Moléson

Overview

• Starting point: Moléson-sur-Gruyère funicular base station (1100 m)

• Highest point and destination: 2022 m

• Ascent time: ~2.5 hours

• Difficulty: Moderate (steep sections)

• Options: Hiking trail or via ferrata (K4 or K5)

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Moléson is another of my classics. I do it almost every year—it’s a perfect spring hike: long enough to train, low enough to be snow-free by mid-May, and with the added bonus of the Magic Pass cable car for a quick descent. It’s ideal for a half-day outing.

The hike begins just left of the funicular station in Moléson-sur-Gruyère. A gravel road leads up through picturesque pastures dotted with alpages and cows—it looks like being in a Swiss postcard.

After about 15 minutes, the road steepens significantly (it is a good training trail I said after all!). Here, you’ll see a trail sign showing two options for reaching the summit. In fact to get to the summit you have to turn around the mountain and reach it from behind and you can choose on which side to do the loop. Both routes take roughly the same time:

• Left: A narrower clockwise trail

• Right: The standard route via Plan Francey (funicular top station)

I’ve done both—this time, I chose the standard one.

Continuing on the gravel road, you’ll reach a crossroads just below Plan Francey, the third and final place where you can decide which side to take. Even though from here it takes clearly longer to do the clockqise tour. From here, you can also opt to ascend via one of two via ferratas (difficulty K4 or K5), more information at this link. I once did the K4—here’s —but this time I hiked.

The trail then descends slightly on the right, curving behind the mountain. After 15–20 minutes and just before an alpage, a yellow-marked path branches off from the wider road. Ten minutes later, you’ll find yourself on the winter ski slopes, continuing until a rocky section. It’s not difficult, but can become slippery because in wet or snow melting conditions it becomes a bit of a torrent.

Once you crest the rocky section, you’ll see the summit station again—this time from behind. A steep grassy slope leads to the top. Again quite steep and good to train! Of if you want you can use the less steep paths zig zagging around the main one that are less steep. In about 25 minutes you'll be at the cable car and another 5 bring you to the summit at 2022 m.

At the summit, enjoy a 360° view spanning Lake Geneva, the Jura, Lac de la Gruyère, and the Alps. Bonus: Don’t miss the viewing platform above the cable car station, where nameplates help identify the surrounding peaks. You can get there from stairs on the other side of the station.

Descent options

• Return the same way

• Descend via the other trail (reached from a small Col 50m below the summit)

• Or my usual choice: take the cable car and funicular, bringing you back to the parking lot in just 15 minutes.



But before going down, as it is a classic, I do my classic tradition: high altitude cappuccino!