Lötschental Mountain Guiding Was Born 150 Years Ago
Brothers Johann and Anton Siegen from Ried and their nephew Josef Ebener were the original guides for Stephen, whose story about his conquest created a keen interest for Englishmen to take part in the new sport of mountaineering in Switzerland. This popularity for climbing caused other Lötschentalers and many Swiss to become guides.

Due to difficult access, there were limited family names in the Lötschental. A monument in the village of Blatten lists the forty-four Lötschental’s courageous mountain guides who have lived and died, but with only fifteen different last names. The Siegen family had three, four with Ritler, seven with Rubin, four with Bellwald, seven with Kalbermatten, eight with Henzen and three with Lehner. If the list included the names of the current living guides who guided in August, 2009, even more of these same family names would make the counts higher. Some have died climbing, but most lived to be an old age of between seventy and ninety-four, with Stefan Kalbermatten, one of the early guides, living to be one hundred. The last one died on the Bietschhorn in 2006 - a master climber, Christoph Lehner, not from a fall, but a heart attack. With his backpack still on, he sat down 100 yards from the summit and died. He had climbed this mountain over fifty times in his life. A beautiful ending for a dedicated guide! Another twist to this is that Christoph was taking a note and bottle of Schnapps to leave at the summit for his guide friends. His nephews, both guides, took the items up for him in August, 2008. Swiss TV filmed this event.

These valley guides offer their services for many other mountains in the area. Just in the Lötschental alone, there are these: the Breithorn at 12,418 ft, the Nesthorn at 12,540 ft, the Petersgrat Glacier at 10,509 ft, the Wilerhorn at 10.850 ft, the Balmhorn at 12,133 ft and the Hochenhorn at 10,804 ft. All can be climbed from the same hotel stay. Built in 1868 for the mountaineers, the Nest and Bietschhorn Hotel in Ried, continues to be the temporary home of climbers. Stephen did stay there in 1871 and 1873 and it was the center of the 150^th anniversary party in August, 2009. Leslie Stephen’s statue dressed the way he climbed the mountain in 1859, with starched white shirt with collar and cuffs, greets everyone daily as they enter the dining room. 

The Lötschental
One of Switzerland’s best-kept secrets is the Lötschental…a pristine valley in the south-central Valais. Its many peaks of the Bernese Oberland Alps line the south and north rims, with the Beitschhorn being the highest. At the Lötschental’s train stop, Goppenstein, the valley entrance begins through a road tunnel. The narrow, dead-end road follows the churning Lonza river through five tiny, picturesque villages, affording views of as many as nine glaciers, some deep blue. Largest of these is the enormous Langgletscher blocking the canyon’s east end. This glacier is connected to Europe’s largest, Grosser Aletschgletscher, which starts at the top of the Jungfrau and empties into the Rhone River east of the town of Brig. From the top of the Aletschgletscher into the Lötschental and down to bottom of the Long Glacier can be done as a ski/climb, which is gaining in popularity in Europe.

Even UNESCO has realized the beauty of this delicate valley. The Jungfrau–Aletsch-Bietschhorn area is the most glaciated area in the Swiss Alps and was declared a Natural World Heritage Site by decision of UNESCO on December 13, 2001, including southern and eastern parts of the Lötschental.