Back to Civilization

We made it to Zermatt today. Apparently the permanent population is under 6000 souls, but what a crowded place; way more people than we're used to!!

Our hike today wasn't terribly strenuous. It was 565m of uphill and just 50m of downhill, straight up the valley on a combination of old roads and footpaths. But it was on the long-ish side. For some reason I seemed to be more sore and tired today than any other day of the walk. Perhaps my brain thought we were done, or maybe the surfaces we were walking on were harder on us. In any case, we made it just as clouds were starting to form around the Matterhorn (see first pic below). Not much to report on the way today. A very different walk than every other day, except perhaps the first one coming out of Chamonix. We were never too far from the main road and followed the valley instead of crossing a mountain range or two or three. We saw lots of interesting looking goats - front half black and back half white. We ran into only one pair of familiar hikers. A couple of young men from the UK had run out of money, which would not be hard to do since everything is so pricey, and were catching a train back to Chamonix today. I haven't been to Zermatt for about 20 years and it seems to be much bigger and busier than I remember. There are no exhaust-spewing cars allowed, but they now have a lot of little taxi vans - all of which seem to be out to hit us. Most of the time we're a pretty easy target since there is very little in the way of sidewalks.

The forecast isn't very good for the next two days so we checked in to our hotel (which is lovely) and then caught a train up one of the mountains to Gonergrat. We went up to just over 3000m (which seemed high until we realized that most of our passes were over 2900m) and enjoyed the expansive glacier views - pictures below. The clouds had pretty much covered the Matterhorn by now but the visibility wasn't too bad in other directions. Then back down to dinner in a charming, but expensive, little restaurant down the street.

Our activities for the next two days may be dictated by weather. Unless there is anything blog-worthy, this may be it. Thanks for looking in. If you were following us at all, I would love to hear from you. It has been a wonderful trip!

Our Last Pass

Apparently the trek is winding down. We did our last pass today - Augstbordpass. The great weather appeared to return. We woke to cloudless skies, although there was frost on the ground and the air was a bit nippy. We climbed about 1000m to the pass. This was definitely our easiest climb yet - nice gentle slope for the most part, lots of open views and good footing. The valley we were leaving was still clear (first pic) but the valley after the pass had a pretty big cloud obscuring the views (second pic). We went down a few hundred metres and had lunch just above the cloud and out of the wind. Then a rather long traverse over an old rockslide. Someone has done a ton of work to flatten out a really good route for us. Our wildlife treat du jour was watching a red fox bounding up an impossibly steep slope and scaling near-vertical rocks with ease. Not sure what he was pursuing - a tasty marmot perhaps. As we started to go down again in earnest, the clouds started to lift - and, oh my, what a view! We sat for a while and just waited and watched as the high peaks and glaciers revealed themselves - stunning! It was a long way down; 1800m down today after 1100m up to the pass. We're staying in St. Niklaus tonight. We have made a change to our original plans for the next 2 days. We were originally going to walk the Europaweg and stay tomorrow night in the Europahutte mountain hut. We've been hearing reports and rumours of landslides, rockfall and bridges out on various portions of the route so we will walk through the valley directly to Zermatt tomorrow and spend an extra day there - day-hiking or perhaps souvenir shopping. Some folks are still attempting the Europaweg so we hope to catch up with them in Zermatt to see how it was.

Brrrrr

We stayed last night in Zinal, which seemed to be the biggest village since Chamonix so far. That means we had a choice of restaurants last night (we picked a good one) and a grocery store to find some lunch food for today. Tami was even able to augment her wardrobe for the cooler weather. The hotel had a hot tub and sauna but I'm not sure they would have welcomed us in either our underwear or our birthday suits. Great breakfast this morning too....

