I was planning on dropping through Gimmelwald May 31-June 3, but I've since seen a number of posts suggesting it's not a great time to go hiking weather-wise. I can deal with "rainy day" activities for a couple days, but I'd really like to get to hike some good trails at least one of the days. What are your experiences with this time of year? Should I try to shuffle things around and move Gimmelwald to a later period or save it for another trip?
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Seeing that your from Edmonds, the time frame you listed should be OK. Not ideal, and nobody can predict storms this far in advanced, but at least some of the trails should be passable. Most businesses in the mountain towns should be open.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32352 posts
Rachel,
Given your home location, why don't you drop by the ETBD offices and get a "second opinion" from the experts.
The weather should be quite favourable for hiking at that time of the year. If it's a bit wet, pack along a light rain jacket.
Happy travels!
Posted by
Nederland, CO
1530 posts
Rachel, that's the exact dates we were there in 08. For that trip we stayed in Murren. We had a great time even though we found out that the Almendhubel funicular wasn't going to be up and running until June 7th which was a little dissapointing. We also missed out on the hike from Mannlichen to Klein Sheidegg because it was very foggy and raining. That being said we still had a fantastic time and did have a couple of really nice days, and got in a few good hikes.
We were there in 06 in mid June, and if I had it to do over I would have shuffled our trip on 08 to make it a week or two later. In 06 the weather was beautiful, the trails were all open, and mostly clear although there was a little bit of snow still on a few of them.
One advantage to going late May/early June was there were slightly fewer people as not all of the hotels were open.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
We've been there on several occasions and it's always during that exact time period. We've had mostly sunny experiences. One year there was still patchy snow around, but it was still very nice.
Posted by
OP
Edmonds, WA, USA
88 posts
Thanks all for your responses! I’d only be able to shuffle the dates around about a week later & it’d be a little awkward with the rest of the itinerary. Since you all have seemed to have good experiences around those dates, I’ll just keep those dates as is! Here’s to hoping for sun! We’ve seen more snow than rain in Washington this winter, so I guess I’ll be prepared for whatever greets me there. HAHA. Thanks again all!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Rachel, we did exactly those dates in 07. We were fortunate that the weather was great and the snow was gone from Muerren and Gimmelwald. We walked the road down to Gimmelwald from Muerren. The wildflowers were in full bloom. It was just stunning. Also, each morning, the farmers are walking a few of their cows through the towns up to the higher summer pastures. It's great stuff. On the opposite side of the valley, which we also visited, we could see a lot of water on the trails even though the snow was gone.
The biggest caution is that the weather isn't the same from year to year. No guarantees. You take your chances. We were fortunate.