September 1st, 2012 - La Sage - Cabane de Moiry

Day 6 on the Haute Route. Despite the titles, we were actually in Les Hauderes the past night, and needed to walk up to La Sage before we could start the hike of the day. 

Our route up from Les Hauderes up to col du Tsate, down to the base of Glacier de Moiry and up to the cabane

This would be one of the longer days including the most climbing, so we were looking for a way to skip out on the walk to La Sage. The bus didn't leave until around 9AM, and we wanted to get an earlier start than that, so after breakfast we tried our luck waving a car down. As we walked up the road, a few cars passed until finally one pulled over, right where the path was about to cut up and away from the road. As we got into the car we could see a party of 3 hiking up the trail above us - we'd get a jump on them, we though!

Nicole starting the walk up to La Sage that would end.... in a car :)

We zipped up to La Sage in the back of a Honda full of hay. Though we couldn't communicate very well, the woman was obviously a bit worried we'd find her car too dirty - obviously she hadn't gotten a wiff of us yet!

She let us out near the town center, and we consulted the guidebook for directions out of the town onto the track. We vaguely matched up the description of the town with what we saw, and decided that we must be going the right way. A single yellow sign that directed us towards a village further uphill seemed to indicate that we were on the right path. As we climbed, the way got less and less clear, paths diverged and shrank, and we soon found ourselves at the edge of some steep fields with small game trails going up into the woods. Didn't feel right... we saw a road a few hundred feet below us, so we decided we ought to get to the road and get reoriented. Cutting through farmers fields and people's backyards, we finally got down to the road, and we ran into the group of three we had seen from below while snagging our ride up the road. It was a group of three from Israel, and we teamed up with them for most of the climb up to the col. They were walking out from the ACTUAL town center, which we hadn't been to, so with our bearings now recalibrated, we headed out uphill.

As we wound our way higher, we passed a number of ski lifts and small cabins for rent. One even had some smoke out the stack as the occupants were warming up on the brisk morning.

Cabin and dents de veisivi behind

After two days of rain and snow, the grand views were spectacular

We passed a few small villages high up on the hillside, and eventually came to a junction where the trail meant to bring us straight up a loose gully directly up to the col. We opted to take the road cut up and around instead, especially since we had seen some hikers about an hour ahead of us navigate that way rather easily.

Nicole making her way up along the road cut

As we neared the Remonte du Tsate, we saw a large long building and heard the bells and noise of cattle inside. They surely heard us coming as well, and probably figured they were about to be fed, but alas we didn't offer up any powerbars. They were a noisy lot, though!


Cows below col du Tsate from Erik Turner on Vimeo.

Now we turned directly uphill and could see the col, or at least a notch we thought could be the col. Up to this point we were able to walk on wet trail and road, but had avoided the snow. Now we were following steps in the snow, which at its deepest only got to about ankle height. We began up and only a few minutes above the cattle came to a beautiful lake with a great view. It reminded us of the enchantment basin in the eastern cascades.

Beautiful lake and views of snowy peaks

As we climbed, the views off to our right got bigger and better. Glaciers and more distant peaks came into view. The skies stayed a dark blue with only innocent puffy white clouds there to provide context to the peaks thrusting up into the sky.

snowy peaks and glaciers

The last bit of scrambling up to the col was made fun by the inches of snow laid on top of the slick rocks. With careful balance and the aid of previous footsteps we scampered up to the col and met quite a scene. A group from Seattle was having lunch, so we chatted with them, naturally, but we were also witness to some fit looking guys running up to the pass with large packs on, which they quickly produced parachutes from. Paragliders! We learned there was a paragliding race on over the last few days - the racers were tasked with trying to visit as many huts as possible in 4 days. They had been cooped up for the last two due to bad weather, so they were out in full force on this bluebird day to chase down some points. We watched different paragliders for the rest of the day as they found thermals, rose up hundreds of feet, and proceeded to fly up and over cols above us.... it was intense!

We also broke for lunch at the col, enjoying the warm sunshine, amazing views and nutella. Anxious to move onward, we didn't stay long as we sought to finally catch a glimpse of the cabane and the nearby glacier. As we descended form the col we saw impossible switchbacks carved into the rock face on the other side of the valley.... that couldn't be the way up to the cabane... right?

Well we learned that the short climb at the end of the day up to the cabane would be a bit more than we bargained for! We needed to descend all the way to the terminal lake up the moraines on the other side and then up steep switchbacks to the cabane. Probably should have studied the map a bit closer, but we had plenty of time, so we took off down the rest of the descent.

