A Swiss Ski Tour Classic: The Western Oberland Traverse

The vast glaciers of the Bernese Oberland feel more arctic than alpine in scale, creating a rugged, white wilderness high up above, and far away from anything you’ve experienced before.

The Bernese Oberland Ski Tour or the “Little Haute Route” as its also sometimes known, traverses the Western Bernese Alps. The tour leads you in an easterly direction, tracing the snaking backbone of summits from Les Diablerets, over the Wildstrubel and the Wildhorn. Taking you across high alpine terrain, the traverse combines challenging summit climbs, remote refuges, long sweeping descents, and of course stunning glacial scenery. After 4-5 days of high alpine adventure, you finish with an exhilarating descent from the Rote Totz Lucke summit down to Kandersteg. This guidebook divides the complete Western Bernese Oberland Traverse into 5 stages. Follow the listed adventures from top to bottom for a descriptive guide of the whole tour.

Sources
O’Connor, B. (2003) Ski Mountaineering 2: Central and Eastern Alps. Milnthorpe Cumbria: Cicerone.
https://www.highmountainguides.com/course/bernese-oberland/
https://www.cosleyhouston.com/recent/11-03-21-west-berner-tour.htm