style="font-size:15px;"> The 1:50,000 series, which is perfectly adequate for the majority of walkers, mountaineers and ski tourers, includes a set of maps with major walking routes marked. These Wanderkarten are distinguished by the letter T given after the individual sheet number, while sheets marked with ski touring routes (Skitourenkarten) are distinguished by the letter S. National survey maps detailed at the end of each chapter in this book are listed with the prefix LS (Landeskarten der Schweiz).
The complete 1:25,000 series (more than 230 separate sheets) is also available on eight CD-ROM discs under the heading Swiss Map 25.
Independent publisher Kümmerly & Frey (www.swisstravelcenter.ch) also produces a series of maps for walkers at a scale of 1:60,000. As with LS maps, these Wanderkarten have major walking routes and mountain huts prominently marked, and the clearly defined contours and artistic use of shading produce an instant representation of ridge, spur and valley. Again, details of relevant sheets are given at the end of each chapter.
MAP AVAILABILITY
Recommended maps are available in the UK from the following outlets:
Cordee, 11 Jacknell Road, Dodwells Bridge Industrial Estate, Hinckley LE10 3BS (tel 01455 611185 www.cordee.co.uk)
Edward Stanford Ltd, 12–14 Long Acre, London WC2W 9LP (tel 020 7836 1321 www.stanfords.co.uk)
The Map Shop, 15 High Street, Upton-upon-Severn, WR8 0HJ (www.themapshop.co.uk)
Kümmerly & Frey also has a limited series of 1:120,000 sheets which provide a useful overview of regions such as Graubünden, Valais (Wallis) and the Bernese Oberland, and a separate sheet (Wanderland) at 1:301,000 showing all the main long-distance walking routes in Switzerland, with a comprehensive index on the reverse.
Guidebooks for walkers and trekkers
The majority of English-language guides to the Alps for walkers and trekkers are published by Cicerone (www.cicerone.co.uk), with the following list covering the Swiss Alps. Those produced by the Swiss Alpine Club are in either French or German.
Cicerone guides
100 Hut Walks in the Alps by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2nd edition 2005)
Alpine Pass Route by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2nd edition 2008)
Central Switzerland: a Walker’s Guide by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 1993)
Chamonix to Zermatt: the Walker’s Haute Route by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 4th edition 2007)
The Bernese Alps by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 3rd edition 2008)
Tour of the Jungfrau Region by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2nd edition 2009)
Tour of the Matterhorn by Hilary Sharp (Cicerone, 2009)
Tour of Monte Rosa by Hilary Sharp (Cicerone, 2007)
Trekking in the Alps by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2011)
Walks in the Engadine by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2nd edition 2005)
Walking in the Alps by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 2nd edition 2005)
Walking in Ticino by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 1992)
Walking in the Valais by Kev Reynolds (Cicerone, 3rd edition 2003)
Other guides
Alpinwandern Graubünden (SAC)
Alpinwandern Rund um die Berner Alpen (SAC)
Alpinwandern Schweiz, Von Hütte zu Hütte (SAC)
Alpinwandern Tessin (SAC)
Alpinwandern Wallis (SAC)
Alpinwandern Zentralschweiz –Glarus –Alpstein (SAC)
Randonnées alpines, D’une cabane du CAS à l’autre (SAC)
Randonnées en montagne, Chablais–Valais francophone (SAC)
The Bernina Trek by Geoffrey Pocock (www.leisure-and-business.co.uk 2009)
The Walker’s Haute Route by Alexander Stewart (Trailblazer, 2008)
Trekking and Climbing in the Western Alps by Hilary Sharp (New Holland, 2002)
Walking in Switzerland by Clem Lindenmayer (Lonely Planet, 2nd edition 2001)
Walking in the Alps by Helen Fairbairn et al. (Lonely Planet, 2004)
Wanderfitzig, Talein, talaus durchs Göschenertal (SAC)
Climbing guides
The following rock climbing guides have been published by the SAC, in German only.
Engelhornführer
Kletterführer Alpstein
Kletterführer Berner Voralpen
Kletterführer Bockmattli, Brügglerkette, Amden
Kletterführer Churfirsten–Alvierkette–Fläscherkette
Kletterführer Rätikon
Kletterführer Zentralschweizerische Voralpen
Editions Equinoxe publish sport climbing guides (mostly topos), and the Münich-based Bergverlag Rother (www.rother.de) has produced a useful pocket guide (in German) to the Swiss via ferratas/klettersteigen, while Eugen Hüsler’s book gives details of all the via ferratas in both Switzerland and France.
Hüslers Klettersteigführer: Westalpen by Eugen H Hüsler (Bruckmann, 2001)
Klettersteig Schweiz by Iris Kürschner (Rother, 2004)
Schweiz Extrem: die Schönsten Sportkletteren by Jürg von Känel (Egger, Frutigen, 1989/Editions Equinoxe)
Schweiz Plaisir Ost by Jürg von Känel (Editions Equinoxe)
Schweiz Plaisir West by Jürg von Känel (Editions Equinoxe)
Mountaineering guides
The Alpine Club in London (www.alpine-club.org.uk) has an excellent four-volume series of mountaineering guides to the Swiss Alps, and a single guide to all the alpine 4000m peaks. Bâton Wicks also has a popular guide to the 4000m peaks translated from German. The West Col guide to Central Switzerland is long out of date, but is the only one in the English language to cover the Dammastock/Urner Alps district. The same publisher has a more up-to-date guide for the Silvretta Alps.
Bernese Oberland by Les Swindin (AC, 2003)
Bernina
