Mattmark Stausee Summer Hike: Moraine Descent to Saas-Almagell
The Mattmark basin is not a place for a casual afternoon stroll. It is a volatile landscape carved by advancing ice fields, sudden rockfalls, avalanches, and intense hydro-engineering. This hard-hitting trek pulls you out of the flat lakeside track and forces you straight onto the high, right-hand shoulder of the valley, where the path dissolves into chaotic granite boulder fields, slick, glacier-fed waterfalls and more…
ROUTE Summary
Distance: 14.5 kilometers (9.0 miles) continuous mountain trails.
Elevation: +120m ascent (initial reservoir loop) | -660m descent (valley descent).
Rating: SAC T2 to T3 (Moderate Alpine Hiking). Some boulder scrambling required.
Duration: 4 to 5 hours of hiking.
Seasonal Window: The ideal hiking window opens in June and runs through Oct.
Bus Constraint: Planning around this window is essential because the alpine PostBus (Bus 513) to Mattmark only operates during the summer season.
The alternative would be to walk up the valley to the dam, just as you would on the winter hike - see my other article for details…
ROUTE GEOMETRY & MID-WAY REFUELING
This route is executed as a sort of figure-eight. After tracking the easy, scenic lakeside circuit, you walk across the 780-meter dam wall to the western side to visit the Restaurant Mattmark for a meal or drink & snack. You then re-cross the dam a second time to access the high right-hand side trailhead….
Sector 1: The Dam Crest & Glacial Basin (Start to Distelalp)
The trek begins at the Mattmark reservoir bus stop (2,205m). Before looping the lake, you immediately face the sheer industrial scale of the Mattmark Dam - the largest rock-fill earth dam in Europe, measuring 120 m high and spanning a massive 780 m across the valley.
Crossing the Dam Crest: You walk directly across the wide, exposed gravel crest. Embedded directly into the ground beneath you is a stark, stony historical timeline, marking the brutal engineering milestones and historical flood dates of the project…
Visible Infrastructure: Ringing the crest and the immediate water line are reinforced concrete monitoring piers used by dam wardens to track subterranean movement and water pressure. To your left, the valley drops steeply away towards the modern power plant infrastructure visible far below. On your right, the vast Mattmarksee reservoir stretches out across the basin.
Glacial Basin Crossing: Reaching the far side, you push south, moving counterclockwise towards Distelalp (2,224m). Here, you are exposed to the raw elements of the Allalin basin - crossing the wild, unchannelled glacial meltwater inflows via narrow footbridges.
RESERVOIR FACTS & Figures
To truly comprehend the scale of the environment you are traversing, the reservoir itself operates on an immense scale:
Volume: The reservoir holds a massive 100M cubic meters of water at full capacity.
Dimensions: The lake surface stretches to an elevation of 2,197 MASL, reaching a max depth of 93 meters (305 feet) and spanning a length of 3.2 kilometers.
Catchment: While its natural geographic catchment basin is only 37 km2, an extensive network of sub-surface diversion tunnels drains neighboring glacial side-valleys, expanding the total intake area to 88 km2 - 45% of which is entirely covered by glaciers.
Flood Mitigation: Following massive regional flooding in the 1990s, the reservoir was converted into a multi-purpose safety net. It maintains a dedicated 3.6M cubic meters of empty buffer specifically for flood retention to safeguard the lower Saas and Rhone valleys. Its safety spillways can discharge a torrent of up to 230 cubic meters of water per second.
HIGH-ALPINE CONNECTORS: FOR SERIOUS MOUNTAINEERS
The Mattmark basin is a massive crossroads for tough high-altitude alpine routes. If you are using this location as a base, you can scale your day hike into two highly demanding mountain variants instead of descending to Saas-Almagell:
Option A: Glacier Trail to the Britannia Hut
Serious hikers can pivot from Mattmark directly into a high-alpine route to the iconic Britanniahutte (3,030m):
Route: This is a designated Glacier Trail (marked with blue-and-white alpine markers). From Mattmark, you push steeply up the moraine to the Schwarzbergchopf (2,868m), which serves as an amazing viewpoint over the ice fields.
Glacier Crossings: The path forces a raw, unassisted trek directly across the Allalin and Hohlaub glaciers. While often passable without full crampons in peak summer, it requires traversing slick ice, navigating visible crevasses, and keeping a sharp eye on ground markers. It adds a grueling +950m of ascent over roughly 4 hours of hard mountain travel.
