The Walker's Haute Route (6)

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Sunday 10 July - Zinal to Grimentz

 A final day's walk for the other five, before reminiscences of items lost on the trip:*

·         Sue's green hat;

·         Betty's luggage ticket;

·         Gaynor's soap.and box;

·         Betty's nerve;

·         various hats at Europahut (found)

·         plus many misplaced and subsequently found items.

Auberge Alpina provided a good breakfast - lots of fresh bread, and bowls of coffee. There was then a big job of sorting out the bill. My aim to give a tip misfired and I was later refunded the SF10 to be used for that.

The aim was to get the 9:30 cablecar to Sorebois, but due to excitement in the supermarket only Dave, Sue and I got it. (I don't know what happened - we had agreed on the time way in advance and I'd been ready since 8:15!) Anyway, it was always going to be a short day, and the three of us were happy to wait with hot chocolates / coffee at the restaurant at Sorebois, high above Zinal at 2428 metres. Again though, the high mountains were shrouded in cloud.

Zinal from the Sorebois cablecar

Gaynor arrived on the 10:00 cablecar - Betty and Dave had chickened out and would get the bus to the Barrage of Moiry and meet us there. 

The rest of us set off at 10:20 but there was a further delay whilst David recovered sunscreen left below in the restaurant. We ascended fairly steep ski access paths and pistes up to the Col de Sorebois - 2840 metres, via the viewpoint at Corne de Sorebois - 2890 metres - 11:45 to 12:05. 

At Corne de Sorebois

Spring, or Short-leaved Gentians

It was clouding over but there were good views of the ridge to the east, and no rain came today. We started the easily graded descent to the Barrage and stopped for a scenic lunch at 12:30 to 13:10, a couple of hundred metres above the Barrage.

By 13:50 we were at the Barrage - a huge dam. Betty and Dave were there to meet us, having bussed it around. We all enjoyed the walk down to Grimentz - so we left the Haute Route at the Barrage and descended on good paths to this picture postcard village.

The road to Grimentz

White False Helleborine

We took it slowly, enjoying the flavour of the alpine scenery. Gaynor had started taking photos of flowers and suddenly realised the extent of the different species! 

The roar of motor cars greeted us as we approached Grimentz, where there was a hill climb in progress up the hairpin strewn road from St Jean. Lots of different classes, from normal road cars (the 3 litre Capri looked good!) to racers with slick tyres.

We ambled on down, past a reasonable looking campsite, to the pretty village, and were soon installed in Hotel le Meleze for €34 each, but no breakfast. (16:30)

So we wandered around and eventually congregated for a nice meal at one of the restaurants. The others insisted on buying my food (not a good choice - assietes - a plate full of different cold meats, the pasta would have been better given my still delicate stomach).

"Hooray, no more suspension bridges!"

It took Dave a couple of hours to work out the bill - more wandering in this pretty place for the rest of us, then a final round of Uno which Sue reluctantly joined in on and won.

I had snaffled a paper table mat with a map on it, and I spotted a route on a board at Tourist Information, so I adjusted my plans for tomorrow to a high-level rather than a contouring route. 

* Note that as well as items being lost, some were also damaged!

·         my Berghaus smock - torn by wire in tunnel;

·         my paclite trousers - ripped on a rock spike;

·         butty box - smashed on journey home;

·         stove box - smashed in pack (stove survived!)

·         trousers - holed by an iron;

·         boots - another eyelet broke on the KSB 300's.

And that's just my stuff!

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The Walker's Haute Route (5)

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Saturday 9 July - Gruben to Zinal

Breakfast was good, followed by an 8:40 start after toilet trips, but no cable car to assist today. After five minutes Sue returned to the hotel for ablutions and I waited, trying to reunite with Sue and David whilst pointing the others up the correct (faint at first) path from Bluarmatt - just up the valley, where a farmer downed his pants in front of Gaynor when she tried to photograph his cows.

Dave and Betty were back with us, and it was a long haul up to Chalte Berg at around 2500 metres, where we stopped for a brew at 11:15 to 11:50 near the site of another of my August 1984 camps. Cloud obscured the spiky panorama about which Showell Styles raves. It will be interesting to revert to the 1984 diaries and photos. (Yes it will! - Ed) A linnet was seen close by on the ascent.

Ascending from Gruben

Black Vanilla Orchid

Early Marsh Orchid

Alpine Pasque Flower

Gaynor (botanist!)

On to the Forcletta Pass, 2874 metres, where again it was cool, with a little light snow. There was steep snow to negotiate just before the pass and for amusement whilst waiting for the dribs and drabs, I gave a bit of guidance on how to use an ice axe. [I'd brought it so I'd use it!] 

Betty struggled with the final section of steep path, and over the snow - she won't do this sort of thing again. The others found it easy. 

We spent only ten minutes on the pass - it was warmer than yesterday's but cloudier. (12:55 to 13:05) The others had found the ascent harder; it was slightly less well graded than yesterday's.

Climbing up towards the Forcletta

Dave approaches the Forcletta

We descended some way over a thin layer of fresh snow to an obvious flatter area where we enjoyed lunch in the presence of a fat mouse/rat, 13.55 to 14:25. 

Descent from the Forcletta

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

From there we descended slowly in light rain to reach Zinal at 5:10 pm on a now grey day. The Auberge Alpina - Sue had again booked ahead, was warm, cosy and compact, in contrast to the cool and spacious Schwartzhorn Hotel. 