Zinal is in a narrow valley so we started climbing right away. It was a pretty cloudy day but we still had good views back down to Zinal (see first photo below). This photo was taken about 350m above our starting point. In total today we would climb 1250m and go down 1090m. The climb was about 500m of steep, followed by 250m of gentle, followed by 500m of steep to the Forcletta pass. The downhill all came after the pass and was a good grade on the knees. We encountered lots of grazing cattle today, many right on our path. Thankfully they just looked at us and mooed a little. The more unpleasant issue for us was the mess they make of the trail - both just chewing it up as they walk along it and the fact that they seem to think it's there for them to fill with cow patties. We were first on the trail this morning so we entertained ourselves for a while watching others negotiate a path through the critters. We had snow drizzle on-and-off all day. As we approached the pass the wind picked up as well, making for a chilly ascent. It was still shorts and t-shirt weather for me on the way up, but I covered up to go down the other side. The views opened up a bit on the way down and we were able to see a few big mountains and glaciers in our new valley (Turtmanntal).

Tonight's hotel seems to be the only one in town - The Schwarzhorn. Seems to be a nice place. And thankfully they speak English since this is our first night in the German speaking part of Switzerland. The Rossland 6 and the Seattle family of 11 are here so there are some familiar faces.

Slip Slidin' Away

I woke up about 6:30 and looked out the window. Clear skies and a face-full of glacier and mountain tops - yippee! Minutes later a big cloud was rolling up the valley threatening to kill the view so I grabbed the cameras and headed outside. The first photo below includes a bit of our building so that you can see just how close to the glacier we were. What a great location!! However - it seems that winter arrived overnight and there was a dusting of snow and ice on our initial 300m of steep downhill. We had breakfast and then hung out watching the clouds come and go for awhile. At about 8:50 we decided there was enough visibility to set out. The going was slippery and slow but we all made it down safely and were treated to watching 5 ibex near the bottom of the downhill. We had decent visibility for the rest of the day, although still some heavy cloud cover at times. We had a long traverse high up along Lac de Moiry. It is a dammed lake and is a beautiful blue colour, reminiscent of Moraine Lake. Then uphill to our 9th pass of our journey, Col de Sorebois. It still amazes me how the views change at a pass. You will have been hiking in one valley for a period of time and get used to the same set of mountains, lakes, villages, etc. seen from various angles. Then you top out at a pass, and wham - you get an eyeful of a brand new set of wonders. Today it was leaving Lac de Moiry and the Moiry Glacier & Icefall and being introduced to a new set of mountains & glaciers, dominated by the Weisshorn. Too bad it was cloudy because the picture below just doesn't do it justice. Our day today was 555m of uphill and "just" 945m of downhill. We chose to take a cablecar the last 800m or so of downhill into Zinal. It was a 7 minute ride vs what the guidebook describes as about 90 minutes of knee-jarring descent. I'll save my knees for another day, thank you very much!! We saw Jenn & Jason on the trail today and will dine with them tonight. They walked all the way down so will have earned their dinner. We've also see the Rossland 6 in town; this was their rest day. Another beautiful day out there today and looking forward to tomorrow.

Into the Clouds

Stage 9 today after a rest day in La Sage yesterday. I'm not sure we could have picked a better place to spend our rest day. We spent most of the day just reading and relaxing in the hotel's library/games room/lounge. It was a lovely spot - windows all around with views out over a beautiful valley with mountains and glaciers in the distance. Our big outings for the day were: a stroll to the adjoining town of Villa, a leisurely lunch at the local dortoir, and a stroll up to a beautiful chapel on a hill. Although we bid farewell to most of our hiking companions in the morning, Jenn & Jason (from Calgary) arrived in La Sage after their rest day in Arolla.