Nicole after descending from the col du Tsate with the icefall coming into view behind

Terminal lake and Moiry icefall

From the terminal lake we climbed up through cattle fields into increasingly rocky terrain. One particular bull obviously liked standing on the trail directly above a bridge over a small creek. There was a well worn trail that went down from the bridge, skipped over the creek on a few rocks, and then back up the trail beyond where this bull was standing... suggesting that many folks had avoided skirting too close to this bull before! We followed the trail and gave him some space.

Nicole climbing higher up towards the cabane

The snow that we had left on the col du Tsate came back, and soon we were walking up through upwards of 6" of snow. There had been enough traffic up and down, however, that the trail was fairly evident, and our feet could stay dry. Hiking up to the cabane is a popular day trip, as there is a road up to the terminal lake.

clinging onto spring

racing paragliders

We trudged up the road through the cattle fields and eventually were on the switchbacks that we had spied from across the valley. We tried to keep count... seeking to hit the magical number of 16, which we had counted from the col. After about 17 or 18, we were looking forward to seeing the cabane, which was doing a very good job of hiding around the top of the slope above us. Finally I shouted down that there was a flag! And the flag was in a courtyard... next to the cabane! It had been a fairly long day on the trail, and we were happy to throw our packs down and relax in the most beautiful dining area ever created by man:

best dining room ever.

Unfortunately my knee had taken quite a beating on this day. The climbing hadn't bothered it while we were moving, but I could feel it tightening up rapidly. Plenty of advil and a few beers helped to relieve or ignore the pain, but I could tell the hiking wouldn't quite be the same for the rest of the trip. I stretched as much as I could and hoped for the best. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the views out the windows, settled into our room and charged up the camera batteries thanks to the extra adaptors our Seattle friends had brought.

Dinner was a carrot and beet heavy salad, lasagna and some sort of sherbet for dessert. The food was decent, but we mostly enjoyed chatting with the Seattle crew and continuously gawking out the windows at the icefall.

cloud formations above the glacier moiry

clouds lit up a bit at sunset

A very short window of colorful light at sunset

I continued to pump advil through the night, and we knocked off pretty early, having fairly tired legs. This was one of the best days of the hike, however, as we really felt like we were hiking away from civilization for much of it. The cabane was not overshadowed by ski lifts, we weren't looking down over a village - we were perched below a remote glacial icefall.

August 31st, 2012 - Haute Route - Arolla - La Sage

Day 5 on the Haute Route. We woke to steady snow in Arolla. Another 2-3" of snow had fallen, so we mellowed out our plans to an easy day and a bus ride.

Bus ride down the valley

A bus brought us from Arolla promptly down to Les Hauderes, where we wandered about the village comparing rates for accommodations and staying hydrated.

Nicole sampling the town's water. This same town also had a creperie where we were charged for tap water. We could see one of these fountains from our table.... hmmm

Lots of beautiful old buildings in town

Les Hauderes buildings had lots of character

Haven't found a room for less than 120chf.... keep walking

Ahhh picnique :) You guessed it - bread and cheese.

After finally finding the Hotel des Alpes, and scoring what we believe to be the only room in town for under 100 chf, we played some cards and relaxed. We enjoyed a crepe and met up with some Irish friends who were getting turned off by the weather and decided to fly back home. Easier decision for them, as their flight is 1.5 hours long! We seriously considered a train to Nice, or a visit to Italy, but we're not quite adventurous enough to just take off without a plan. Plus, the weather was supposed to clear, and who wouldn't want to get back into the alpine to see the mountains in a fresh coat of snow!

An easy stroll around town on my somewhat tweaking knee (more on this later...) yielded some breathtaking scenery above town. We wound down and hit the hay early, knowing the next day was fairly long and featured lots of elevation gain that wasn't easily cut off by bus or train.

Pointe de Bricola above Les Hauderes

Dents de Veisivi above Les Hauderes

sunset backlight

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

August 29, 2012 - Haute Route: Cab du Mont Fort - Cabane Prafleuri

Route for day 3 - Our first cabane to cabane day: Mont Fort --> Cabane Prafleuri

Our weather luck held for two days of beautiful sunshine and warm pleasant weather. Just in time for heading up into the high alpine territory the poor weather descended upon us. As we left Cab du Mont Fort, the clouds were low and threatening, but for the moment, held their rain.

