At the end of July 2020, I walked the ViaStockalper with a friend. We arrived the evening before our hike in Brig and spent the night right next to the castle built by Kaspar Stockalper over 300 years ago. He also developed the mule track over the Simplon in the 17th century. It had a huge economic impact and made Stockalper very rich. The ViaStockalper leads from Brig over the Simplonpass to Gondo. The path goes through along a beautiful rivers, forests and deep gorges. There are also some very impressive buildings along the way such as the hospice on the pass, built by Napoleon or the old hospice built by Stockalper.
After Stockalper the trade traffic over the Simplon collapsed and the mule track fell into disrepair. Napoleon saw the strategic advantages of the Simplon and built the first road over the pass in 1805. Since the new road built in the 1960s mostly follows Napoleons old route, there are hardly any remains of the old one.
The day started with spectacular climb above the Saltina gorge. From there we walked through the Tavern Valley following the river with the same name. There are lots of waterfalls, some quite impressive. The last bit was a bit steeper but still not too bad. Since we already arrived at 3pm and the weather was beautiful, we found a nice rock to lie on and just enjoyed the beautiful landscape on the pass.
The stone eagle on the pass was built during the Second World War to show the enemy in the South that the Swiss were on high alert. More likely the soldiers on the pass were quite bored and the looked for some occupation for them.
We stayed at the hospice that Napoleon had built, and the rooms were very nice. It is still sometimes used by pilgrims. We even felt like an evening walk around a small lake just behind the hospice.
The Simplon offers a fascinating Alpine cultural and natural landscape. Shortly after the pass we passed the Alte Spittel, the hospice built by Stockalper, and he also lived in it during the summer months. Next to it is a military barrack built in the Second World War.
In Simplon village we had a nice coffee and some pie. After the village the path soon follows the wild Gondo gorge. Several pedestrian bridges over the river, which adds a lot to exitement to the path. Near Gondo the path goes through some old military tunnels at Fort Gondo. The Via Stockalper ends in Gondo at the old Stockalper tower. Gondo was partly destroyed by a large landslide in 2000, nowadays only very few traces of that can be seen. We had just time for a coffee before we took the bus back over the pass.
On the path 