Adelboden Lägerloipe Engstligenalp

The trail leads in several loops over Engstligenalp, the largest plateau in the western Swiss Alps. With a view of Wildstrubel and Steghorn, it passes the Lägerstein. A big plus of the trail: thanks to the altitude, the season starts in late autumn and lasts until spring.

Engstligenalp is a flat high plateau above Adelboden. It is framed by the Tschingellochtighorn, Steghorn, Wildstrubel and Fitzer, all between 2450 and 3300 metres high. The plateau is also at a good 2000 metres. This ensures that there is enough snow on the trail, often as early as late autumn and as late as May, - but also that cross-country skiers breathe more quickly. The start of the trail is in front of the Berghaus Bärtschi, from where you follow the trail for about one kilometre in a westerly direction. There you have the option of avoiding the somewhat more demanding loops in the Groppi and taking a shortcut southwards. The trail continues past the namesake Lägerstein. The massive, rectangular boulder was probably carried here by glacial ice. Sometimes in the shade, then again in the sun, you pass more glacier boulders and snow-covered alpine huts. The trail is followed in two long loops to the valley station of the Dossen ski lift and then in the last section slightly downhill on the drag lift back to the starting point.The beautiful Engstligenalp, which can be perfectly explored with the long slats, is one of the cultural landscapes and alluvial areas of national importance: under the thick snow cover, countless little streams and rivulets flow across the plain. At the northern exit they gather to form the Engstlige Falls, which are among the highest and most water-rich waterfalls in the country. In two stages, they plunge a total of 600 metres into the valley. The cross-country skiers, meanwhile, take the cable car to get back to Adelboden. This takes them to Unter dem Birg, around 4.5 kilometres south of the village.