As of: 16 September 2026

Wild camping on the Lötschenpass

The Lötschenpass is the old crossing at 2'684 m between the Lötschental and the Gasteretal, 2 h 30 above the Lauchernalp lift, with a private hut of 86 beds beside it. No fine reaches the pass point. But the Valais/Bern line runs nine metres from it, and the two communes wrote two rules: Ferden makes a tent depend on a yes, Kandersteg fines a tent and allows a night without one. It depends on which side you lie.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in September 2026 · Published 16 September 2026
What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

What the Lötschenpass is: a saddle with a canton line through it and a hut on the knoll

Wild camping on the Lötschenpass is a question people ask at the cross and the guidepost, with the Lötschenpasshütte above them and the Bernese Alps across the Gasteretal. The pin, LV95 2'621'327 / 1'140'467, is the federal gazetteer's pass point, 2'684 m on the height service, in a shallow dip on a band of polished slab and gravel; the 2'690 m the map prints is the hut knoll 130 m north-east. The saddle is level: 226 of 529 cells in a 300 m box are under 10 degrees, all between 2'630 and 2'724 m, 680 m above the treeline. West of the pass a grey moraine plateau runs out where the Lötschegletscher used to be, east of it alpine turf slopes gently to a tarn at 2'656 m, south is scree. The marked path passes 36 m from the pin; the hut's outdoor toilets are 117 m away, its open-air bed 142 m.4

The line is the whole story. The boundary between the canton of Valais and the canton of Bern, which is also the line between the communes of Ferden and Kandersteg, was bisected from the federal commune layer to a third of a metre: its nearest point is 9.3 m from the pin, bearing 294 to 300, with a corner about 12 m west-south-west of the sign, from which it runs north-north-east past the hut and west-south-west towards the Ferdengletscher. Kandersteg is the wedge from west-south-west clockwise through north to north-north-east; Ferden wraps round it on the east, south and south-west. The hut stands 12.5 m inside Valais. Of the flat cells, 144 are Ferden and 81 are Kandersteg, and every Kandersteg cell also lies inside the BLN landscape 1507, which binds authorities and carries no fine for a camper.45

Would anyone sleep here? Yes, and people do. It is a walking pass with no road, no lift and no car park, and the two pitches named below keep 200 to 300 m from the hut, off its doorstep and out of its working radius. That is the Hohtürli configuration, a pass with a staffed hut 150 m away, and it is why this article reads the law rather than stopping at the terrain.48

Valais side: Ferden's Art. 10, public ground, and a parcel nobody has surveyed

Valais has no cantonal camping norm; the rule on this side of the line is communal. Ferden's police regulation of 2022, adopted by the assembly on 16 December 2022 and homologated by the Conseil d'État on 21 June 2023 with this article untouched, is an eleven-page scan with almost no text layer, read by OCR and checked by eye. Its Art. 10 is short:1

"Das Campieren und parkieren von Campern auf öffentlichem Grund ist nur auf den von der Gemeinde bezeichneten Zonen erlaubt. Ausnahmen müssen von der Gemeinde bewilligt werden."Polizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Ferden 2022, Art. 10 "Camping / Caravaning": camping and parking campers on public ground is allowed only in zones designated by the commune; exceptions must be permitted by the commune.

Ferden has designated no such zone: its published regulations are the police, forest-road, waste, sewage, water, cemetery and building acts, and none names a camping area. The sanction is the regulation's general one, Art. 2, a fine between CHF 10 and 5'000, decided by the communal police court, and negligence is enough. The act has no word for a bivouac, so a tent and a bivvy bag are treated alike; what limits the article is "auf öffentlichem Grund", public ground.1

And that is the question this article cannot close. The Valais official survey reads the saddle as not yet surveyed, the cantonal cadastre returns no parcel at the pin or at twenty points down the Kummenalp side to 3 km, with control queries at Ferden village and Sion returning parcels as they should, and no public source names the owner of the upper Kummen alp, whether a Geteilschaft, the Burgergemeinde or the commune. If the saddle is public ground, Art. 10 applies and the commune is the permit authority. If it is private alp ground, Art. 10 is silent and only the owner can say no. Either way the honest instruction is the same: ask. The hut is the one party on the saddle who can say yes on the spot for its own side, and the Gemeindekanzlei Ferden is the address for anything formal. No fee, no form and no standing arrangement is published by either.68

