Francois' Day: Senda Sursilvana


Today was another picture perfect day, and we decided to go on another (relatively strenuous!) hike. We decided to walk a part of the "Senda Sursilvana" (path of the Surselva region), a hiking path that stretches along about 100 km all the way from the Oberalppass (Alpsu) in central Switzerland, a part of the Gotthard mountain range, to the East all the way through the Surselva region to Trin (close to the city of Chur). We picked a stretch of about 15 km length, starting from the village of Sumvitg and ending at the village of Tavanasa.

Here is the church of Sumvitg, at about 1000 m.a.s.:



Since the Rhine valley has lots of sunshine and as the village is on the North slope, i.e., optimally exposed to the sun, the vegetation is quite lush. You get even apricot and fig trees to grow.

On the South side of the Rhine valley, behind the village of Sunrein, begins the Sumvitg valley, a narrow and fairly long valley without a drivable road that leads over a mountain pass to the Greina plain, a wild and very remote region of Switzerland that can only be reached on foot.



Here is the Sumvitg valley once more. On the right side in the back the Péz da Stiarls (cattle mountain: 2992 m tall) and to the right of it the Péz da Greina (Greina mountain: 3124 m tall) with the Sutglatscher (lower glacier) in between. To the left, mostly hidden by the mountain in front, is the Péz Tgietschen (red mountain: 2858 m tall). In between them is the access to the Greina.



The Plaun la Greina (Greina plain) is a high Alpine plain, located at an altitude of roughly 2300 m.a.s. It can be reached only on foot from three sides, and each access takes many hours of hiking, maybe around seven or eight hours one way. The plain can be reached either from the North, through the Val Sumvitg, or from the South, from the Italian-speaking Blenio in the Ticino, or from the East, from the village of Vrin in the Val Lumnezia.

In the past (until about 100 years ago), the farmers of the Lumnezia sent their horses up to that plain for the summer. They hired a herdsman who was responsible to look after the animals during the summer months. A Swiss writer, Toni Halter, wrote a beautiful book about the life of such a herdsman (in Rhaeto-romanic). The book is called "Il Cavalè della Greina" (the herdsman of the Greina). I am reading it right now. It is certainly one of the most fascinating books ever written in the Rhaeto-romanic language. The book has been translated to German, but I don't think that it was ever translated to English. It should be. It is a first-rate cultural document that would find many readers in the Anglo-Saxon world.

Later (in the 1960s), it was proposed to flood the plain and create there a large reservoir lake for electricity, but there was too much protest by the locals against this plan, and so, it was dropped. Today, the plain is a large nature reserve, and there are no human dwellings or activities on that plain at all.

We climbed up to the village of Sogn Benedetg at about 1300 m.a.s. On the way, we saw fields of Alpine carnations:



They were deep read. The colors were not properly captured by my camera.

Here is the village of Sogn Benedetg:



a typical mountain village of the Surselva. Even at this altitude, the summer sun is strong enough to grow potatoes and lettuce, as well as some other vegetables.

Here is the house of the cheese maker ("cascharia"). The farmers used to bring their milk every evening to a hired cheese maker who would then make cheese during the night. Before the time of refrigerators, this was the only way to use the milk before it turned sour. No wonder that the Swiss, to this day, eat more cheese per person and year than the inhabitants of any other nation.



On the way, we passed many small medieval chapels ("capluttas"), here one high above the village of Rabius. I don´t know its name:



We had to cross several small streams:



like this one. The path was rather strenuous. It was a narrow path, leading up and down and down and up, always between about 1100 m.a.s. and 1300 m.a.s. Altogether, we climbed about 700 altimeters today on rather steep slopes. The streams had cut deep gorges into the mountain, and consequently, we had to climb down to the vicinity of the stream, then up to the next place where a narrow bridge could be placed, then down again on the other side, then up to the next ridge.

We were not the only "people" "working their ways" today:



We passed a baroque church high above the village of Trun, the Baselgia da Sontga Onna:



and walked through a forest of ferns:



In the village of Schlans, we saw another medieval chapel:



next to a yet much older tower of a former citadel. In the background, the Tödi mountain, called Péz Russein in Rhaeto-romanic, that separates the Rhaeto-romanic Surselva (Canton of Grisons) from the Swiss-German speaking Canton of Glarus to the North.



The Tödi stands 3614 meters tall, and there are huge glaciers on its North slope (Hüfifirn and Claridenfirn). You cannot see them from my current position though.

It was a great hike! Took us about six hours altogether.