Stage 10 Via Glaralpina - where spa guests once stayed

The Fridolinshütte SAC (2111 m a.s.l.) is impressively located: Not far away you can see the jagged Biferten Glacier, on a rock in front of it stands the first SAC hut of Switzerland, the Grünhornhütte. To the right rises the northeast face of the Tödi towards the sky. And the walls of the opposite Bifertenstock show their might. The Via Glaralpina leads down again from this impressively high alpine summit world, first on the mountain hiking trail to Hinter Sand (1299 m a.s.l.) and then on the gravel road to Tierfed (806 m a.s.l.). The hiking trail passes the impressive Linth Gorge in the lower part and runs over the historic Panten bridge. From Tierfed you reach the stage destination, the mountain inn Obbort (1048 m a.s.l.) after a short ascent. It was previously a spa house and today is a small agricultural business including a mountain inn with rooms.

A look back into the history of the Panten bridge: A bridge over the Linth Gorge was already built in 1457. Others followed. The second in 1560, the third in 1750, all of which were destroyed by avalanches and rockfalls. The current lower stone bridge was built in 1853/54 on behalf of the Catholic Church of Glarus and the community of Betschwanden, the owner of the Baumgarten and Sand alpines. In 1902 the new upper bridge was built directly above it. As a bridge in the punten it is called the "Pantenbrücke", which actually and logically means "bridge-bridge". In 1997 both bridges were comprehensively renovated and are now under monument protection. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the bridge, with the Linth Gorge as a motif, became known Europe-wide among travel writers and landscape painters.