August 30, 2012 Haute Route: Prafleuri - Arolla

Day 4 of our Haute Route. Probably day 6 or 7 by the guidebook.

Route up and over col de Roux, descent down to Lac de Dix, climb up to Col de Riedmatten, and final descent to Arolla.

Having arrived through a wet and soggy day yesterday, we were excited to find dry clothes downstairs and the prospect of walking in good weather. We found dry clothes downstairs (sortof) and it wasn't currently precipitating when we woke up, so we were all pretty excited. Choking down breakfast, we kept our eyes on the clouds, which had deposited about an inch of snow overnight, but were at the moment looking fairly innocent.

Cabane Prafleuri as we climbed up in the morning

Some of the groups traveling together split up today, as some folks made their way directly over towards the damn at the outlet of the lake and took the bus around instead of hiking the passes in snowy conditions. Due to that, everyone regrouped a bit and we teamed up with Melanie and Sven - friends we had met at Mont Fort. Stepping outside, everyone stopped and put on another layer... it was chilly! Even though we were walking uphill for the first 30 minutes, I kept the warm layers on and enjoyed the steady climb up the col de Roux. For the first and only time in the trip we beat the in-form Uli Steck time they use on the signposts. We had a celebratory high five at the top, enjoyed a little bit of a view towards Lac des Dix, and started our speedy descent down to the lake, hopeful that the ibex that often graze on the slopes would show themselves.

View of Lac de dix from col de Roux. Our path followed the near shoreline of the lake

And the ibex certainly showed themselves! A whole herd of them appeared on our left and a bit downhill from us. Perhaps 30-40 of them. Having only my 17-50 lens, they were a bit too far away for decent photos, however as we descended further a number of them were closer to the trail and I was able to frame some of them against the mountainous background. Sven kept a lookout for other likely close by ibex, and together we stalked them seeking the elusive good view that did not encourage a charge in return. They actually didn't even seem to notice us, and continued grazing lazily.

A heavy crop of an ibex image.

We continued to head down from the col into generally cloudy conditions, with views peaking out every once in a while. Rocky ridges would reveal themselves for a moment before being swallowed back up into the foggy clouds that kept descending down from the glaciated terrain on our right.

Trail and views high above Lac de Dix

The mountains at the inlet of the lake reveal themselves, momentarily.

As we descending lower down to the lake the snow began to pick up. It was never a winter storm with blowing winds, but the snow was dropping steadily enough for us to think hard about whether we wanted to climb up and over a col later that afternoon. A long easy stroll along the lake was pleasant enough, but we were all hoping the conditions once we got off this large trail (basically a road) would prove good enough to allow us to continue.

Snow from Erik Turner on Vimeo.

Snow began accumulating as we walked along the lake.

After climbing a short ways up from the lake and seeing the snow cover on the rocks, Melanie decided she ought to flip it around and get back to the bus at the head of the dam. Our plan was to try climbing the passes, but we could always bail to the cabane nearby (Cabane de dix) but Melanie had friends waiting in Arolla, and the sure way to get there was the bus on the other side of the lake. Sven, Nicole and I pushed on, with Sven usually taking off and blazing trail and waiting up for us every once in a while. We saw him a little ways ahead, past the junction that lead up to the col de Ridmatten. Confused... we waited a few minutes and watched as he led a fairly big group across the non technical glacier crossing over towards the cabane. Figuring he just wanted a hot beverage, we pushed on up the col. Found out later he was actually a bit turned around and accidentally went there and had the spend the night!

We began our climb up the col, thankfully following footsteps for the whole way. For much of the ascent the footsteps seemed able to follow a somewhat level trail that wound its way around the boulders and up towards the col. 

Erik climbing up the col de Ridmatten

Eventually at the very top we could see the chains that marked the final scramble, but the first set of chains was difficult to get to due to some ice on the rocks in front of us. We climbed directly up for a few sketchy moves and grabbed the second set of chains, and from there on climbed up to the col quickly and easily.... phew! We had learned earlier that the other side of the col was an easy grassy trail - not the rocky mess that we had just climbed, so we figured all technical difficulties for the day were now behind us.

Looking down at the col de Ridmatten - the chains were nice to have at the top!

Indeed we did descend on a great trail, wandering down through the clouds and light breeze. Now on the downhill we caught more of a chill, and took a break behind some rocks to throw down some food and layer up. We kept dropping through the snow and clouds, eventually coming to roads, ski lifts and the edges of farmland.

Nicole descending into the fog

Breaking out under the clouds!

Eventually we found ourselves on a nature walk for some hotel on the outskirts of Arolla. After looking at the map, we realized the hotel was the Kraushaus - the place we had heard about and were aiming for anyway! We followed the numbered markers along and in no time were dropping off our stuff in our room and warming up by the blazing fire.

Nicole spreading out our gear in the room to dry