Old Trail to the Aletschji

Earlier, when the glaciers were larger than today, the Alp trail led from the Üsseren Aletschji into the Innere Aletschji over the ice of the Upper Aletsch glacier, which filled the Oberaletsch gorge with its left glacier tongue. Old documents report, that the alps Tälli, Driest, Ze Baechu and Olme in the Innere Aletschji were already used in the 15th century. After the glaciation peak in 1860, the Oberaletsch glacier retired, and on both sides of the canyon vertical, insurmountable rock faces got freed. A new route led through the "Lengacher" to the exit of the Oberaletsch canyon, from where you came across the ice of the Great Aletsch glacier into the Tälli. Due to the continuing shrinkage of the glacier, the ice surface decreased steadily and the trail to the Innere Aletschji had to be moved constantly further down. Until the early 1920s cows were herded in the Innere Aletschji, afterward only cattle. Finally, the path had to be abandoned completely by the end of the 1960s. In order to maintain a connection with the Innere Aletschji, a trail was blasted into the rocks of the Oberaletsch gorge in 1972-1973.