Hiking in the Swiss mountains

14.07.2022

The social event of ISPDC 2022 will be a hike around Oeschinen Lake (Oeschinensee https://www.oeschinensee.ch/en/). The Oeschinen Lake is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is considered by many to be the most beautiful mountain lake in the Swiss Alps. The lake is located above the city Kandersteg in the Bern canton, 160 km from Basel. The social event (hike) will be a full day event on July 14, 2022 from 9:25 am (leaving Basel) to approximately 20:30 (return to Basel). Exact times will be communicated closer to the event. The travel by train and cable car to the Oeschinen Lake will be organized by the ISPDC 2022 Local Organizing Committee. All participants that register for this social event will receive travel tickets and a lunch bag.

Hiking plans

Meeting point: Basel SBB at approximately 8:45 to take a train to Kandersteg. Participants and organizers will meet at the entrance of Basel SBB as indicated in the image below. For directions, one can use the following link: https://goo.gl/maps/rKFJjopde3vrFE8p8.

Arrival in Kandersteg: 11:40 am. The train from Basel to Kandersteg takes approximately 2h40min.

Reaching the cable car in Kandersteg to start the hike: 11:55 am. The cable car is located 1 km from Kandersteg’s train station, approximately 15min walking.

maps.app.goo.gl/KiAhueixiX3eA5bp9

Hike, 1st step: the hiking starts at the top station of the cable car, at 12:20 pm. We will start by following route 4.

www.komoot.com/tour/365572557  or  maps.app.goo.gl/ArvpMvpasASYUmdN9

At the end of route 4, we will reach the restaurants on the shore of Oeschinen Lake where the participants can acquire more food and water if desired. Route 4 consists of a relaxing hike with no elevations of approximately 1.5 km.

Hike, 2nd step: after reaching the restaurants on the shore of the Oeschinen Lake (approximately 12:50 pm) we will proceed to route 6.

www.komoot.com/tour/365873991 or maps.app.goo.gl/FrZbX926MRC4Jir36

Route 6 consists of a slightly harder hike with 200m of elevation and around 2KM of length that takes approximately 1 hour.

Lunch: at the end of the 2nd step of the hike (approximately 14:20), we will stop for lunch at the elevation around Oeschinen Lake with a wonderful view of the blue water of the lake and the white Alpine peaks.

Return from 2nd step: we will return by the same path used to reach the end of the 2nd step arriving at the restaurants on the shore of Oeschinen Lake at around 15:30.

Social-resting time: we will stop at the restaurants on the shore of Oeschinen Lake for around 1h for resting and socializing.

Return hike: we will return to the cable car following the same path used to reach the end of the 1st step, arriving at the cable car at around 16:40.

Return to Basel: after taking the cable car down and walking back to the Kandersteg train station, we will take a train back to Basel at around 17:30, arriving at Basel SBB at around 20:30.