Today dawned mostly sunny with some transient clouds. We started climbing right away, thankfully mostly in the shade. The route up was mostly on tracks and good footpaths. We are constantly amazed by how high the tracks go. Tracks are not really "roads" as we know them, but cars or trucks can travel on them although they can be quite steep. We passed through lots of grazing cattle adorned with their ubiquitous clanging cowbells. We also passed a very high altitude barn with a small house where the cow-tender resides for the summer. I sure hope he has lots of good reading material; seems like a very lonely existence. Up until this point the uphill was a pretty nice slope, although the great views gave us reason to stop and take pictures on a regular basis. As we carried on and approached the col (pass) the grade steepened and the last 200m was a bit of a grunt. Tami got there first and proceeded to get some food out of her pack. Unfortunately she lost her grip on her jacket and it rolled back down the slope quite a ways. She then had the opportunity to do some bonus climbing. We had some decent views at the top, but the clouds were more prevalent now, making for less interesting photographs. Then down 500m followed by another uphill of about 450m. The uphill was very interesting, though. We were heading directly to the Moiry Glacier and icefall. We walked for a while on top of a moraine and then zigzagged stiffly uphill on a good path to the spectacularly located Cabane de Moiry. We're in the clouds at the moment, but hopefully they will clear. We're right beside the glacier & icefall. What we can see is amazing; looking forward to seeing the full view. The Cabane is lovely. It has space for 96, and although it is past peak season there are a few Haute Route hikers and some mountaineers. They've built a lovely glass enclosed dining room which is where we're hanging out right now.

Totals for the day: 1675m up and 515m down.

Dinner time update: it's snowing!!

An Easy Day

We stayed in a lovely old (151 years old) hotel in Arolla. It seemed like everything in the building had a bit of a slant to it, but it had great charm and the staff were wonderful as was the food. We headed out today with the Brits. It had rained overnight and the forecast was for more rain during the day. We altered our route to avoid a section that was not advised if wet. We were out of the wild terrain of the last few days and walking once again through forests and on paths and tracks. We made our way uphill to beautiful Lac Bleu which reminded me of Grassi Lakes in Canmore. Tami went for a swim and declared it to be almost as cold as Bow Lake (which is right below Bow Glacier). Unfortunately the charming views that we were to see from the lake were largely obscured by clouds. Then downhill to La Gouille for tea. Leaving La Gouille we encountered a group of about 20 adventurous souls riding scooters (kind of like bikes without seats but with a place to stand between the wheels) downhill. Seemed an odd apparatus to me, as they would be fairly useless if trying to go uphill. We wandered in to Les Hauderes for a leisurely lunch. By the time we were done there it started to rain ever so lightly. The directions in the book were less than clear so Tami & I took the scenic route via La Forclaz to our destination of La Sage. It was a nice, leisurely walk today - 610m up and 905m down. The only disappointing part was that the views were impeded by the clouds. La Sage looks like a prototypical quaint Swiss alpine village with lots of timber homes with flower boxes at every window. I love our hotel - very quaint and cozy, great views and marvelous food (although no working wifi at the moment). Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day for us and I think we picked the perfect spot for it. It will be sad to lose some of our companions from the past week. We're the only ones staying here an extra day. In addition some people are taking various route options over the next few days so we likely won't see most of them again. On the other hand, Jennifer & Jason (from Calgary) took a rest day in Arolla yesterday so will catch up to us tomorrow. News flash!! Tami stayed up past 10 tonight!!!

Another Great Day

It seems that we all slept OK even though we were short of "personal space". A decent breakfast and everyone was on the trail by 7:30. The light drizzle was done by the time we were ready to go, although there were some low clouds hanging in the valleys (including the one that our cabane was in). Not to worry, though, as we immediately headed uphill to our first pass of the day. We were above the clouds there, and were treated to incredible views, mostly above the clouds. As we descended and as the cloud cover burned off, we gained views of Lac des Dix which is 5 km long and apparently created by the biggest hydro dam in Switzerland. The walk along the lake was one of the longest flat sections on the entire trip. The moost challenging part was working our way through a herd of cattle on the track. At the end of the lake we started up. We continued to faithfully follow our guidebook which was published in 2007. Apparently the recommended route from the day is no longer the preferred route. Oh well - off we went with the 3 Brits and the Calgary couple following behind. It had a bit of a sketchy grunt uphill to get around some old avalanche debris but was otherwise lovely. We were in pretty wild, mostly rocky, terrain all day with no signs of civilization. Lots of glaciers in view almost all day. As we climbed up to our second pass of the day we came to understand the meaning of the term "unrelenting". I had forgotten to take iPhone pictures to download today, but took a few at the top of that second pass (see below). From the top of that pass we had our first glimpse of the Matterhorn, although the peak was obscured by clouds. Apparently it will be about 4 days before we see it again. Then it was the endless (about 900m) downhill into the small village of Arolla. Our total climbing for the day was 770m and our total downhill was 1445m. It was a late night for us; Tami made it to about 9:30 and Sue might see double digits on the clock.

