Over Hill and Dale and Footbridge
Last week, our office doors already fell shut on Thursday evening, and on Friday, the impressive natural scenery of the Gantrisch Nature Park opened up its doors to us instead of the everyday working world – hiking day at Lüchinger+Meyer. “The unspoiled landscape is ideal for slowing down.” Looking back, we can fully agree with the announcements of the Schweizer Pärke Network. This year, we were gripped by ambition. 15 hiking kilometers with several hundred meters of ascents and descents were on the agenda. Our first stage led us in a big loop from the Wasserscheide parking lot to the foot of Haber, Nünenefluh, Gantrisch. Here we enjoyed a rustic open-air lunch at the Obernünenen alp, where the very hospitable alpine farmers served delicious rösti à discretion.
Freshly strengthened, we took the ascent to the Panoramaweg Gantrisch under our feet. This hiking classic is one of the most panoramic trails in the Bernese Pre-Alps. We were able to convince ourselves of this with an unobstructed view of the Stockhorn chain, Schwarzenburgerland and the Fribourg Alps.
At the end of the hike, a real timber construction highlight awaited our team with a tour of the Gäggersteig. Project manager Michael Wehrli from the responsible architectural studio Patrick Thurston gave us detailed first-hand information on the design and creation of the wooden elevated walkway, which was awarded the Atuprix 2021. The footbridge leads at a height of up to 8 meters over the storm wood of the forest reserve and offers insight into the self-generating nature. In addition to the design and construction finesse, we were particularly impressed by the aspects of promoting young talent and local resource extraction: the carpentry work was executed by the apprentices of the five participating companies. The timber for the footbridge comes exclusively from the surrounding forests and was harvested in consultation with the forest cooperatives.
After a few steps downhill, we finally reached the Selital mountain hut, where the successful hiking day came to a worthy conclusion.
