Brüggler

In Memory of Stefan "kletterwebbi" Weber

A note from the SP staff
Stefan Weber, the member we all used to know from his climbing pseudonym kletterwebbi, died on May 28th 2004 in southern France at the age of 37.

Stefan joined SP early on in 2002 and contributed a number of excellent pages and routes to this site. He was an accomplished climber excelling in difficult alpine and technical routes. The Dolomites, especially the area around Gröden / Val Gardena were special to him, as it was his old ancestral home.

kletterwebbi was always willing to share his knowledge and experience with other climbers, mainly here on SP, but also on other sites. He contributed his IT expertise as webmaster of his local section of the German Alpine Club, where he also engaged in leading trips for fellow members. Besides his climbing and mountaineering activities he was a musician, a composer of contemporary music. Stefan will be greatly missed by us all.

This page will be kept in honor of kletterwebbi, one of SP's most talented, knowledgeable members, and without a doubt, one of our greatest fellow mountaineers.

The picture was taken on the summit ridge of Lyskamm.

Overview

The Brüggler is a harmless, small hill some kilometers south of the Zürichsee ("Lake of Zürich") at Kanton Glarus. There is nothing remarkable of this hill, the only thing to notice is the S-face, a wonderfull, slabby limestone wall of 300 m hight. But this face is the reason the Brüggler is famous at the Switzerland and all over south germany too. At this face there are a lot of superb, very enjoyable routes. The main advantage is, that there are so many easy routes (there are still many hard ones). This gives many climbers who are not willing or unable to climb in the higher grades the possibilitie to have their own special epic.

The whole landscape of and around the Brüggler is THE perfect example for a swiss idyl: charming meadows, alpine pastures, cows, creeks, hills, lakes and all other beautiful things needed for those places. Together with the short, easy approch and the campsite just below the hill this is a real great place to have one or more days of vertical adventure without to much adrenaline.

But also for those who like to pull on small holds at large overhangs the Brüggler offers a lot to do. There is a complete climbing sector containing only one-pitch sport routes of UIAA 8 or more. All of those need a lot of power, all of them are completely overhanging. One othe very interesting point of this "hard route area" is the possibilitie to climb all over the year. In summer there is enough shadow, at spring and autumn there is enough sun and even on sunny winter days it is sometimes possible to climb. Only after heavy rain this sector as the whole Brüggler is not good for climbing: the overhangs will remain wet for some time and the slabs of the S-face will only enjoyable if they are dull.

Beside the climbing possibilities there is an easy hike to the summit of the Brüggler: from the regular trail to the bottom of the S-face an other trail bends left and up to the summit. Thiss trail brings one in about 3/4 hour to the summit (and even those climbers which have reached the top using one of the routes of the S-face back to the base of the S-face).

The view from the summit is very nice: the northern part of Switzerland with the Zürichsee in the north and the Speer-group above the Riken-Pass in the east gives a very idyllic panorama. South there is an interesting view to the Bockmattli Turm. The Bockmattli Turm is famous for its very difficult, great routes, it's an other climbing spot at the Knaton Glarus worth a visit.

Getting There

To reach the Brüggler the main thing is to travel to the swiss Kanton Glarus and to the small town of Näfels. This can be done from Zürich (international airport) using the highway N3 direction Sargans/Chur. Take the exit Glarus and follow the signs direction Glarus. When reaching Näfels follow the signed route direction "Obersee" (this small route bends off in thge middle of Näfels). Following this very narrow route up to an obvious crossing just before reaching a lake. There an other very narrow road goes up to the "Schwändital". Follow this route until it ends. There a parking area and the Brüggler campsite is reached.

From the parking area following the small road by feet for about 1/2 hour. There the path to the hard routes bends right and up. Still going up the small road brings one up until one sees the "Kletterhüsi" (a small, private hut). There an other ascent path bends right, leading to the base of the S-face (depot for backpack etc.).

Red Tape

No red tape. There are no vehicles of any kind allowed after the end of the road at the Brüggler campsite. Even no mountain bikes (this is curious).

When To Climb

The best time for the Brüggler S-face are spring and autumn. At summer it is very hot, at winter there is to much snow. The hard sector may be climbed all over the year, the common seasons are spring, summer and autumn.