The owner was ½ Swiss ½ French and his wife ½ Swiss ½ English.  They had bought the place, next to the campsite, four years ago. It was pretty full and Gaynor would have chosen a single room if one had been available. I got the only one - very compact and cosy and warm. (I remember it well.) All my washing dried easily, even the waterproof socks. 

The downside.... only three toilets for lots of people. The Portuguese chef cooked nice meals - I had a salad montagnarde? - salad with saute potato, bacon and cheese, etc. Gaynor had meatballs and potato (dry looking) and the others had the standard half board meal of spag bol, which looked ok. The English wife was ok, but a bit off-hand with us at times and not as helpful as she might have been. Still, we had a pleasant evening here.

There aren't as many pictures as usual on this trip. Maybe the Canon Powershot S70 stayed stashed away from the rain. Maybe I had a film camera as well and there are a load of prints or slides somewhere. Or maybe I was just feeling unwell and concentrating on leading the group, with Sue doing the accommodation bookings.

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The Walker's Haute Route (4)

Friday 8 July - St Niklaus to Gruben

Another cloudy day. A feature of this trip is the cloud, followed by afternoon drizzle. That means waterproofs are in use every day, but we've had no storms, and intermittent views (glimpses) of high mountains through their shrouds of mist.

Today Betty and Dave travelled by train, bus and foot to Gruben, and the remaining four of us caught the 8:30 cablecar to the small village of Jungen. After Sue had gone shopping for lunch, we started off at 9 am up towards the Augstbordpass, an ascent from 1955 to 2894 metres, the biggest yet. Gaynor slowly recovered from her traumatic ride in the small 4 seater diy cablecar (no attendant at the top).

The path wound gently up through woods before reaching an open area and then skirting around a rock band at about 2500 metres. Around 2400 metres we saw a herd of very healthy looking ibex. Spent some time trying to photograph them. Chamois were also spotted - their short horns and slim build contrasting with the much bulkier pony sized ibex.

We met nine French people descending the well graded path, and wondered where they had started from for them to be coming down so early.

The traverse of the rocky outcrop was successfully completed, then we continued on to the site of my camp in this area in August 1984. It was a good spot for a tea break - 11:30 to 12:10.

Moss Campion

Spring Gentian

Glacier Crowfoot

Now a bit clearer, and 13°C. Soon we were on our way to meet a cold westerly breeze at the top of the pass - 2894 metres, our highest point of the holiday - 13:10 to 13:30.

Good views, so we lingered in the chilly wind. Decided not to go up Schwartzhorn as it was in cloud and above the snowline. It would have been a slippery ascent. 6°C here, and cooler on the west slope.
 

We dropped, in light snow, to 2790 metres for lunch (13:40 to 14:10) and our second brew of the day. Sue and I seem to be the only people really keen on these brews; the others just go along with it. Not all have cups/mugs.

I manage to keep the tin of smoked herring (ie two kippers) down, and spend the rest of the trip eating fairly normally but with recurring stomach cramps etc morning and evening.

It was a pleasant descent through woods to the Hotel Schwartzhorn, where Sue had booked one double room, plus me and Gaynor the dortoir. 

The rain thickened soon after our timely 4 pm arrival in drizzle. I went next door to the small shop to re-supply with two days' lunches, and met Betty and Dave at the end of their walk. They were soon booked into another double room in this spacious, but cold and ugly place. 

We had seen lots of Mountain Pansies today, but Edelweiss seems more prevalent around Zermatt. Good views of the route up Meidpass from today's descent, but the Forcletta route was not visible. 

The set meal of pork and rice - part of the half board deal - was uninspiring. 

More people had arrived and the dortoir was rather noisy in the night.

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The Walker's Haute Route (3)

David leaving Europa Hut - click on any image for a slideshow

Thursday 7 July - Europa Hut to St Niklaus

I woke before 7 am with stomach cramps that got steadily worse. I tried some breakfast but was sick soon afterwards. Then during the walk I ate nothing and had three toilet stops. This caused some delay.

We worked out the bill for last night and set off on a gently rising belvedere path, passing close under the unseen Breithorn (3178 m).

                                                          Europa Hut

The crossing of a suspension bridge in the mist fazed Betty, as did one or two gullies and a huge boulder field as we rose to a high point of 2690 metres before dropping through the boulders.

Two herds of black and white goats - the front black and the back white, were encountered. The second one at the start of our long descent to St Niklaus. The animals were fat, healthy, tagged and friendly. Gaynor's excess bread was used to entice them into photogenic poses.

There were occasional glimpses of the valley, where the railway carriages could be heard trundling along relentlessly. 

We got through the hard section before stopping for lunch (13:40 - 14:00). I hadn't the energy to brew up - accepted some tea from Sue.

Then a long ascent, passing a statue of St Bernard which appeared to commemorate the fairly recent construction of the Europaweg - situated on the crest of the ridge north of the Breithorn at about 2460 metres. On this next section the Matterhorn should have come into view for the first time for those coming the other way. We didn't see it today.

Gasenried was passed at around 4 pm; we didn't visit the village but stayed in the woods to descend right down to St Niklaus by around 5:20. It rained a bit on this last section. My paclite jacket was now also ripped from a wire in a tunnel under a scree slope. The scree slope tunnel had caused more problems than just my ripped anorak. The others were dubious about it as there had been a small collapse inside it - but we got through. [NB Actually this was just before we reached the Europa Hut yesterday, and we met two men with huge axes today, who may have been out to repair the damage.]

Anyway we found a B&B in St Niklaus. I got a good single room and was recovered enough to do washing and shave, and keep down a chicken salad at a nearby restaurant. 

Discovered London had been bombed by Al-Qaeda terrorists today - 50+ dead.

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