Gemmi pass - Driving (walking tour) 
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To Schwarenbach Hotel three or 1.5 hours, to Leukerbad 6.5, five or 3.5 hours depending on route taken.
First a 30-minute walk to Eggenschwand (road passable for cars for 2.5km/2mi to parking at lower station of Stock cableway); then either by cableway (six minutes) or on foot (1.75 hours) to Beim Stock (1,837 m/6,027ft; chairlift to Sunnbühl).
Then a 1.25-hour walk through wooded country high above the Gastern valley, and up the valley of the Schwarzbach and over the Spitalmatte (1,900 m/6,234ft), an Alpine meadow littered with rock debris, to the Schwarenbach Hotel (2,067 m/6,782ft), a good climbing base (climbing school), e.g. for the ascent of the Balmhorn (3,709 m/12,169ft; six-seven hours with guide). Then another 1.25 hours through a bleak and rugged region, past the Daubensee (2,205 m/7,235ft; frozen for 8-10 months of the year) to the Gemmi pass (2,316 m/7,599ft; Berghotel Wildstrubel, E), with astonishing views of the Rhône valley and the Valais Alps.
From the pass a cableway descends to Leukerbad. The walk down to Leukerbad on the old bridle-path (made in 1740) along a rock face which plunges precipitously down for almost 600 m/1,969ft, takes two hours.
First a 30-minute walk to Eggenschwand (road passable for cars for 2.5km/2mi to parking at lower station of Stock cableway); then either by cableway (six minutes) or on foot (1.75 hours) to Beim Stock (1,837 m/6,027ft; chairlift to Sunnbühl).
Then a 1.25-hour walk through wooded country high above the Gastern valley, and up the valley of the Schwarzbach and over the Spitalmatte (1,900 m/6,234ft), an Alpine meadow littered with rock debris, to the Schwarenbach Hotel (2,067 m/6,782ft), a good climbing base (climbing school), e.g. for the ascent of the Balmhorn (3,709 m/12,169ft; six-seven hours with guide). Then another 1.25 hours through a bleak and rugged region, past the Daubensee (2,205 m/7,235ft; frozen for 8-10 months of the year) to the Gemmi pass (2,316 m/7,599ft; Berghotel Wildstrubel, E), with astonishing views of the Rhône valley and the Valais Alps.
From the pass a cableway descends to Leukerbad. The walk down to Leukerbad on the old bridle-path (made in 1740) along a rock face which plunges precipitously down for almost 600 m/1,969ft, takes two hours.
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