I hiked all the 26 mountains or hills from the 26 Summit challenge. One summit in each canton of Switzerland was chosen by Blick & Ochsner Sport for this challenge. All the mountains are accessable through hiking paths without the need for climbing or mountaineering. The challenge was a great opportunity for me to visit all the areas of Switzerland. 

Canton Aargau: Densbürer Strihen (867 m.s.l.)

It offers a great view over the swiss alps including the famous Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

Canton Zug: Raten (1077 m.s.l.)

The hike goes along the largest hill moor of Switzerland and ends with a short steep uphill part to the top of the summit. 

Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden: Gäbris (1247 m.s.l.) 

Gäbris is located in the eastern part of Switzerland right above the village Gais. It is the most northern summit of the Swiss Prealps and offers a great view of them.

Canton Basel Land: Chellenchöpfli (1156 m.s.l.) 

It is the second highest summit in the canton and offers a great view of Jura and the alps on a beautiful day. Due to the haze I wasn't really able to enjoy this view. On the way back you have different options to go down from Wasserfallen. You either can walk down, take the cable car down or rent a scooter.

Canton Uri: Chinzig Chulm (2073 m.s.l.)

It is located between Altdorf and Muotathal. In early summer you find a lot of mountain flowers on the way up . From the top you have a great view over the Urner alps including Uri Rotstock and the Glarner alps with Clariden on the other side. This pass was already used as the crossing in the old times and also the russian General Suworow passed this crossing with 20000 soldiers in the 18th century.

Canton Solothurn: Hasenmatt (1444 m.s.l.)

It is located on the Jura mountain chain and is next to the Weissenstein mountain which is just above the city of Solothurn. On good days you have a great view to the Berner alps with Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Unfortunately I was unlucky... I was sitting in the grey coulds on top of the mountain.

Canton Glarus: Gumen (1904 m.s.l.) 

This mountain is located above Braunwald and offers a great view to the Tödi and other mountains of the Glarner alps. Braunwald is a small  car free village where you can hike and climb in the summer and ski in the winter. I also found some Edelweiss flowers when I hiked a little further up from the Gumen summit. 

Canton Nidwalden: Brisen (2403 m.s.l.)

It is located inthe centerpart of Switzerland. The clouds made it difficult to take clean pictures of the landscape but also created very interesting views. You have a direct view to Bannalp lake and the mountains around Engelberg including Mount Titlis. In case you don't like to hike down too much or want to rest your legs and knees you can take the chair lift from Haldigrat down to Alpboden.  

Canton Obwalden: Mändli (2059 m.s.l.)

It is located to the side of Brünigpass. It offers a great view of the Berner alps and the mountains in the center of Switzerland. I heard someone say that the summit cross is listed in a book of the 100 most beautiful summit crosses in Europe but I couldn't confirm that so far. It symbols the four elements earth, water, fire and air.

Canton Wallis: Bettmerhorn (2647 m.s.l.)

It is located in the famous Aletsch region in the Canton of Wallis The hike goes along the famous aletsch glacier and offers constantly stunning views over the glacier. I stayed in the mountain cabin "Gletscherstube" which allowed me to capture the glacier under the lights of the full moon. 

Canton Thurgau: Nollen (735 m.s.l.) 

There is a barefoot path through the forest on the way up. It is an interesting expierence to have your senses reacting to what you can feel on your feet. On the day I went up there it was also mudy because of the rain the days before and this made it even more interesting.

Canton Schwyz: Grosser Mythen (1898 m.s.l.)

It's a famous hiking trip in the central part of Switzerland. You have a great view over Vierwaldstädtersee and the Urner alps from the top. Some people you meet while hiking will tell you that you will get the best "Nussgipfel" (nut crossant) on the top of the mountain. I guess everyone should judge that by themselves. Hiking up from the city of Schwyz was quite a hike but the view is definitely rewarding.

Canton Appenzell Innerrhoden: Schäfler (1925 m.s.l.)

This mountain is located in the alpstein region with a great view of Säntis and Altmann. I hiked up from Wasserauen, passing Seealpsee and Meglisalp. The mountain top is a very famous photospot in this region and often visited by a lot of photographers. Lucky me there were only 4 other photographers up there with me. There is a cabin on top of the mountain where you can stay for the night. That's what I did because I wanted to capture the milkyway during the night. On the next day I found about 15 ibexs pretty close to the hiking path on my way up to Säntis. This is not an uncommon sighting as an entire colony is living up here. But I was very happy that i got lucky to capture them so close.

Canton St. Gallen: Speer (1950 m.s.l.)

This mountain is also called the king of the prealps and is the highest nagelfluh mountain of Europe. It offers a great view over the lake of Zurich area as well as a variety of mountains of the prealps and the alps. 

Canton Zürich: Bachtel (1155 m.s.l.)

The hike goes through the forest up to the summit with its lookout tower. On clear days you have a great view over the region of Züricher Oberland as well as the alps. You see the mountains from Säntis in the east to Eiger and Pilatus into south western direction.