Option B: Monte Moro Pass & VF to Italy
If you continue dead south from Distelalp, you can ascend the historical smugglers' paths straight up to the Monte Moro Pass (2,853m), marking the physical border between Switzerland and Italy.
Via Ferrata & the Golden Madonna: The trail climbs over steep, polished granite slabs and lingering snowfields, culminating in a short, steep Via Ferrata (Klettersteig). Using secured steel cables and iron rungs anchored into the sheer rock face, you scale the final vertical pitch to the foot of the monumental, golden Madonna delle Neve (Our Lady of the Snows) statue.
Sector 2: The High Moraine Traverse & Peaks (on the Right-Hand Ridge)
After rounding the southern tip, returning to the western side for your mid-way meal, and re-crossing the dam crest a second time, you commit to the mountain trail branching hard to the right. You are now entirely on the exposed western flank of the ridge.
The Blockfield Scramble: The path disappears into massive, chaotic boulder fields formed by centuries of glacial retreat and rockfalls. This is a sustained blockfield scramble (SAC T3). You must plot your way step-by-step, balancing from one jagged, shifting granite boulder to the next. Footing is technical, and trail markers are painted directly onto the rock faces (white-red-white markers).
The Glacial Overhang Cascades: Directly above your head on the right, the hanging glaciers hang precariously over the rock shelves. Huge, high-volume waterfalls roar down the vertical rock walls. The spray hits the trail, making the boulder surfaces slick and unforgiving.
The Massive High Peaks: As you navigate the right side of the valley, the skyline is dominated by towering four-thousanders and massifs jutting up directly above you. Looking upward to the right, you can track the sharp lines of the Strahlhorn (4,190m) and the pyramid of the Rimpfischhorn (4,199m) flanked by the dark, rugged massifs of the Stellihorn (3,436m) and Egginer (3,366m). These giant rock-and-ice walls frame the high alpine gorge, creating an imposing backdrop as you navigate the scree fields.
Sector 3: The Ghost Settlements, Eienalp & a Steep Descent
As you clear the main boulder fields, the trail hugs the steep slope, dropping rapidly over loose shale and rock steps.
Historical Ruins: Tucked into the rugged topography are the ancient, weather-blackened stone foundations and abandoned wooden granaries of early alpine settlers. These structures were built directly into the mountain to survive rockfalls.
The Descent through Eienalp: The trail begins tracking sharply down through the high pastures of Eienalp (also locally known as Eiu Alp). This sector brings a shift in terrain: while still intensely rocky underfoot, the raw scree gradually yields to alpine scrub and mountain meadows. The grade is steep, exacting a heavy toll on the knees as you drop through tight switchbacks, eventually passing the historic Zermeiggern Chapel (1,726m).
Sector 4: The Valley Run-In
The final kilometers level out alongside the roaring, white-water rapids of the Saaser Vispa river, bringing you back to the northern edge of Saas-Almagell (1,673m).
FINISH LINE: SAAS-ALMAGELL
Arriving on foot brings you into Saas-Almagell (1,673m), the southernmost and most traditional of the four main Saas Valley villages. Unlike its bustling, car-free neighbor Saas-Fee, Saas-Almagell retains a quiet, rustic mountaineering atmosphere.
The village is defined by its preserved, sun-blackened Valais barns and a deep ski racing pedigree. It serves as an ideal, low-key basecamp for technical high-altitude hiking, offering a direct contrast to the stark, windswept rock of the Mattmark basin above.
THE GRIM HISTORY OF Mattmark
This landscape was forged by catastrophe. The massive earthen dam you see at the start was built to tame the "Mattmark Dragon" - a historical name for the unpredictable glacial floods that routinely wiped out the valley below.
The area is also the site of one of the Alps' greatest tragedies: on August 30, 1965, a colossal avalanche from the Allalin Glacier completely buried the construction camp beneath 2 million cubic meters of solid ice, claiming the lives of 88 mountain workers. The scale of the terrain is a sobering reminder of alpine volatility.
This route was hiked by the Author on the 11th of August 2919. See my other articles for hikes and VF routes in the area. Contact me by email for photos or to ask questions.
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