Cab du Mont Fort

The route for the day deviated from the preferred route through col Termin, a lower elevation pass, due to rockfall and a landslide. Because of its orientation, col Termin would have boasted even better views than those possible along the alternate path, but that hardly would have mattered, as it turned out. As we climbed up towards Col de la Chaux, we flirted with the remnants of the glacier. Despite trying to stay high on a moraine, the path was still forced to dive down and even the most careful of steps found traces of glacial ice under pebbles and glacial flour. Stepping on ice is OK if you know you are stepping on ice. What is difficult is stepping on what you think is just a pile of pebbles, only to find that your foot has already wiped out because the ball bearings slid away revealing bare blue glacial ice.

The path was well marked, as usual.

Moraines and incoming weather

Just as we were getting onto the hairy icy portions of the climb, the sky slowly opened up and gusts of wind sent chills through our light wool layers. Rain shells donned, we pushed further uphill, carefully, making sure each step was secured by rocks frozen into the matrix of the glacier. As the rain intensified, we topped out on the Col de la Chaux where we put on the rest of our rain gear - we were now fully encased in poorly ventilated polymers that helped shed the water, but encouraged unpleasant "internal humidity".

Nicole leading the way to Col Louvie.

The rain settled to a light, steady patter, and we slowly descended down into a steep valley and eventually gained a small ridge (old lateral moraine) off to our right. Above the teal blue lake shown above, we paused briefly and had lunch - fueling up for the next few hours and two additional passes that needed to be climbed.

Mist in the valley

As we arrived at the base of the next climb up Col de Louvie, the weather cleared momentarily, and nearby ridges came into view. Climbing higher, we hoped for broader views, but as we approached the col, the next valley was socked in thickly, not surprisingly as it contained a large lake and massive glacier - plenty of moisture ready to saturate the air. The rest of the climb up to Louvie went smoothly, and we dropped down quickly to the basin below the Grand Desert glacier and its outlet lake. We crossed the lake along a shallow finger where carefully sited stepping stones had been placed. A long gradual climb led to a fun and adventurous high plateau which included lots of slab variations, and even a finger crack here and there!

Nicole making her way to the base of Col de Prafleuri

We rounded a corner and below us lay a basin with three small lakes. A careful descent gained the basin, and on the other side, the last climb of the day awaited - up to the Col de Prafleuri. The weather had started to worsen again and we were looking forward to getting the last climb over with. It started off with a bit of a boulder scramble, but careful route finding likely would have yielded a more throughly tracked tred nearby. Regardless, we climbed towards painted waymarks visible halfway up the col, and from there bounded up the last bit of uphill trail for the day (or so we thought).

Nicole enjoying the weather at Col de Prafleuri. You could see the beginnings of massive glaciers behind us... :(

A long, twisty, grassy and often muddy descent brought us down to a large ledge which was basically made up of highly compacted, and sopping wet, glacial flour and small pebbles. If you were careful, it was possible to sink up to your ankles in the muck - good thing this matrix of rock and sand wasn't covering any crevasses.... would have given right away.

As we crossed the plateau, we realized we had even further to drop through more grassy fields and increasing signs of industry.... turns out the next cabane was located directly at a mine site - sweet! Don't drink the water, for fear of the heavy metals... but no worries, you can buy some for 8 chf.

The real kicker, however, was the fact that the fog had really descended upon us, and the poorly signed path seemed to be taking us uphill again. A quick consult with the map brought realizations that I still hadn't quite gotten the hang of translating the swiss topo graphics into reality. They are beautiful maps which are wonderful to look at, but they lack the detail of the USGS 40k series. Makes sense, I guess... we developed lots of our good maps to best deprive the earth of minerals and other resources. By the time those type of detailed maps were being made, people had already explored everything in the Alps, and knew where any resources already were. Thanks for the maps, Halliburton.

As we climbed up into the fog the cabane finally revealed itself... which was funny because it was only about 10' in front of us. Good thing we weren't walking too fast. A quick hustle inside and we found our room and began the long process of drying out, which to be fair, didn't really end for another day or so. We chatted with our friends who had made it through the rain- some arriving just in front of us, and the Aussies arriving quite a ways after - I think they missed the rain and really wanted to soak it all in. The night was filled with card playing, route planning, beta gathering from a German guide, and some dinner... deep fried veggie burgers, yum.

Cabane de Praleuri. Nice folks here, but what a shit-hole. Cold shower, cramped rooms. A must-skip.

The next day called for precipitation, but not in the form of rain. And it was supposed to be significantly colder - any guesses?

August 28, 2012 - Haute Route: Champex - Cab du Mont Fort

Day two of the Haute Route.

