We are signed up for the Germany, Switzerland Austria tour that begins may 13. What I am really looking forward to is hiking in Switzerland but am concerned about whether that will be doable this year In may after all. Has there been lots of snow there this year like we have had in the sierras? If so, there will be snow in the high elevations till July! Any advice or thoughts ?
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Well advice would have been to book a later tour. We took a tour one july and saw snow just off trails and were told trails still had snow till mid june that year .
If you have already booked i dont know what to say except i am sure there will be some decent low elevation walks you could take instead.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
Even if the snow is gone or nearly gone the trails could be very muddy and therefore slippery. May and even early June in the Rockies is called mud season for a good reason. I doubt if Switzerland would be much different. And this question is not really a trip report. In the future you might consider posting your question in the proper section because you probably will get better and more responses.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Conditions in May are not reliable for hiking in the high Alps. The trails at low elevation should be clear, but they can also be quite muddy. At high elevation, everything is still usually covered in snow.
Now, if you wanted to hike in the lower Swiss Jura mountains, that shouldn't be a problem, but I don't know if a RS tour covers that area.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Beyond the questions of snow and mud, there's also the issue of visibility. Our frequent poster Chani took the My Way Alpine Europe tour in June of 2015, and her days in Switzerland had so much cloudiness that she didn't see much on her hikes.
In other words, if your priority is Switzerland hiking, go later in summer or early fall - not in May. If you do go in May, accept now that you could have a less than optimal experience for that section of the tour.
Posted by
Boulder, Colorado, USA
437 posts
This website shows Europe is not getting as much snow as the Sierras
It is too early to predict May snow levels but currently it seems the lower trails could melt out early. Either way it will still be beautiful.
Posted by
Vacaville, Ca
1441 posts
Stephanie, here is a link, https://twitter.com/Murrenlover, to a site that an individual living in Murren posts pictures every few days on what the current weather conditions look like. You can start looking at this daily a week or so before your departure and up until the day you arrive from your hotels. This will give you an idea of what the conditions (snow, no snow, mud) looks like from a current feed. He also post pictures of the Schilthorn & Jungfrau.
Edited: Looking at the pictures on the link for last year the weather varied, 1 May: Snow, 10 May: Snow melted, flowers blooming, 22 May: Snow & by 4 Jun: Snow melted, fields green & some rain.
Lauterbrunnen Valley and the mountain ranges are on my must go to next trip to Europe.
Enjoy your trip.