Camping

All routes of the Brüggler can be done easiely as day trips. But many climbers will stay for two (or even more) days. The common kind to spend the night is to use the climbers campsite at the end of the approch road.

At the campsite is a small building with a small room (in case of bad weather) and installations. There is no personal at this campsite, so every climber have to do the advice for the overnight stay freely. Take an announcement card at the campsites installation building, fill in your data, put the money in the envelope and throw this envelope in the marked letter box. The announcment card have to be placed inside your car.

The actual fees are:

Parking fees
Car, Camping Car, etc. ... 4.- SFr per day
Motobike ... 2.- Sfr. per day

Overnight stay
tent ... 12.- Sfr. per night
camping car ... 12.- Sfr. per night
sleeping bag outside ... 2.- SFr. per night
sleeping bag at the litte hut ... 4.- SFr. per night

Mountain Conditions

As common for the Switzerland, a good source for the mountain conditions is the Meteo Schweiz Website.

There is also a local forecast for Glarus available.

Routes

The routes at the S-face are multi pitch routes (most of them about 6 pitches) on very good, slabby rock with a lot of holes, cracks and water grooves. Most routes of the S-face are bolted, especially the stances, but there are not to many bolts. The S-face is definitly not a sport climbing area ! But it is very (!) easy to place additional gear (especially the usage of friends is very simple). There are also some fully bolted routes. The first routes at the brüggler are opened in 1957, today there are about 30 routes between UIAA 4 and UIAA 8-. In general the easier routes can be found at the right (east) side of the face.


UIAA grade 4
1. Silvester: 4+
2. Rummelflucht: 4, recommended


UIAA grade 5
1. SW-face: 5
2. Föhrenweg: 5
3. Arosaweg: 5+
4. Kleine Verscheidung: 5+, very recommended
5. Highway: 5+, good route
6. Grüne Route: 5
7. Meister Franz: 5+
8. Dornröschen: 5
9. Weihnachtsroute: 5-
10. Knorrli: 5-
11. Winterplättli: 5-


UIAA grade 6
1. Via Sibille: 6-
2. Blümlipfad: 6+, the first two pitches are giving a good 5+ route
3. Sonntagsweg: 6+, a very good route
4. Flugroute: 6+, one of the best routes of the brüggler, some BIG runouts
5. Direkte PLattenwand: 6-, nice climbing
6. Sopresa: 6
7. s'Zieger Träumli: 6
8. Unterländer Plattentraum: 6-


UIAA grade 7
1. Grosse Verschneidung: 7, seldome done, alpine trip
2. Via Alexandra: 7-
3. Zwergenweg: 7+
4. Donauwella: 7-
5. Spreizrinne: 7-, some very nice moves
6. Via Priska: 7-, most pitches are easier
7. Weg des Wassers: 7, good route but seldome done, less bolts
8. Glück im Unglück: 7-, good route with only a few bolt and some very demanding moves
9. Die Namenlose: 7-, the crux can be aided (pull the bolts ...), the rest is about 6
10. Nomis: 7+, after the hard beginning some easy pitches, can be aided


UIAA grade 8
1. Via Dana: 8-


As described above, the routes at the hard section are overhanging power routes. All of them are fully bolted.
UIAA 8: 3 routes
UIAA 9: 8 routes
UIAA 10: 2 routes

Guidebook & Map

For the routes at the S-face:
- Jürg von Känel, Schweiz Pläsir OST, Edition Filidor
- Johanna Wiedmaier, BEST OF .... alpine Genussklettereien von 3 bis 6, Panico Alpinverlag


For the hard routes:
Jürg von Känel: Schweiz Extrem, Edition Filidor (the old one, out of print)


Maps:
Landeskarte der Schweiz, 1:25000, Blatt 1153 (Klöntal)
Landeskarte der Schweiz, 1:25000, Blatt 1133 (Linthebene)

External Links

• Näfels
  Homepage of the small town of Näfels below the Brüggler.
  
• Edition Filidor
  Homepage of the Filidor edition of the famous swiss climber Jürg von Känel.
  
• Panico Alpinverlag
  Homepage of the german PANICO Alpinverlag which offers some very good guidebooks.
  
• Climbing at the Brüggler (sorry, german language only).
  
  

Images

View Brüggler Image Gallery - 19 Images