Bern side: Kandersteg's Art. 7, CHF 200 for a tent, and a bivouac written out of the ban

Nine metres north-west the rule changes commune and canton. Bern has no cantonal camping norm either, and its own wildlife and nature reserves, checked as polygons, are 7.9 km and 3.7 km away. Kandersteg's police regulation, in force since 1 January 2021 after a ballot of 294 to 53, does the work. Art. 7 para. 1: camping outside the areas specially designated and authorised for it is not permitted. Para. 2: the commune may grant exceptions on request, and may demand security for clean-up and visitor tax. Art. 26 lists "Art. 7 Campingverbot" first among the offences fined up to CHF 5'000, and the commune's police ordinance turns that into a fixed number: CHF 200 for a breach of Art. 7. Unlike Ferden's article, Art. 7 has no "public ground" limiter; it reaches unparcelled and private ground alike.27

"Nicht darunter fällt das Übernachten im Freien ohne Zelt, im Iglu oder in einer Schneehöhle (Biwakieren)."Gemeindepolizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Kandersteg, in force 1 January 2021, Art. 6 lit. c, definition of camping: sleeping outdoors without a tent, in an igloo or in a snow cave (bivouacking) does not fall under it.

So on the Bern half of the saddle a night in a bivvy bag is expressly outside the ban, and a tent costs CHF 200 unless the commune has said yes in writing. One thing to know before you read the commune's own camping page: it still cites "Art. 6 des Campingreglements" of 1973 beside Art. 7, and that article was struck on 1 January 2021 by the new regulation itself. The operative norm is Art. 7 alone. The ground on this side is unparcelled: the Bernese cadastre returns no parcel at more than twenty points from 40 m north-west of the pin down the Gasteretal side, the first appearing between 1.0 and 1.5 km north at the Gfelalp. Rock, scree and firn of that kind is nobody's under the Civil Code, so there is no landowner to ask, only the commune under Art. 7 para. 2: Gemeindeverwaltung Kandersteg, 033 675 82 22, a written request, no form and no fee published.236

The reserve to the west, and what the other layers say

At the pin the federal identify sweep returns nothing: no game reserve, no wildlife rest zone, no mire, floodplain or amphibian object, no forest reserve, no park, no UNESCO site, no military perimeter, with the invalid-layer control returning HTTP 400 and the positive control hitting the Kiental reserve on every run. The BLN landscape 1507, "Berner Hochalpen und Aletsch-Bietschhorn-Gebiet", begins 11 m north-west and covers the whole Bern side; it binds authorities, names the Lötschenpass as a historic route of national importance, and carries no camping clause and no fine.45

The object that does carry a fine is west of the pass. The federal game reserve Leukerbad, object 39, 4'163 hectares under integral protection, has its nearest edge 849 m due west of the pin, 866 to 1'124 m on the bearings from south-west to west, and it lies wholly on Valais ground in Ferden and Leukerbad: the Gitzifurggu is already inside it. Inside, free tenting and camping are banned by federal ordinance, CHF 150 on the spot, and no landowner's yes helps. From the Ferden pitch named below the edge is 932 m, from the Kandersteg pitch 617 m. No wildlife rest zone lies within 1.5 km on either side; the nearest, Leukerbad, 1'723 m west-south-west, is an air-sports rule, not a camping one.459

