Wild camping at the Ällgäulücke: the exception here is written for back gardens, not ridges

One communal reglement, and it is the whole answer

Wild camping at the Ällgäulücke is decided by a document most people would never think to open: a small commune's camping reglement from 2005, still in force, sitting on the Oberried am Brienzersee website.

"Das Campieren ausserhalb von bewilligten Campingplätzen ist grundsätzlich nicht gestattet. Davon ausgenommen ist das vereinzelte Aufstellen eines Zeltes innerhalb der Bauzone auf überbauten, privaten Grundstücken für die Zeit von maximal 3 (drei) Wochen pro Jahr für Familienangehörige und Bekannte."Campingreglement der Gemischten Gemeinde Oberried am Brienzersee, Art. 3 para. 1, approved by the Gemeindeversammlung on 25 November 2005: camping outside licensed campsites is in principle not permitted, excepted is the occasional pitching of a tent inside the building zone on built-on private plots, up to three weeks a year, for family members and acquaintances.

Read that exception twice, because it is the whole point of this article. Four conditions have to hold together: inside the building zone, on a built-on private plot, attached to an inhabited building, with usable sanitary facilities. The reglement then adds that it is for family and acquaintances, for a maximum of three weeks a year.

A pass at 1'919 metres on the Brienzergrat fails the first condition and every one after it. Federal zoning data returns no building zone at the pass, and there is no house within a very long walk. So unlike Lauterbrunnen one valley to the south, where the reglement exempts occasional camping "auf privatem Gelände" and a farmer's consent genuinely puts you inside the text, here there is no version of the exception that a hiker on a ridge can satisfy. Same canton, similar-looking sentence, completely different reach.¹

The sanction is real and specific. Art. 29 para. 2: breaches of the reglement are punished by the Gemeinderat with a fine up to CHF 5'000, subject to federal and cantonal criminal provisions. Art. 29 para. 1 lets the Gemeinderat order the lawful state restored at any time, and para. 3 reserves doing it at the responsible person's cost.¹

The one route that does exist, and the bivouac wording

There is a legal route, it is just not the one people hope for.

Art. 3 para. 2 lets the Gemeinderat permit the occasional pitching of tents and caravans outside campsites, on application and with the relevant landowner's consent, provided public order and the character of the village are not disturbed. The reglement names youth organisations as the example, and the Gemeinderat sets duration and conditions. So the address is the commune, not a farmer: Gemischte Gemeinde Oberried am Brienzersee, 033 849 13 33, info@oberried.ch. Realistically that provision is built for a scout camp rather than one hiker on a ridge, but it is the only door and asking costs a phone call.¹

Now the bivouac. Art. 2 para. 1 defines Campieren as the temporary staying and overnighting of persons "in Zelten, Wohnwagen, Motorhomes (Campingbussen), Mobilheimen (Wohnheimen) oder ähnlichen Unterkünften", cross-referencing Art. 29 lit. c of the cantonal building ordinance. Every item on that list is a shelter or a vehicle. The word Biwakieren does not appear anywhere in the document.

That is the same gap we keep finding in Bernese communal law, and it cuts the same way: a sleeping bag with nothing pitched is not obviously any of the listed things. It is also the same gap I would not build a plan on. Brienz, the next commune along this very ridge, shows why: its police reglement defines camping to include Biwakieren in so many words, so the drafting choice is available and some communes make it. Oberried simply did not, in 2005, and nobody has tested what that means.⁴

What the maps say, and one honest caveat about the tree line

The pass: LV95 2'640'613 / 1'179'567, 1'919 m, between the Schnierenhireli to the west and the Ällgäuwhoren just east, on the ridge above Oberried and Ebligen. The route links Kemmeriboden in the Emmental with the Lake Brienz shore, about two and a quarter hours down either side.

Every federal protection layer queried at the pass came back empty: no hunting-ban district, no wildlife rest zone, no BLN landscape, no mire, raised bog, floodplain or amphibian object, no park of national importance, no building zone. Verified with a positive control that does return a reserve elsewhere, and an invalid-layer control that errors rather than returning an empty set.²

The cantonal layer is empty too. Bern has no camping or bivouac ordinance of its own. Its one norm that writes the word Biwakieren is the wildlife protection ordinance, whose annex 2 category F bans "freies/wildes Campieren und Biwakieren" in 28 named areas, and none of them is on the Brienzergrat.³

The caveat, stated rather than hidden. At 1'919 m this pass sits right about at the local tree line rather than comfortably above it, and the Brienzergrat here is steep grass with forest running up the flanks below. Our own general rule is that below the tree line a bivouac is a nogo on principle, quite apart from any statute, because you are on farmed, wooded or grazed ground where you are simply in the way. That is not what decides this spot, since the communal ban already does, but it is worth saying: even without the reglement this would not be somewhere we would send you.

One boundary note: the geodata returns both Ebligen and Oberried am Brienzersee at the pass, since the pin sits on that internal line. Both are Oberried commune ground today and the same reglement applies either side.²

Where you can legally sleep

• Kemmeriboden-Bad on the Emmental side, at the north foot of the descent, the classic base for this crossing¹.
• Licensed campsites on the Lake Brienz shore, in Oberried and in Brienz, which is what "ausserhalb von bewilligten Campingplätzen" is measuring you against.
• A Gemeinderat permit under Art. 3 para. 2, if your plan actually fits it: Gemischte Gemeinde Oberried am Brienzersee, 033 849 13 33, info@oberried.ch.
• Not the pass, and not east along the crest either. Oberried bans it here and Brienz bans it there, bivouac included in the Brienz definition.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which on this ridge means nowhere. Carry it to the places where you are: it is not legal text, but decency and common sense, and it is the reason the few remaining tolerances still exist.

• No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
• Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
• Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
• At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
• Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of July 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

Communal reglemente change, and this one dates from 2005. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp, and nothing here is aimed at someone caught out by weather on a ridge. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

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Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

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