Our general strategy for tackling the walker's Haute Route in 10 days was to skip out on stages that  simply paralleled a road walking down a valley. There are numerous stages that fell into this category. I'm sure they're beautiful hikes for the most part, but we had a short time frame in country, and were there to see the grand views above treeline. Really this trip was just one big beta gathering expedition, and from what we've learned so far, we should have just gone to Chamonix and climbed everyday :)

Our route for day 2. Champex -> Le Chable was a stage on its own, but it just walked down the valley to Sembrancher, so we skipped it.

We boarded the post bus from Champex-post (ie the post station in Champex - center of town). It seemed that every morning the first bus was 0825, and so it was on this day. The post bus driver again amazed us with his amazing ability to navigate sheer switchbacks with a full coach style bus, while avoiding the infrequent cow or compact car on the road. The bus took us down the switchbacks to Orsieres where we waited for a train to Le Chable via Sembrancher. While switching trains in Sembrancher we gazed up at the NE ridge of Le Catogne:

Climb right from the train station

Check out that ridgeline! How sweet would that be to walk from the train station and run up that guy! The ridge stepeens out of the trees at around 750m, and the top of the rocky portion of the ridge is at about 1150m - 400 meters of vertical! And then there is the steep shadowed face... oh Osieres, we'll be back (maybe-probably not, see comments above regarding Chamonix).

Our second train brought us to the foot of the Verbier ski madness. I can't imagine what that place must look like in the winter. There were houses way up on the hill where I figure they must get totally covered in snow. Many of the houses had full wooden shutters for when they get snowbound. Not wanting to miss out on another mode of mass transport for the day, we bought a ticket for the lifts instead of walking the 1000+ meters up to the Cabane. We figured walking uphill under ski lifts was similar to walking downhill along valley roads, and we also mentally used the "honeymoon" excuse as we bought our tickets. We found out from friends later that the hike was actually rather enjoyable, oh well - we'll be back Verbier! (probably not - see comments above regarding Chamonix).

At the top of the lift we figured we had really pushed ourselves too hard up to that point and decided a pique-nique was in order (that is, we wanted to eat a lunch of bread and cheese followed by chocolate). We laid out on the side of the road in the alpine sunshine and ate our lunch as we watched paragliders sprint downhill before jumping into the air... pretty cool. The walk over to the cabane was fairly straightforward, and we arrived after about 1.5 hours from the lift.

pique-nique atop Verbier with paragliders readying for the takeoff

Scenery wasn't too bad for a hike...

Cab du Mont Fort

A horrible picture of the Grand Combin. This one we would come back to climb, joking about Chamonix aside.

Cabane du Mont Fort was the first cabin on our trek, and it is owned by the Suisse Alpine Club. They generally do things well - keep the cabane clean, and in good working order. Mont Fort was no exception, but the location left a bit to be desired against my imagination of an alpine cabin. It was smack dab in the middle of the Verbier ski area - there were lifts going right by the cabane. Would have been amazing in the winter, but I was hoping for a bit more of a remote feeling.... though this is the Alps! Can't complain... we took a bus, train and ski lift on our hike today....

beautiful fields all around our hike above Verbier

Nicole posed for a picture in the flowers. Not sure what these foundations were for. Check the elephant in the background....

We relaxed out on the patio and took in the views of the Aiguille d'Argentiere peaks off to the southwest. We learned that the main route for the next day's hike was closed, so we'd have to climb up a slightly more exposed and rocky col instead, in likely deteriorating weather, yay! We ganged up with a few other teams of trekkers in our planning, though, and by the next morning we were not a bunch of random folks on the trail, but the "Aussies" leading the way with the GPS (not really needed though) and the London crew + suisse / canadaian to help us read the french on the signposts (not really needed, as the signposts just said the name of the town :)

Aiguille d'Argentiere and nearby peaks. This was the money view from the cabane patio...

Just as dinner was being served the weather started to come in. The rain clouds gave plenty of warning as they swept up the valley and slowly enveloped the cabane. The rain didn't last too long, however, and soon after a strong rainbow formed directly over the Col de la chaux, our first climb on tap in the morning!

virga, which quickly became rain, and enveloped our cabane

rainbow over the col de la Chaux (center right)

already framed, had to take it!

After enjoying some ridiculously rich macaroni and cheese, we chatted with new friends in the dining room and eventually went up to our room and fell asleep to the sounds of cowbells and light rainfall. We were all hoping it would blow over by the next day. And yeah, seriously... the cowbells were loud. I have video evidence from a few days later when we found their secret hideout.

Well marked.