Canton Tessin: Monte Generoso (1704 m.s.l.)

Monte Generoso is located at the border to Italy and is a popular viewing point for people from  the Lugano area. It is also well known in other parts of Switzerland with the help of a cake with the same name which is sold in one of the grocery chains (Migros) in Switzerland. Mario Botta, an architect from this area, build the restaurant on top of the mountain which made the summit more attractive to visitors with interest in architecture. In case you don't want to walk up or down you can also take the train going all the way up to the summit.  

Canton Graubünden: Chamanna Segatini (2731 m.s.l.)

Chamanna means "cabin" in the fourth national language of Switzerland. It's located on a mountain above Pontresina. The hike starts after taking the funicular up to Muottas Muragl where you have a great view over the upper part of Engadin. From there you walk up to the Chamanna Segatini and then back down to Alp Languard. If you are lucky you will also be able to see some ibexs or marmots as there are many of them living in this area. In early spring time the ibexs even go down to the village of Pontresina in their search for food.

Canton Luzern: Hängst (2092 m.s.l.)

This mountain is located in the UNESCO Biosphere region of Entlebuch which contains a lot of karst mountains. It is part of a mountain range which is called Schrattenfluh. On top you find a great panorama from Brinzer Rothorn to Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau to Bern and the Jura mountain chain. There is a golden eagle living on the west side of the mountain. You will be able to see the eagle if you're as lucky as I was.

Canton Jura: La Grande Roche (847 m.s.l.)

Hiking int he Jura area means going up and over a lot of hills. But the hikes are often not very steep. You also find a lot of green meadows. This hike starts at the border to France and goes up through the forest to La Grande Roche. After that you will go on top of the hills to to the telecommunication tower at Les Ordons and then down to the city of Delémont.

Canton Neuenburg: Mont Racine (1439 m.s.l.)

This summit is another summit on the Jura mountain range. After a short but rather steep uphill hike you reach the top which offers an amazing view over the Neuenburger and Murten Lake. You also have a great view to many summits of the alps. 

Canton Genf: Dardagny (434 m.s.l.)

Hiking to the most western summit in this challenge means you are hiking through grapvine fields along the border between Switzerland and France. The summit is located at a tiny house in the middle of the grapevines where you also can taste the local wine.

Canton Fribourg: Kaiseregg (2185 m.s.l.)

This summit is a classic hike in the freiburger alps. The hike started at the Schwarzsee (black lake) and goes up for more than 1000 meters of height. During the summer you might be able to see the griffon vulture. They are coming over in the summer from France for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I wasn't ready with my zoom lens to capture the griffon vulture when it showed up the first time flying by just about 15 meters over our heads. After the long hike down you cool down by swimming in the Schwarzsee.

Canton Waadt: L'argentine (2026 m.s.l.)

After a night (with a nice sunset) in Villar sur Ollon I took the public bus to Solalex. This roundtrip hike goes around the mountain called L'argentine which means silver in French. The mountain got its name because of the silver shimmering rock walls. It is often known by climbers for his northwest face. The hike offers meadowlands, fissured mountains, magnificent views and Alpine pastures with refreshments in the very cold river at the end of the hike. If you are lucky you are also able to see various wildlife. I saw a few marmots, grasshoppers and a snake on the day I was there.

Canton Basel Stadt: St. Chrischona (522 m.s.l.)

This is the local mountain of Basel and is located at the border to Germany. This hike goes through the oldest nature reserve in Switzerland which is located in the flat along the river Rhein. After that you will hike up through the forest to the top of the hill. You will find a couple of houses including the church St. Chrischona as well a tv tower at the top the hill.

Canton Bern: Faulhorn (2681 m.s.l.)

Even though tthis mountain has the german word "lazy" in its name it's definitely not for lazy people. I took the train up to the Schynige Platte which is located above Interlaken. When you hike to the Faulhorn summit from the Schynige Platte you have a constant view of Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau. I stayed on top of the Faulhorn in the mountain hotel which was originally built in 1840. During the hike up to the summit more and more clouds covered the sky and wraped the summit completely into the coulds. The clouds opened up just about 15 minutes before sunset and created an amazing situation on top of this mountain. After an colorful sunset i stayed out to capture the milkyway above Breithorn. This summer Grindelwald celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the first hike over the Mittelegi ridge to the top of the Eiger mountain. Therefore they had six lights placed on historic places along this route to the top of the mountain. You can also see these lights in my milkyway picture. After a short night I also watched the sunrise up here. Unfortunately the sunrise wasn't as spectacular as the sunset. The breakfast helped me to get ready for the downhill hike to Bachalp lake.

Canton Schaffhausen: Hagen (908 m.s.l.)

The last hike of this challenge brought me to the most northern summit of this challenge which is more a hill than a mountain. After a short but steep uphill hike to start the hike it went through the forest and along meadowlands to the top of the hill and the lookout tower. On clear days you have a great view up here towards the black forest in Germany into the north and towards Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in the south. I wasn't so lucky with the view on my hike but I celebrated the sucessful end of the challenge with a chocolate cake.