Hiking Hinterrugg & Chäserrugg: Spot Wild Ibex

I’ve lived near the Alps for 30 years now, and I had never seen an ibex in the wild – until last Tuesday! Wow, what an amazing day! My mom and I went hiking to Hinterrugg and Chäserrugg in the Toggenburg region in eastern Switzerland.

The adventure started off in an exciting way right from the beginning. We spent 15 minutes driving behind a group of cows that were on their way to a cattle show. As it turned out, the show was taking place right in the parking lot of the Sellamatt cable car station, which we were planning to take. We spent some time watching all the cows, goats, and people in traditional Toggenburg clothing arriving at the show.

We then took the cable car up to Alp Sellamatt, and from there, our 3-hour climb began. We hiked almost all the way to the top of Hinterrugg without taking any breaks. The trail is pleasant and not particularly challenging technically, apart from the fact that it’s a steep climb. There are no exposed sections either. That said, it definitely is a proper mountain hike aka what the Swiss mean when they say hiking not the American “hiking”.

The closer we got to the summit, the more hopeful we became that we would finally get to see the ibex that are often up there. The moment, just after the steep climb, when we spotted the animals’ huge horns peeking out from between the brush was indescribable! A group of about 10 male ibex were grazing peacefully among the shrubs, only about 8 meters (26 feet) away from us. On the other side of the mountain, there was another group of 7 males bathing in the sun.

With all this “entertainment” going on, even the beautiful view of Walensee (a gorgeous lake) became less important. I took over 140 photos throughout the hike – ibex from the front, the back, below, and above. There was quite a bit of sorting to do once I got home! The animals also turned out to be very photogenic. One kept positioning himself in the perfect spot, and I just had to snap another picture!

Eventually, we managed to tear ourselves away from the ibex and hiked about 10 minutes downhill to Chäserrugg and the restaurant, where we enjoyed a glass of Most (traditional Swiss sour apple cider). From there, we spent two hours hiking downhill back to the Sellamatt cable car station, thinking we could simply take the cable car back down to the valley. So we thought! The cable car was out of service, so we had to hike another 40 minutes steeply downhill all the way to the valley. That brought our total descent to 1,400 meters (4,593 feet)!

Summary:

Hinterrugg–Chäserrugg Hike

Start: Alt St. Johann – Take the Sellamatt cable car up to Alp Sellamatt.

Finish: Alt St. Johann – Take the Sellamatt cable car back down to the valley.

Elevation gain: Starting at about 1,400 meters (4,593 feet) above sea level and reaching Hinterrugg at 2,306 meters (7,566 feet) above sea level = 957 meters (3,140 feet) of elevation gain.

Duration: About 3–3.5 hours for the ascent, 5–6 hours in total.

Difficulty: Moderate technical difficulty, with no exposed sections.

Ibex: A herd of around 200–250 ibex lives in the Churfirsten mountain range. On Hinterrugg, you can often spot between 20 and 40 ibex, and they are not shy around people.

Hiking map: View the map

View of Walensee from above