July Act 1 - the Haute Route
Table of contents:
- July Prologue - Family in Switzerland, Haute Route prep
- July Act 1 - the Haute Route
- July Act 2 - Matt and Shannon's wedding
- July Act 3 - Yosemite
The event of the year!! The Haute Route is a peak and glacier traverse for non-mortals. The Walker's Haute Route is a 14 stage hut to hut journey from Chamonix to Zermatt.
We did (part of) that one. We intended to do Verbier to Zermatt over 8-9 days but lost the first couple days to deep snow and bad weather. So, all told, about a week of hut to hut hiking in Wallis (aka Valais) with my parents, and with Sasha joining us part way.
Day 1
The first day was a fairly easy day from Arolla to Les Hauderes (Strava link).
Day 2
The second day was Les Hauderes to Cabane du Moiry (Strava). This was a 1700 height meter day, and almost entirely straight up for the first 1200. But it was also one of the most spectacular days
Day 3
The next day we crossed over to the next valley from Moiry to Zinal. It was raining in the morning, but as soon as we finally got all of our rain gear on and motivated to leave, it stopped! Strava
Day 4
Sasha met us the previous afternoon in Zinal, and on Day 4 we hiked to the village of Gruben, in the valley before the Mattertal. Strava
Day 5
On the 5th day, we finally crossed from Gruben into the Mattertal, but we wouldn't see the Matterhorn until the next day as we were too far down the valley. Strava
This was the day of approximately 80 snowfield crossings.
Day 6
This was my final day (Strava). I stashed my pack and walked my family most of the way up to the Europahutte, where they were going to stay the night, but not before we saw:
I brought the Ricoh gr3 and the Minolta TC-1, and shot the Minolta the entire time! (aside from the obvious iPhone pictures).
