Churfirsten
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The Churfirsten is a mountain range in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. They form the natural boundary between the canton's Toggenburg and Sarganserland districts. They are the southernmost range of the Appenzell Alps, separated from the Glarus Alps by the Seez Valley and Lake Walen (Script error: No such module "Lang".).
They consist of a limestone ridge running east to west, with the individual peaks formed by erosion. The ridge is defined much more sharply to the south than to the north, with an almost vertical drop of several hundred meters towards Walenstadtberg and eventually Lake Walen at 419 metres (1,375 ft). The southern slope of the range was significantly formed by the Rhine Glacier during the Würm glaciation.
There are several hiking routes on the range.[1] The Schwendiseen are two small lakes on the northern side of the range (below Chäserrugg). Wildenmannlisloch is a cave on the northern slope of the Selun. Quinten is a car-free village south-west of Churfirsten on the northern shore of Lake Walen.
Name
The name is a plural, indicating the peaks forming the historical boundary of the bishopric of Chur. It has historically also been folk-etymologized as Kurfürsten, i.e. the 7 prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire who in the later medieval period (until 1648) numbered seven, which in turn encouraged the count of seven main or "official" peaks.[2]
Peaks
The standard "seven peaks" of the Churfirsten are (from west to east):
- Selun: Template:Cvt
- Frümsel: Template:Cvt
- Brisi: Template:Cvt
- Zuestoll: Template:Cvt
- Schibenstoll: Template:Cvt
- Hinterrugg: Template:Cvt
- Chäserrugg: Template:Cvt, accessible by a funicular and aerial tram
The count of exactly seven peaks is contrived; sometimes, Chäserrugg is not included and counted as part of Hinterrugg, because of its topographical prominence of a mere Template:Cvt.
The Churfirsten seven peaks listed above have remarkably uniform heights, within just above a Template:Cvt difference; the ridge continues both to the east and the west with a number of further peaks between 2,000 and 2,200 metres (6,600 and 7,200 ft) that are not usually included as Churfirsten:
- Peaks to the west of Selun: Wart at Template:Cvt, Schären (or Schäären) at Template:Cvt, Nägeliberg at Template:Cvt, Glattchamm at Template:Cvt, Leistchamm at Template:Cvt.
- Peaks to the east of Chäserrugg: Tristenkolben at Template:Cvt, Gamserrugg at Template:Cvt (accessible by a chairlift).
See also
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Churfirsten-Weg". SwitzerlandMobility. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
- ^ Schweizerisches Idiotikon, s.v. "First" Script error: No such module "webarchive".. The word First (dialectal also Fürst; from Middle High German virst) has a primary meaning of "roof-beam; gable", but secondarly came to mean "summit, mountain-top".
External links
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