In what was dubbed by some a mini meetup me and Philipp ventured into the Sardona Tectonic Area. It was a mostly sunny July day when we set out from Flims to cross the mountain range at the Pass dil Segnas and descent on the other side to Elm.

It all started with a bit of a misunderstanding. Philipp had send me a trail map of the 6th day of the world heritage trail. I took it to mean he wanted to do the full trail when his original intention was to do only a part of it. He didn't see the need to correct me on my misunderstanding. Or put in any effort to clarify what the Swiss mean when they categorize a trail as hard. So we did the full trail.

We met in Chur in the morning and took the bus to Flims. In Flims you can start the trail or catch a lift up into the mountains. There are multiple stops on different alitutde levels. We decided to go up to the first stop, Focca, from where we started our 8h, 19km, 1500m altitude difference (up and down) hike.

On the Flims side it's a fairly steady climb on good trails in a beautiful landscape. For parts of it we followed a mountain river. When we reached the upper plateau at Camona de Segnas it started to rain. Philipp hadn't bothered to bring a rain coat. And I noticed that I had forgotten mine in the hotel room in Chur.

The Camona di Segnas offers nice views of the different layers of mountain, the OUV feature of this area. You can clearly see the border between the different rock formations. For those not too enthusiastic about hiking, there is also the option to go by lift to the uppermost station. I am not sure though that you can see the Martin's Loch (hole) from here. I think you need to hike a bit up in the direction of the pass.

The last climb up from Camona di Segnas to the Pass dil Segnas got rougher, albeit it stopped raining. We crossed plenty of rock and snow fields with the last stretch to the pass especially challenging. But we made it and stood on the mountain pass.

From here we made our descent to Elm. The Elm side is steeper and there are essentially no even stretches to give you some relief. It's more or less a constant, strenuous descent.

In the end I must admit that I pushed past my limit. While I am happy that I made it down in one piece and we got some amazing views, my legs complained for the better part of the following week.

Philipp meanwhile was just smiling along. It seems being a great mountain guide is something the Swiss get with their passport.

Getting There

Both Elm and Flims are served by busses that connect you to the Swiss Rail network and the rest of Switzerland. From Elm you can take a lift for a minor part of the way up. From Flims you can take multiple lifts to reach the upper plateau at Camona da Segnas.

How to Visit

The area offers multiple hiking options that you can tailor to your needs. If you want to go all in, there is the aforementioned 6 day hiking trail, the heritage path. For daytrippers, Flims and Elm seem the best spots.

The Flims side to me is the easier ascent/descent option as it's not quite as steep and provides three different locations where you can opt for a lift ride up/down. The Elm side meanwhile only has a single lift that operates less frequently (on demand) and does not take you all that high up. However, from the end point you can see the famed Martin's Loch.

If you plan to follow our example and hike across the mountain range, I would probably opt for Flims to Elm as the Elm side is steeper. I am not sure I would have made it up on the Elm side. However, my knees were hurting a lot coming down, so maybe ascending on the Elm side would have been the smarter choice. Looking back we should have returned the same way we came, back to Flims.

In any case bring good shoe, sufficient water and be in reasonable shape. Looking at the weather forecast also is a must.