate' walks, and have found them pretty tough going. What is described as 'an easy days walk' I have found pretty tiring, and 'gentle downhill stretches' have left my legs aching for days!!
I took an 'Easy-moderate' walk in Ticino just last weekend, which is described as a 'Days walk which could made into two days'. I made it into two days (as it took half a day to get there). The walk involved climbing up through rocks (arms as well as legs needed), crossing through rivers (at one point taking off shoes and socks as the rocks in it were too far apart to jump between) and crossing through snowfields (in July, at 2000 meters). None of this was described in the book!

However, nobody comes to the Alps for a stroll, and so long as you're prepared to serious hiking, you'll love it. And be well rewarded with awe-inspiring scenery.

The books biggest strength is the suggestions on where to stay, particularly the mountain inns and huts. I tend to use the book now as a guideline on where to go, and follow the sign-posted tracks rather than stick too much to directions from the book. It's a lot easier!

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.