Triftbrucke: Switzerland's scariest footbridge

Some hikes start with a plan so simple it sounds like a joke: park the car and walk uphill until you reach one of the most dramatic bridges in the Alps. The Triftbrucke hangs 100 metres above a turquoise glacier lake in the Bernese Oberland, 170 metres long, and it is widely called the longest and highest pedestrian suspension bridge in the Alps. Most people ride a small cable car for the lower part. We skipped it.

I did this one with a friend on a clear morning, starting straight from the parking lot at 9:30, no gondola, just the trail and the climb. The path gains height fast, and within the first hour the valley already feels a long way below. It is steady, honest work, made easier by the fact that the landscape keeps getting bigger around you the higher you go.

By 11:30 the bridge appeared, suddenly, strung across the gorge above that impossible blue lake. Stepping onto it is the moment the whole climb pays for itself. The wind moves it gently under your feet, the glacier sits right in front of you, and the drop below is very real. For a few minutes it stops feeling like a day trip from Zurich and starts feeling like a proper expedition.

We walked the entire route up and back, around 15 kilometres with 1,200 metres of ascent in roughly five and a half hours. A big alpine day, but a completely doable one, and exactly the kind of hike I point people to when they want something unforgettable that needs no technical skill at all.