  • Ferden side, with a yes: the slab-and-gravel bench at LV95 2'621'452 / 1'140'392, 2'671 m, 2 degrees, 146 m east-south-east of the pass point, 206 m from the hut, 38 m off the path, 155 m inside Valais, 932 m from the game reserve. Lawful with the commune's permit if the ground is public, with the owner's yes if it is alp ground; ask the hut first, +41 27 939 19 81, and the Gemeindekanzlei Ferden, 027 939 12 58, for anything formal. Water: the tarn 127 m south-east, the hut's tap.148
  • Kandersteg side, without a tent: the moraine plateau at LV95 2'621'102 / 1'140'517, 2'655 m, 2 degrees, 230 m west-north-west of the pass point, 300 m from the hut, 130 m off the path, 132 m inside Bern, 617 m from the game reserve. A night in a bivvy bag is outside Kandersteg's ban by definition; a tent needs the commune's written permit, otherwise CHF 200. Open to the north wind out of the Gasteretal, no water within 500 m.24
  • Not west of the Gitzifurggu. Federal game reserve Leukerbad from 849 m west of the pass, CHF 150 for a tent or a bivouac, no exception a landowner can grant.5
  • The hut, and its bed under the stars. Lötschenpasshütte, private, 86 places, open through to early November 2026, half board, dormitory from CHF 83, suite from 220, and the Sternenbett, a real double bed set out in front of the hut with two dormitory beds held back for bad weather, from CHF 270: the formal way to sleep outside on this pass. No winter room. The hut publishes no rule on tents beside it; ask when you book.8
  • Down the valleys: Gasthaus Kummenalp on the Ferden route; in the Gasteretal the Berghotel Steinbock and the Berghotel Gasterntal at Selden and the Berggasthaus Heimritz at the valley end, open to 4 October. Tent campsites: Camping Lötschental in Kippel, run by the Burgergemeinde and listed open again for 2026, and Camping Rendez-vous in Kandersteg.11
  • Getting there and away. From the Lauchernalp lift 2 h 30, from Ferden 4 h, from Selden in the Gasteretal 3 h 30 to 4 h over the debris-covered Lötschegletscher, poles marked. The Lauchernalp cable car runs to 8 November, 08:25 to 18:25; the Gasterntal bus from Kandersteg to Selden runs to 4 October, weekends only after 10 August, last bus down 17:10, reservation compulsory on 033 671 11 72. Fire: Valais lifted its general open-fire ban on 16 September 2026 with the Oberwallis still at high danger, Bern lifted its bans on 28 August; up here the question is the stove, not a fire.1012

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which on the Lötschenpass means the Ferden bench with a yes and the Bern plateau in a bivvy bag, never the hut's doorstep. It is not legal text, but decency and common sense, and on a historic crossing with 86 guests asleep 200 m away it is also what keeps the yes coming.

  • 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 September 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 regulations, hut seasons and timetables change. Ferden's police regulation is a scanned document read by OCR and checked by eye; whether the Valais half of the saddle is public ground or private alp ground could not be established, because the ground is outside the definitive survey and no owner is on record. Kandersteg's own camping page still cites a struck article. The cantonal line, the reserve edge and the pitch coordinates are computed from federal geodata, not measured on the ground. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself, check the glacier crossing from Selden and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. 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.

Frequently asked questions

Is wild camping allowed on the Lötschenpass?
It depends on which side of a line nine metres from the sign you are on. The pass point and the hut are in Ferden, Valais, where the police regulation allows camping on public ground only in communally designated zones, of which there are none, with exceptions by communal permit; whether the saddle is public or alp ground is not on record, so ask the hut and the commune. From 9 m north-west the saddle is Kandersteg, Bern, where a tent outside authorised areas is fined CHF 200 unless the commune permits it, and a night without a tent is expressly outside the ban.
What is the fine?
CHF 200 for a tent on the Bern side; a frame of CHF 10 to 5'000 on the Valais side; CHF 150 in the game reserve. Kandersteg's police ordinance lists CHF 200 for a breach of the camping ban. Ferden's regulation has no camping tariff, only its general fine frame decided by the communal police court. The federal game reserve Leukerbad, where a tent or a bivouac is a CHF 150 fixed penalty, begins 849 m west of the pass.
Can I bivouac without a tent?
On the Bern side, yes, by the regulation's own definition. Kandersteg's Art. 6 lit. c says sleeping outdoors without a tent, in an igloo or in a snow cave is not camping, so Art. 7 does not reach it. On the Valais side Ferden's Art. 10 uses only the word Campieren and has no bivouac carve-out, so a bivvy bag on public ground is under the same rule as a tent: ask.
Can I pitch next to the hut?
Only with the hut's yes, and the hut publishes no rule on it. The Lötschenpasshütte is private, stands 12.5 m inside Valais and 130 m from the pass point, and its outdoor toilets and its own open-air bed are 117 and 142 m away. Its website says nothing about tents; call +41 27 939 19 81 when you book. The formal way to sleep outside here is the hut's Sternenbett, a real bed in front of the hut, CHF 270 with half board.
Where exactly is the canton line?
9.3 m west-north-west of the pass point. It has a corner about 12 m west-south-west of the sign and runs from there north-north-east past the hut and west-south-west towards the Ferdengletscher; Kandersteg is the wedge from west-south-west through north, Ferden everything east, south and south-west. The hut is 12.5 m inside Valais. No phone GPS resolves that; the two pitches named in the article sit 155 m and 132 m inside their cantons.
Leon Helg

