Griesslisee - Klausenpass

October 2020, hiking up to the Griesslisee from the Klausenpass — an hour of meadow and moraine to a grey glacier lake under the Clariden.

Griesslisee, 2098 m / from Klausenpass, 1948 m

White-red-white Bergwanderweg / about 1 h up from the pass / approx. 5.5 km and 320 m ascent return / meadow, moraine and scree

The path leaves the pass through cow pasture on the Urnerboden side, then swaps grass for moraine and scree as it works up toward the glacier forefield. It is a white-red-white Bergwanderweg — a mountain trail, not a walkway — and the last stretch is loose stone. Roughly an hour up from the road.

The lake itself sits at 2,098 m under the Clariden, milky grey, fenced in by rubble and the glacier snout above it. It drains north into the Fätschbach and the Glarnerland. In early October the alp was already emptying out and the light was low.

Logistics

Approach

Park at the Klausenpass (1,948 m), or take the PostBus over the pass in season. From the pass follow the signed mountain trail east toward the Gries, over the rise at about 2,164 m and up the moraine to the lake. Around 5.5 km and 320 m of ascent there and back.