Steingletscher Glacier Trek

Swiss Alpine Guides

I would only walk on the glacier with a qualified local guide. Since the ice changes every day, an experienced local guide knows what to look for in terms of safety and risk on that specific glacier. They also regularly communicate with other local guides about the latest conditions of the ice. 

We went with Swiss Alpine Guides and we were super happy with the experience. We did the “1 Day Glacier Exploration Special” which costs CHF 170 per person. This includes your qualified guide and transport to the glacier from Interlaken. It also includes the special equipment: glacier hiking boots, crampons, harness, gloves, and ice ax. If necessary, they also have warm jackets, hiking pants and backpacks (all included in the fee), which is a great if you are a tourist who doesn’t want to bring these on your trip. Our group was 12 adults with one guide.

During summer, they often do a few trips a week, depending on demand. But they don’t publish their schedule online. Just call them to see what trips they have coming up (they speak English). Since we live in Switzerland, we were flexible on our dates. So I just waited for good forecast and booked our trip a week ahead of time.

Children are welcome but they only have crampons starting at size 37. So your child need big enough feet to fit the crampons. The children also need to be mature enough take the whole expedition seriously. You need to follow the guide’s instructions and not fool around. It can be dangerous if you don’t. This company can arrange special tours just for your family, which I think would be a good idea since children may need more assistance or need to go slower than a bunch of adults.

What to wear & bring

You should wear normal hiking clothes and bring layers. We went on a warm sunny day and we were sweating on the short hike to the ice. But once we got onto the ice, the wind picked up and it was quite cold. So I put on a fleece and windbreaker jacket. Many in our group wore warm hats.

Each person needs a backpack in order to secure your ice pick and carry your crampons to the ice. Also bring water, your lunch and extra layers for warmth. The glacier hiking shoes they provide are stiff ankle boots that attach well to crampons. You might already have these type of boots, but my hiking boots weren’t the right style so I used theirs.

If it’s sunny, definitely bring sunglasses and a hat with a brim. Sun cream is also a good idea.

What camera to bring

You can’t stop anytime you want for a photo, because you are connected to other people. So you’ll only take photos before you get on the ice and when your guide has the group stop. Also while walking on the ice, you need your hands free to hold the rope and your ice pick. And you can’t have things dangling about your person. So it’s most practical to use your phone camera and have it easy to access in a front pocket, which is what I did.

I brought my GoPro, which was attached to my backpack strap and I used voice commands so I didn’t have to hold it in my hand. I started with my big camera strapped to my chest. But once we got to the ice, the guide asked me to pack it in my backpack, so it didn’t interfere with the other equipment.

How to get there

If you do the tour with Swiss Alpine Guides, they pick you up with a van in Interlaken and drive you to the Steingletscher, about 1hr. Since we live in Zürich, we met them near the glacier instead, saving us a lot of time. We drove over the Susten Pass and met our guide at the free parking in front of the Alpine Lodge Steingletscher. It was about an 1hr45 drive from Zürich, about a 1hr from Luzern. If you are coming from Bern, it would make more sense to meet them in Interlaken.

Then we got in the van with our guide and the rest of the hikers and drove a few minutes up a private road to the trail head. 

You can drive on this private road yourself, but you need to pay a small fee, I think CHF 5. There is a fee box at the entrance to the road, as shown below.

Orientation & equipment

Our van parked at the Steingletscher parking at the trail head to the glacier. Our guide did an orientation on the glacier and our equipment. We put on our special glacier hiking boots and safety harnesses. We got our ice picks and learned to properly hang them on our backpacks for quick access. We stored our crampons in our packs, which we would put on once we got to the glacier.

Our guide told us about how the Steingletscher glacier has been changing over recent years. In the pictures below, you can see the retreat of this glacier from 1983 to 2013 to 2019 in my pic on the right.

Hiking to the glacier

Then we walked about 1 km from the parking to the ice. This is beautiful walk, even if you are just going to see the glacier, not walk on the ice. The trail starts across this big flat valley.

Then up the hill on a narrow rocky trail.

Here’s the view back to the Susten Pass where you parked the car.

Then we arrived at the ice. Our guide spent some time chatting with other guides and evaluating the ice to find the best place for us to get onto the glacier. 

You can see other groups up on the ice, where we will wander later.

Put on the crampons

Now that we were close to the ice, we put on our crampons. There is a very specific way for them to be secured and our guide demonstrated that, then helped each person get it right. After the crampons were on, we had to walk a bit on rocks to get the ice. That was a little difficult with the crampons, because they don’t dig into the rock, just scrape on top of them. 

Get on the ice

For most of the summer, our guide had been taking groups over the snow bridge shown below. But he said it was too thin now and it didn’t feel safe anymore. We saw another group go over it, but we all (including our guide) felt that was a risky decision.

So our guide used his ax to dig stairs on another part of the ice (see my video for that) so we could climb up onto the glacier. That part was stressful for me because we had to do some tricky ice walking right at the beginning and I wasn’t yet comfortable with the crampons. But our guide was very helpful and patient and we all got onto the glacier with no problem.

On the ice

We crisscrossed the ice for awhile, all roped together. Our guide taught us a few techniques for walking on the ice and pointed out various special features of the ice.

We learned about these water holes. Don’t slip into one of these!

We stopped for lunch on the other side of the glacier with this amazing view. Once we stopped walking, we got chilly and we put on more layers.

After lunch we could wander a bit without being roped together because it was a very safe part of the ice. It was fun having a little more freedom in our movement.

Then we roped back up and went to the most exciting part of the glacier with big crevasses as shown below. 

I felt nervous walking around and over the crevasses, but that was the best part of the hike for sure.

Hiking back

After getting off the ice, we took off the crampons and hiked back to the van. We cleaned our gear and helped pack it into the van. Instead of riding in the van back to our car, my husband and I chose to hike the 2 km, which was super beautiful. The glacier walk itself is not super strenuous. There’s a lot of waiting and lingering and slow walking. So it was nice to stretch our legs on the hike back to the car.

Conclusions

This was a great experience and very glad we did it. I would love to do one of their overnight treks, like the one from the Jungfraujoch to the Konkordia hut.

See also 10 Swiss Glaciers to Show Your Kids