Stage 09 Via Glaralpina – Audience with the highest Glarner

From the cozy-modern Claridenhütte SAC (2453 m a.s.l.), the route leads through the impressive mountain world over the Beggilüggi (2536 m a.s.l.) and shortly afterwards over lush Alpine meadows. Surely one or another Edelweiss decorates the wayside to Ober Sand (1927 m a.s.l.). The variety of flowers here is unique. Staying in this high valley is worthwhile, including foot bathing in the glacier stream. After a cozy break and a packed lunch, the Via Glaralpina continues, gently and steadily ascending, up to the Ochsenstock (2259 m a.s.l.), before the short descent to the Fridolinshütte SAC (2111 m a.s.l.) ends this stage.

Because the stage is so short, it is worth making a detour to the dinosaur tracks. They lie above Sandpassweidli, not far from the mountain trail to the Planurahütte – below the Sandfirn at an elevation of around 2300 m a.s.l. (coordinates 2 711 700 / 1 186 900). In 2001, over 100 depressions were found on a slab of Rötidolomite, left by a group of archosaurs approximately 230 million years ago, during the Triassic period on the tropical sea coast of the Glarnerland. The so-called chirotheroid tracks are among the oldest vertebrate tracks in Switzerland and are attributed to the ancestors of crocodiles and dinosaurs.