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.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Polizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Ferden 2022, adopted by the Gemeinderat on 20 October 2022 and the Urversammlung on 16 December 2022, homologated by the Conseil d'État of Valais on 21 June 2023 (decision 2023.02570, which amended Art. 2, 4, 5, 6 and 14 and left Art. 10 untouched); eleven-page scan with an eleven-character text layer, read by OCR with control words (Polizei 18, Busse 4, campier 1, camping 1, caravan 1; Zelt, Biwak, Übernacht 0) and checked by eye: Art. 1 para. 3 ("Die im Polizeireglement unter Strafe gestellten Übertretungen sind strafbar, auch wenn sie fahrlässig begangen werden."), Art. 2 ("Die Strafe ist eine Busse zwischen Fr. 10.-- und Fr. 5'000.--."), Art. 4 (communal Polizeigericht, objection within 30 days, appeal to the Kantonsgericht), Art. 10 "Camping / Caravaning" (quoted in the text). Reglement list read 16 September 2026: Polizeireglement 2022, Forststrassenreglement 2022, Abfall-, Abwasser-, Trinkwasser-, Friedhof-, Bau- und Zonenreglement; no camping zone designated, no Campingreglement. Gemeindekanzlei Ferden, Leischa 1b, 3916 Ferden, 027 939 12 58, ferden@loetschen.ch, counter Monday and Wednesday 08:00 to 10:30, Friday 08:00 to 10:30 and 13:30 to 16:00. ferden.ch. ↩
  2. Gemeindepolizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Kandersteg, approved at the Urnenabstimmung of 13 December 2020 by 294 to 53, in force since 1 January 2021 (Art. 29), text extracted from the two PDFs the commune publishes: Art. 6 lit. c (definition of camping: "jede Form des Übernachtens oder vorübergehenden Verweilens in Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen, Autos oder ähnlichen Unterkünften. Das blosse Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen, usw., zum Campieren fällt ebenfalls unter den Begriff des Campierens. Nicht darunter fällt das Übernachten im Freien ohne Zelt, im Iglu oder in einer Schneehöhle (Biwakieren)."), Art. 7 para. 1 ("Das Campieren ausserhalb der speziell dafür vorgesehenen und bewilligten Flächen ist nicht gestattet."), para. 2 ("Die Gemeinde kann Ausnahmen auf Gesuch hin bewilligen. Die Bewilligung kann unter dem Vorbehalt erteilt werden, dass für allfällige Ersatzvornahmen (z.B. WC-Anlagen, Reinigung, Einziehen der Kurtaxen) Sicherheit geleistet wird."), para. 3 (restoration order), Art. 26 para. 1 (fine up to CHF 5'000) and para. 2 ("Art. 7 Campingverbot" listed first), para. 4 (warning in light cases), Art. 28 lit. a ("Artikel 6 Campieren abseits von bewilligten Plätzen: gestrichen"). Gemeindepolizeiverordnung Kandersteg, adopted by the Gemeinderat on 16 December 2020, in force 1 January 2021, Art. 8 para. 3 "Bussenliste für Verstösse gegen Art. im GPR": "a. Art. 7 Campingverbot 200.00". gemeindekandersteg.ch (GPR, PDF), gemeindekandersteg.ch (GPV, PDF). ↩
  3. Gemeinde Kandersteg, page "Camping, Rechtliche Grundlagen" and leaflet "Camping_Informationen.pdf", read 16 September 2026: "Gemäss Art. 7 des Gemeindepolizeireglements und Art. 6 des Campingreglements [...] ist das Übernachten mit Fahrzeugen oder Zelten ausserhalb der offiziellen Camping- und Stellplätze auf dem gesamten Gemeindegebiet von Kandersteg verboten. Dies gilt auch für das Campieren mit Zelten oberhalb der Waldgrenze, da diese Flächen ebenfalls zum Gemeindegebiet gehören." Camping-Reglement der Einwohnergemeinde Kandersteg of 8 June 1973 (typewriter scan, read by OCR), Art. 6: "Das vereinzelte gelegentliche Campieren abseits von bewilligten Campingplätzen ist verboten, es sei denn, die