Stunning!

If the days keep going like this I'm going to run out of superlatives pretty soon. We stayed last night at the Cabane de Mont Fort. We had a great little two-person room. Considering the effort expended yesterday and the day ahead of us today, breakfast and our bagged lunch left lots to be desired. Breakfast was just 2 pieces of bread with jam. Lunch was a ham & cheese sandwich, an apple and half a chocolate bar. Thankfully I had some other snacks in my pack.

Our weather has continued to be great. Bright sunshine and warm temps again this morning and just a few clouds in the afternoon. Our destination tonight is another mountain hut, so again no Internet. We crossed three mountain passes today, so the day was full of ups and downs. We did 945m of up and 745m of down. After all of yesterday's climbing my uphill muscles were not sore but they were tired. We chose to do the longer and more scenic route today. While there was a fair bit of exposure, the ground was dry so the footing was good and there was never really any risk. The views were spectacular!! We didn't spend any time in the trees today so the views were constant. As we crossed the three passes the views continued to change - hillside villages that we passed through in earlier days, huge glacier-filled massifs, rocky mountainsides, cols and moraines, glacier meltwater roaring streams, lakes & tarns, etc., etc. We saw some real wildlife today - either ibex or chamois (we need an Internet consult before we can be sure). We saw no signs of civilization, which was a real highlight; more like hiking in the Rockies.

It was a bit of a challenging day, partly because of the lingering effects of yesterday's efforts and partly because we spent a lot of today crossing boulder fields and other uneven surfaces. We're still feeling great - a few minor aches and pains but pretty darned good considering the effort we've expended. Tonight is at the Cabane de Prafleuri. Good news is hot showers and more promising-looking food than last night's hut. The downside is that it has more traditional hut sleeping arrangements - nose-to-nose with total strangers. Off to Arolla tomorrow and back to some semblance of civilization.

Wow!

At least that's what it looked like between sweat droplets falling into my eyes! We climbed 1620m while descending just 30m. Thankfully much of the grunt work was done in the shade and there was a bit of a breeze in the full sun. The total distance was only 9km (although the Brits' GPS read closer to 13km), so there was not much respite from the uphill. The views were marvelous throughout the day so it wasn't too much of a hardship. Our route today was a combination of narrow lanes, tracks and footpaths. I think large parts of our route would be ski runs in the winter. There was a bit of civilization along the way, mostly associated with the ski industry - gondola stations, (closed) restaurants, etc. We passed close to the ski resort town of Verbier which looks to be a summer destination as well, based on the number of mountain bikers and paragliders in our vicinity. Tonight is our first "mountain hut" accommodation. While it is remote from any town, there are cablecars close by which transport skiers in the winter. It has room for 66 people, but I think we are far from full tonight. It's quite comfy. Hot showers, a huge balcony with lots of picnic tables, and a restaurant that serves dinner and breakfast. No wifi, though, so this will be posted a few days late.

