Name: Suonen Trail in Valais
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Suonen Trail in Valais

Suonen Trail in Valais

Recommended by 47 hikers

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Location: Eggerberg, Brig, Valais, Switzerland

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1. Suonen Trail in Valais – Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail loop from Eggerberg

9.76km

03:47

470m

Expert hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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5.0

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2. Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail – Suonen Trail in Valais loop from Eggerberg

16.4km

07:40

1,240m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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4.5

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3. Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail – Suonen Trail in Valais loop from Eggen

6.63km

02:28

270m

Expert hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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Paul

October 7, 2021

Why the suonen are the lifelines of the Valais
The water pipes, watercourses or suonen, French for “bisses”, run through the country like blood vessels in a human body - today they are almost 2000 kilometers long. Most of them are likely to have originated between 900 and 1000 years ago. Whether copied in North Africa, as some say, or invented by themselves: necessity makes people inventive - even when it comes to cheating on the lack of precipitation. There is plenty of water in the glacier region of Valais, but it is in the wrong place for the people: almost inaccessible in the deep gorges of the streams. The Suonen make this water usable for people. And as dream paths they open up the unique natural and cultural landscape of the Valais.
Suonen are dividing lines in many Valais landscapes: late in summer, when the rocky steppe withers and yellows, the mats and meadows below the suonen are lush green because they are watered. Their water is particularly suitable for irrigation for two reasons: Glacier water - as you can easily see from its cloudiness - contains considerable amounts of minerals and natural suspended matter such as phosphorus, lime and lots of potassium and magnesium salts. This is pure natural fertilizer. The air provides oxygen and the sun on the south-facing slopes provides heat. On its long way through meadows and along rock faces, the glacier water warms up by several degrees. This later reduces the cold shock when watering flowers and grasses. Traditional irrigation, with its gentle methods, has produced the biodiversity that, together with the late cutting of the hay meadows, made up the inestimable value of the Valais cultural landscape and, in some cases, still does today.
Before mechanization, the water from the glacier streams, which was conducted over the suonen, made everyday life easier for people: Its power drove sawmills and mills and thus made it possible to build houses; Hydropower ground the flour used to bake rye bread. But the modern irrigation systems with their water cannons also have a beneficial effect in the end: The management is still facilitated and that is why the bisses keep their function.
Suonen also protect the landscape: they repeatedly release water into their surroundings and thus defend against erosion on entire valley flanks through vegetation. In the event of forest fires, their water can still be used for extinguishing purposes. The canton has therefore made the maintenance of important old water pipes a condition since the 1980s if modern irrigation systems are to be approved. Only natural materials may be used for maintenance.
Text / source: By Luzius Theler, revision of the management center
myswissalps.ch/story/480

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 1,250 m

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Location: Eggerberg, Brig, Valais, Switzerland

Suonen Trail in Valais

1. Suonen Trail in Valais – Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail loop from Eggerberg

2. Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail – Suonen Trail in Valais loop from Eggerberg

3. Niwärch–Gorperi Suonen Trail – Suonen Trail in Valais loop from Eggen

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