Zustimmung des Grundeigentümers sowie der zuständigen Gemeindebehörde werde eingeholt.", struck since 1 January 2021 by GPR Art. 28 lit. a; the operative norm is GPR Art. 7 alone. Permit route: Gemeindeverwaltung Kandersteg, Aeussere Dorfstrasse 26, 3718 Kandersteg, 033 675 82 22, info@gemeindekandersteg.ch, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 08:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 17:00; no form and no fee published; no 2025 or 2026 amendment of the regulation found. gemeindekandersteg.ch/freizeit/camping, Campingreglement 1973 (PDF). ↩
  4. Official federal geodata, queried 16 September 2026 with tolerance 0 at the pin LV95 2'621'327 / 1'140'467 (gazetteer "Pass Lötschepass (VS) - Ferden", height service 2'684.0 m; hut 2'690.1 m at 2'621'392 / 1'140'589): commune layer (current year) Ferden VS at the pin, Kandersteg BE from 9.3 m at bearing 294 to 300 (13-step bisection, resolution about 0.3 m; ring 258 deg 11.9 m, 270 deg 10.4 m, 282 deg 9.6 m, 318 deg 9.9 m, 336 deg 11.9 m, 354 deg 17.0 m, 0 deg 20.5 m, 12 deg 36.0 m, 24 deg 216 m, none within 400 m from 30 through 252 deg); the hut 12.5 m inside Valais. Game reserves, wildlife rest zones (portal layer, 1.5 km envelope empty; Leukerbad Nr. 1004.0 at 1'723 m west-south-west, rechtsverbindlich, an air-sports rule; Kandersteg Lerchiwang Nr. 69.00 at 2'832 m), UNESCO, dry meadows, mires, floodplains, amphibian sites, forest reserves, parks, military plan: no object at the pin; invalid-layer control HTTP 400 on every point, envelope and bisection run, positive control at 2'626'000 / 1'154'500 returns game reserve Kiental. BLN 1507 edge 11.0 m at bearing 297, paralleling the line 1.7 to 2 m into Bern. Game reserve Leukerbad edge 849 m at bearing 270, 866 m at 264, 880 m at 230, 904 m at 280, 1'124 m at 220, nothing within 2'500 m on any other bearing, every point inside the edge on Valais ground. Historic routes of national importance (IVS) BE 19.1.3 "Bi de Hüsere - Lötschepass" and VS 31.2.2 "Kummenalp - Lötschepass" end at the hut. Terrain: 25 m grid, 300 m radius, 529 cells, 226 under 10 degrees, 144 flat cells Ferden and 81 Kandersteg; the DEM's flattest cell 302 m east-south-east is the surface of a 4'055 m² tarn (OSM, masked); cells 2'621'052 / 1'140'392 and 2'621'077 / 1'140'367 are glacier-forefield debris 25 m from the line. Pitches: 2'621'452 / 1'140'392 (2.1 degrees, 2'671 m, 146 m at bearing 121, 206 m from the hut, 38 m off the path, 127 m from the tarn, 155 m inside Valais, outside BLN, 932 m from the reserve) and 2'621'102 / 1'140'517 (2.1 degrees, 2'655 m, 230 m at bearing 283, 300 m from the hut, 130 m off the path, 132 m inside Bern, inside BLN, 617 m from the reserve, no water within 499 m). api3.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  5. Eidgenössisches Jagdbanngebiet Leukerbad, object 39, 4'163 ha, object sheet 2023: "Das gesamte Banngebiet ist integral geschützt", covering "die nach Süden und Südosten exponierten Abhänge und Felsabstürze vom Balmhorn über die Gemmi, Schwarzhorn bis zum Tschajettuhorn, die Lämmerenalp sowie die nach Nordwesten gerichteten Abhänge vom Torrenthorn bis zum Ferdenrothorn". Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ), SR 922.31, Art. 5 para. 1 lit. e ("Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen."); Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV), SR 314.11, annex 2, no. 12005, CHF 150. BLN object 1507 "Berner Hochalpen und Aletsch-Bietschhorn-Gebiet (nördlicher Teil)", sub-area 1 "Nordtäler (BE)", object sheet 2017: binds authorities under NHG Art. 6, no camping clause (Zelt, Campier, Biwak, Übernacht zero hits), goals 3.10 ("Die Ungestörtheit der Lebensräume für wild lebende Säugetiere und Vögel erhalten") and 3.11 ("Die historischen Verkehrswege in ihrer Substanz und ihrer Einbettung in die Landschaft erhalten"), the Lötschepass named as one of the two great historic crossings. object sheet 39 (PDF), fedlex.admin.ch (VEJ), object sheet 1507 (PDF). ↩
