On this hike, starting from Stoos, a car-free village in the canton of Schwyz, one of Tobi’s colleagues and my younger brother Thomas, whom we see maybe once every two years, joined us, so no matter how the hike itself would turn out it was bound to be an awesome and memorable day purely because of the company.

Little bro lives in New Zealand so on this sunny November day (I complain about winter in Central Europe constantly, then he comes for a visit and November is suddenly splendid, all sunny and warm. Now the NZ/Aussie family thinks that in the 6 months of foul weather in winter we actually go hiking in T-shirts and bright sunshine) we wanted to take him on a very Swiss kind of hike.

One that would spoil us with snow-capped mountains, lush meadows, wooden chalets, lakes, narrow mountain ridges, and the iconic sound of cowbells. While he’s got pretty much all that in New Zealand, except for the traditional Swiss chalets and cowbells, hiking the Stoos ridge from Klingenstock to Fronalpstock immersed us in a scenery that is undeniably unique to Switzerland. A red funicular operates between Schlattli and Stoos and whisked us up the steep escarpment in no time (in 2017 Stoosbahnen opened a new funicular railway – the steepest worldwide with gradients of up to 110%).

I’m always amazed by how developed, well maintained, and comfortable the network of hiking trails in Switzerland is. In most other countries a makeshift shelter and privy in the mountains would be considered wonderful amenities, but here there are hotels with restaurants and panorama decks on mountain summits, like Fronalpstock at 1922m. I’m a little conflicted about the Swiss approach – it’s extremely comfortable but at times feels too commercialised and somehow removed from the idea of hiking in nature and solitude.

But then again would I want to miss out on a panorama deck suspended in mid-air with views of Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee) snaking through the surrounding mountainscape? Of course not! The trail follows along the crest from Fronalpstock (1922m) via Rot Turm (1893m) to Klingenstock (1935m) and the 360° panoramic views along the narrow ridgeline towards imposing Alpine peaks in the distance were spectacular.

The mountainsides drop away steeply on either side of the track into the valleys – the Muota valley in the northeast and the Riemenstaldener valley in the south, which marks the border between the cantons of Schwyz and Uri. The path traversing the ridge is never seriously exposed but quite narrow and some particularly steep sections are secured with steel cables.

We met many families with children on the ridge who seemed comfortable on the trail but if you’re afraid of heights the steep drop-offs might be a challenge. Once you’ve gained the summit of Klingenstock you’re on the home stretch, it’s all downhill from here across open straw-coloured grassland back to Stoos.