This simple January winter hike took us into some of the lesser known parts of the wintery Bernese Oberland on the border between cantons Bern and Lucerne. After a train to Escholzmatt, we took a bus on to Bumbach (in my head I say ‘Boomback’ which is probably incorrect) where the start of this winter hike, route 610, begins. With about 500 meters of altitude to gain on snow this isn’t one of those walk-in-the-park hikes. Still, the path gently winds up stretches of fields and forests on the way to the summit of Marbachegg.
Time: 2.5 hrs
Distance: ~ 5 km
Altitude: ~ 500 m ↑ 10 m ↓
As you can see from the photos, it was a perfect sunny day in this particular corner of the Bernese Oberland, and the mountains always look great in this kind of weather! We had nice views the whole way up, with the imposing ridges of nearby Hangst and Hohgant dominating most of the views. On our way up the path started out pretty much deserted, but as we got near the top it got busier, presumably with people who had got to the ski resort using the cable car. There’s a winter walking path marked the whole way, but since we brought our snowshoes along we strapped them on as we ascended and cut a couple of corners off the path by plowing across the fresh snow.
Towards the top, we enjoyed sparring with a set of melting icicles that we found hanging off the side of a random barn along the way. Regular readers will know that it’s usually very hard to hold back the kid in us once we’ve spotted something to have fun with in the mountains 🙂
Once we’d basically got to the top, we went on a bit of a detour to hunt down the highest point of Marbachegg. There’s almost a little village on the summit next to the gondola station, and we found what seemed to be the peak in there behind some houses. on our hunt, we also found a paraglider getting ready to jump off from a paragliding take-off area and stopped to watch – it was a pretty steep slope in this case, and it must take some nerves to run off down such a steep snowy slope!
Finally, at the top of Marbachegg there’s a restaurant to relax, grab a drink and enjoy those views! From Marbachegg, we took the cable car from the top down to Marbach where a connecting bus took us back to the trains in Escholzmatt.
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Practical Information for this Hike
| Start | Bumbach, Alpenrose Bus Stop |
| End | Marbachegg, Talstation Bus Stop |
| Time | 2h 30 mins |
| Distance | ~ 5 km |
| Canton | Lucerne & Bern |
| Difficulty | T1/T2 (easy/medium) |
| Altitude | ~ 500 m ↑ 10 m ↓ |
| Popularity | 2/5 – probably mostly locals |
| Season | Winter – Dec to Mar |
| Highest Point | 1483 m Marbachegg |
| Public Transport | To & from Bumbach, Alpenrose Bus Stop: Lucerne 1h 20 min, Bern 1 hr 25 min, Zurich 2h. |
| Parking | Address: Dorfstrasse 61, 6196 Marbach Park at Marbachegg station and take the bus to Bumbach to get to the start of the hike. |
| More Info | https://www.marbachegg.ch/de/bahnen.html For webcam, prices and online route maps. |
We walked up, but if you haven’t got much energy you could do this hike in reverse. Take the cable car from Marbach to Marbachegg and then hike down into Bumbach. It’ll save you the slog up and you can enjoy the views together with an easy walk downhill! Up to you really.
Route Map
This route should be seen as a guide of the path. Usually, the purple winter hiking signs on the ground are the ones to follow carefully!