  6. Ownership. Valais: geoadmin survey status layer at the pin "not_yet_surveyed"; land register "eidg. Grundbuch teilweise eingeführt", Grundbuchkreis Leuk (Leukerstrasse 18, 3953 Leuk-Stadt, 027 607 80 65); the cantonal cadastre GetEGRID service returns HTTP 204 (no parcel) at the pin, at the Faldumalp pin and at 20 of 21 probe points on bearings 120, 150 and 180 out to 3 km (one 502, not retried), with positive controls at Ferden village (parcel 3248, EGRID CH757377716603) and Sion (parcel 11755) returning 200. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, "Ferden" (2005): the commune "umfasst neben dem Dorf Ferden die Alpen Faldum, Resti und Kummen"; the owner of the upper Kummen alp is not published anywhere found. Bern: the cantonal ÖREB GetEGRID service returns HTTP 204 at more than twenty points from 40 m north-west of the pin down the Gasteretal side, the first parcel being Kandersteg 41 (EGRID CH594605843549, the Gfelalp) between 1'000 and 1'500 m north, parcel 20 near Selden at 4.7 km; control at a Mattenalpsee-class point returns parcels 138 and 101; survey status "provisorisch numerisiert", land register fully introduced, Grundbuchamt Region Oberland. Swiss Civil Code, SR 210, Art. 664 para. 2: no private property in land not capable of cultivation such as rocks, scree, firn and glaciers, subject to proof to the contrary. rdppf.apps.vs.ch, oereb2.apps.be.ch, hls-dhs-dss.ch. ↩
  7. Canton Bern instruments checked as polygons, 16 September 2026: Wildschutzgebiete (WTSchV, BSG 922.63) from the cantonal GeoPackage, 170 zone parts parsed, nearest Kandersteg object 23 zone 1a at 7'929 m, Grosser Lohner 9'261 m, Kiental 10'500 m, control point inside object 24; Naturschutzgebiete from the cantonal GeoPackage, 244 objects, nearest Kanderfirn no. 247 (2008) at 3'716 m, Gastereholz no. 209 (floodplain, 2012) at 4'118 m; there is no "Naturschutzgebiet Gasterntal". Canton Bern has no camping norm of general application (hunting act and nature-protection act, corpus fact). geofiles.be.ch (WILDSG), geofiles.be.ch (NSG). ↩
  8. Lötschenpasshütte, 2'690 m, operated by Lötschenpass AG, Stafelstrasse 3, 3918 Wiler (UID CHE-368.888.286), hut telephone +41 27 939 19 81, info@loetschenpass.ch; owner and host Beat Dietrich, warden listed on the SAC portal Andrea Strohmeier; private (two former military observation barracks bought in 1946, in operation since 1955, rebuilt 2007/08); 86 places, multi-bed rooms and suites, half board, drinking water, outdoor toilets. Hut news of 9 September 2026: "Alle Zustiege gut begehbar. [...] Bus ins Gasterntal (Achtung: reservationspflichtig) sowie Luftseilbahn Lauchernalp in Betrieb nach Fahrplan. Die Hütte ist bis anfangs November durchgehend geöffnet." Prices from the hut's booking page: "Mehrbettzimmer ab CHF 83, Suite ab CHF 220 oder Sternenbett im Million Stars Hotel ab CHF 270, alle Übernachtungen auf der Lötschenpasshütte inkl. Halbpension". SAC portal: no Schutzraum open in any month. Switzerland Tourism on the Sternenbett (colour): a double bed set out a few metres in front of the hut, two beds in the dormitory reserved for cold or bad weather. The hut's pages (home, hut, overnight, news, terms, imprint) contain no word on Zelt, Biwak or Camping. Colour, labelled as such: outdoorseiten.net thread of June 2024, one poster "gleich unter dem Pass gezeltet", another "Nächstes Mal biwakiere ich dort"; no fee, corner or permission mentioned. loetschenpass.ch, sac-cas.ch, stnet.ch. ↩
