Lucerne - Ascent of Mt Pilatus

Mt Pilatus is a popular round trip going up by the cableway and down by the cog-railroad. Cableway from Kriens (4,968 m/16,300ft; 30 minutes) to the Fräkmüntegg (1,415 m/4,643ft; skiing), and from there another cableway (1,400 m/4,593ft; seven minutes) to the Pilatus-Kulm (2,070 m/6,792ft).

Visitors can also travel by rail, boat or road (16km/10mi on the road to the Brünig pass) to Alpnachstad (440 m/1,444ft). From there travel on the cog-railroad (4.6km/ 3mi; 30 minutes, gradients up to 48% (1 in 2)), which runs up through Alpine meadows (orchards) and forests to the passing station at Ämsigen (1,350 m/4,429ft) and then continues over the rock-strewn Mattalp and up the steep rock face, through four tunnels, to the upper station on Pilatus-Kulm (2,070 m/6,792ft). From here it is a 6-10minutes' climb to the summit (surrounded by a wall) of the Esel (2,122 m/6,964ft), the central but not the highest peak of Pilatus, from which there are magnificent views of the Alps, from Säntis to the Blümlisalp, Lakes Lucerne and Zug, and the Swiss uplands.

The name of the mountain probably comes from the Latin pileatus, "covered (with clouds)", although legend ascribes it to Pontius Pilate, said to have been buried in a former lake on the Upper Bründlenalp. Until the 17th C. Pilatus was known as Frakmunt (from fractus mons).