Back in Switzerland and honestly, we couldn’t have picked a better summer to return. The last six weeks have been incredible, with endless sunny days and temperatures that often felt too hot. Of course, that was the perfect invite to escape the city, head higher into the mountains and explore a few more corners of Switzerland.

This weekend took us to the Saanenland, above Gstaad, for a hike we had wanted to do for quite a while: from Lauenensee up to the Geltenhütte SAC, followed by a little detour into the Rottal, where we planned to camp for the night.

We started at Lauenensee, a small mountain lake surrounded by a nature reserve at the foot of the Wildhorn. From there, the trail follows the Geltenbach deeper into the Geltental, past narrow gorges, smaller waterfalls and plenty of wild alpine scenery. The highlight along the way is the Geltenschuss, a huge waterfall crashing down the rock face with an impressive amount of power.

After the waterfall, the trail becomes a little gentler and crosses the open meadows of Alp Undere Feisseberg all the way up to the Geltenhütte SAC at 2,002 metres.

We continued behind the hut and deeper into the Rottal, a wide and wild valley. And guess what we found there? A big group of alpine yaks. Definitely not what we expected to see in the Swiss mountains and they were so cute!

Just as we arrived at our campsite and started setting up the tent, a storm rolled in. Perfect timing. It stayed with us for around four hours, bringing heavy rain and plenty of thunder. Somehow, we managed to get the tent up and find enough shelter to wait it out. Then, shortly before dark, the clouds suddenly opened and the whole valley was covered in the most beautiful sunset glow. After the storm, everything felt even calmer and more dramatic. But rain was back immediately.

The next morning, we packed up and hiked back via Chüetungel, a slightly steeper and more exposed route with a few stairs, ropes and sections that required a little more attention. Back at the Lauenensee, hot, tired and very ready to cool down, we jumped straight into the lake. Such a great and rewarding end! Highly recommended!