  9. Enforcement picture (colour, labelled as such): no Kapo VS, Kapo BE or regional press item on wild camping at the Lötschenpass 2024 to 2026 was found. Regionalpolizei Leuk-Leukerbad, page "Wildcampen" (covers Leukerbad, whose ground begins 934 m south-west of the pass, not Ferden): camping outside official sites is not permitted, basis "das Polizeireglement der jeweiligen Gemeinde", enforcement by report to the communal Polizeigericht, exception "Einzelnes Biwakieren oder Übernachten ist im Gebirge (auf öffentlichem Grund) oberhalb der Waldgrenze erlaubt"; irrelevant west of the pass, where the federal reserve begins. regionalpolizei-leuk-leukerbad.ch. ↩
  10. Access, read 16 September 2026. SAC Tourenportal routes to the Lötschenpasshütte: from Ferden (1'375 m) via Eistli and Kummenalp, T2, 4 h, 1'330 m of climb; from the Lauchernalp top station (1'969 m) via Stafel, Mälcherbeden, Sattlegi and Simmle, T2, 2 h 30, 790 m; from Selden (1'537 m) via the Kander suspension bridge, Gfelalp, Balme and the debris-covered Lötschegletscher, marked with poles, T3+, 3 h 30 to 4 h, 1'200 m. Lauchernalp Bergbahnen (+41 27 938 89 99): daily 30 May to 8 November 2026, from 17 August 08:25 to 18:25. Kander Reisen, Gasterntal bus Kandersteg to Selden 2026: 30 May to 4 October, daily 27 June to 9 August, then Saturdays and Sundays only; up from Kandersteg Bahnhof 07:50, 08:50, 09:50, 10:50, 12:50, 15:50, 16:50; down from Selden 08:10, 09:10, 10:10, 12:10, 14:10, 15:10, 16:10, last 17:10; all runs on reservation only, 033 671 11 72 (07:00 to 19:00), cash, limited seats, weather permitting. sac-cas.ch (Lauchernalp route), loetschental.ch, kander-reisen.ch (PDF). ↩
  11. Beds and campsites, read 16 September 2026: Gasthaus Kummenalp on the Ferden route, +41 79 750 47 72; Berghotel Steinbock, Selden, +41 33 675 11 62; Berghotel Gasterntal, Selden, +41 79 437 03 78, gasterntal@doldenhorn.ch; Berggasthaus Heimritz at the valley end, 033 675 14 34, open to 4 October 2026, cash only; Berghaus Gfelalp is leased by the International Scout Centre and not public. Camping Lötschental, Elsigenstrasse 10, 3917 Kippel, operator Burgergemeinde Kippel, 40 tourist pitches with a tent area, listed as open on loetschental.ch on 16 September 2026, with a food truck since 2026 per camping.ch; the 2025 listing had read closed until further notice after the Blatten collapse (flood risk assessment), and the status was read from two listings, not confirmed by telephone (Lötschental Tourismus +41 27 938 88 88). Camping Rendez-vous, Hubleweg 2, Kandersteg, +41 33 675 15 34. Blatten 2025 aftermath: the Ferden end of the valley, the Kummenalp route and the Lauchernalp cable car are unaffected; the Blatten to Fafleralp road reopened with restrictions on 26 June 2026; the Löibegga to Weissenried path stays closed. loetschental.ch, gasterntal.ch, camping.ch. ↩
  12. Fire: canton Valais lifted its general open-fire ban of 25 June 2026 on 16 September 2026 with immediate effect, keeping "Ab Gefahrenstufe 4 bleibt Feuer im Wald und im Umkreis von 100 Metern verboten" and naming the Oberwallis among the regions where the danger remains high; the pass is 680 m above the treeline. Canton Bern lifted the Frutigen-Niedersimmental ban on 20 August and all remaining forest-area bans on 28 August 2026, danger "erheblich" (level 3) canton-wide. polizeiticker.ch, vs.ch (danger map), polizeinews.ch. ↩