Country Diary: Adelboden, Switzerland

The Otterrepass is the key to crossing the high watershed between the Engstligental (Adelboden's valley) and the unfrequented Fildrich valley to the west. It must have been a useful shortcut in medieval times, despite the 1,200 metre ascent. This col is the key to those sharp airy summits that dominate views in clear weather. And such were the conditions on a recent morning as we slogged up above the tree-line and out onto the fierce, sun-drenched slopes: only the call of a wheatear and splash of a stream interrupted the perfect morning.

Tilting the head back we could make out the flag fluttering from its pole at Ottere, perched on its bold prow 500m above us at the summer farm below the pass. In an hour we breasted the col amid a fanfare of hawkbit and purple gentian and saw the fantastic panorama above the Fildrich valley. Peak upon peak ranged away to the west under the loveliest of blue skies where white cloudlets sailed ever so slowly eastwards.

We could now look across the head of that hidden, upper valley to the south-west face of Manniflue, at 2,652m (8,700ft) the highest summit on the ridge north of Adelboden. A slanting descent allows access to a pair of tranquil pools, watering places for the summering herd of young cattle that haunt this high alp.

We now had a 550m climb with unbroken afternoon sun on our backs, but were drawn by anticipation of the broad vistas awaiting us. As so often on mountains with sharp profiles we were suddenly there, treading the last rock slabs to look upon the rock citadels surrounding us; and far away to the great crests of the Simmental district and beyond. On such a summer's day this is God's own country.