On The Road

We had a fabulous room last night. Our view was down a lovely valley with the lights of a few small villages highlighted against the mountains behind. There was not a cloud in the sky and tons of stars were visible. We left the patio doors open and had a face full of stars every time we opened our eyes. Seems Tami spent more time star gazing than sleeping so is a bit sleep-deprived today. Today was a relatively gentle day. We spent most of the morning coming downhill into the Val (Valley) d'Entremont. Although the views into several valleys were spectacular, we were in the trees and on roads (very small roads; some paved but most not) much of the day. The views were of several small villages, farmland extending up the hillsides and roads winding improbably up to houses perched far up the slopes. Our wildlife du jour was a snake snacking on a mouse. I resisted the temptation to take a picture, although Tami and Billie each have one. Lunch at Sembrancher confirmed that we are now further off the tourist trail, as our server spoke no English and we just guessed at items on the menu. Worked out OK. Back on the trail again and a right turn into another valley. A few hours of gentle uphill into the towns of Le Chable and Villette. We've run into some of the same folks for a few days now - three gentlemen from the UK, a couple from Calgary, 3 couples from Rossland BC and a family of 11 from Seattle (Dad is 81 and Mom is 80!). Our accommodation tonight is in the gondola building and is reminiscent of military barracks. Once again, a bit of a communication challenge but we worked through it. Can't wait until we get to the German part of Switzerland. I have nothing but a free phone app to work with. BTW, I'm sure they only put the vital words on the non-free version. We have a big climb tomorrow. I wonder if I can take the gondola up and just claim that I fell out of bed and boarded in my sleep. Great dinner tonight. Beautiful sunshine and temps in the low 30s. 230m up and 815m down. Hope the great weather stays with us, although a few clouds are forecast for tomorrow. Billie leaves us tomorrow AM :(. just Tami and I for the rest of the trip.

Our First "Big" Day

Or, as the guidebook says - "one of the most demanding of the whole walk". We started at Trient and finished at Champex. 14 km, almost 1400m of up and 1200m of descent. Unlike biking, the descent can be just as challenging as the ascent. Lots of variety of scenery along the way - hiking up beside the impressive Trient Glacier and then steeply down into the lovely Val d'Arpette. A couple of things that are recurring themes for us. The hiking may be rugged in places but we are never too far away from civilization. So far we have started and finished in a village every day and sometimes encounter villages along the way as well. It's so nice to have a hot shower and a comfy bed every night. And food is pretty available so that we don't have to carry much with us. I also find it shocking that I took and passed 4 years of high school French and have only mastered hello, goodbye, thank you, and "I do not speak French".

We started out early this morning, having a hint about what lay ahead. Uphill from the beginning, the grade gradually increased from gentle through challenging to scrambling straight uphill. I think this may have been Billie's first go at scrambling and exposure because she cried (her words). It was a beautiful cloudless, windless and warm day and we had a great lunch break at the pass. Then began the steep downhill. At one point I slipped on a small rock, couldn't recover my footing in time and went over the side of the trail; oops! I rolled a few times, managed a self-arrest before getting too far down. No harm done and we continued down. We finished the day with a lovely forest, fern and stream walk before finishing in the town of Champex, also known as Champex-Lac due to its lakeside location. We have a nice little hotel on the edge of town. The view from our room is provided below.

On to Switzerland

We had a "moderate" day ahead of us today so we had a moderately early start to the day. Off to the grocery store for snacks and then off to search for breakfast. Since restaurants don't even open for dinner until 7PM we found that they were still serving drinks, but no breakfast at 8:30 in the AM. We had to settle for a few pastries from the bakery. Our first few hours were uphill through the forest. Once we got to the village of Le Tour we were above the trees and the views back down the Chamonix Valley improved. We resisted the temptation to hop on the gondola (so don't believe Billie when she says that Tami & I took the easy way up) and continued to trudge up to Col de Balme. Actually, it wasn't too bad. Lots of switchbacks with a fairly easy grade and beautiful views (and a unicyclist) to distract us. After climbing 1010m we reached the top (which is also the French/Swiss border) and stopped for lunch and a nap. We had great views back to Mont Blanc, Chamonix and the entire valley. The next few hours were downhill to Trient. Still nice views, but nothing quite as impressive as the Mont Blanc massif. Lots of wildlife on this portion - cows with deafening decibel cowbells (the poor animals must be deaf from the constant noise), a flock of sheep being herded across a mountain top, a caterpillar, mountain bikers carrying their bikes, and hundreds of grasshoppers. We were in to the picturesque village of Trient shortly after 3. The last picture below is the view from our lodging. Another great day - 12 kms, 1010m up, 980m down, sunny skies, temps probably on the low 20s.