Gastlosen from below

🗺️ Overview

• Starting point: Jaun lift parking (1,030 m)

• Highest point: Gastlosen ridge (1,940 m)

• Total elevation gain: ~910 m

• Total distance: ~14 km

• Total time: 5 h (from the valley) / 3.5 h (using the lift)

• Technical difficulty: T2–T3 (short exposed sections, one chain-assisted passage)

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The Gastlosen tour is a classic in the Fribourg region that can be done in many different ways. Starting in Jaun, the only German-speaking commune in the Gruyère district, you hike around the impressive rock ridge of the Gastlosen.

You can do this hike either by taking the lift or by starting all the way from the valley floor. It took me about 5 hours from the bottom, including lunch. Starting from the lift would reduce the hike to around 3.5 hours. In this post, I will focus on the longer version.

I started the hike at the lift parking (1,030 m), where a gravel road passes the station and continues toward Jaun. After a while, it becomes paved. About 10 minutes later, you reach a crossroads with signs indicating the uphill route. Here the trail begins, wide at first. You need to follow the signs for Gros Mont or Soldatenhaus (Chalet du Soldat). It took me a while to realize they were the same place. The valley is a bit linguistically schizophrenic.

Here the trail starts to climb, and after about ten minutes you leave the larger path for a smaller one. At a crossroads in the forest, take the lower trail to the right. Be careful here: I would naturally have taken the one going straight uphill.

After about 45 minutes of walking, you begin to emerge from the forest and the Gastlosen ridge appears in front of you. This route is actually more panoramic than the one from the lift, as it runs farther away from the ridge and gives you a better overall view.

After passing the Buvette des Sattels at 1,350 m, continue on the paved road and within a few minutes you arrive at a parking area. If you want to make the hike even shorter, this is another possible starting point. From the parking area, a wide road leads to the Chalet du Soldat. Technically, you can drive up here, but I would not recommend it unless you have a 4x4 vehicle.

From the chalet, the trail turns left and becomes increasingly rocky and steep. After about 30 minutes, you reach a section where you need to scramble a little, with a metal chain helping you over the steeper rocks. Shortly afterward, you reach the highest point of the hike at 1,940 m.

Beyond this point, a series of rocky ups and downs on a narrow trail brings you to Wolfs Ort, the narrow pass on the western side of the ridge.

From here, turn left. A steep series of switchbacks quickly descends the ridge onto the grassy meadows below. The trail then follows the ridge across alpine pastures on the Bernese side of the mountains. After about 30 minutes, you begin re-entering the forest, and another 20 minutes later you reach the Grat Alpage, where I stopped for lunch. It serves simple but satisfying mountain dishes.

After the alpage, the trail descends very steeply for about 15 minutes, then climbs slightly again for another 15 minutes until you reach the top station of the lift.

You can continue down on foot, but I decided to exploit my Magic Pass and take the lift back down. It is not the most interesting section of the hike anyway. But of course not before having taken my, by now, classic: the high altitude cappuccino.