28-07-2016 Haute Route Day 4
12.9 Kilometers
La Chable to Mont Fort Cabin (Verbier)
Lodging: Cabane du Mont Fort 75 Suisse Franc or 1/2 Pension (ouch! but worth it)
Click on the link above and download it to your computer. Then, open Google Earth and manually open and you can see the trail in 3D.
La Chable to Mont Fort Cabin (Verbier)
Today we had a GIANT ascent from La Chable to the Cabane du Mont Fort, which is run by the CAS. We started out walking through the damp, chilly morning dew, climbing and climbing. For a while we were under the ski lifts and cable car, but we soon traversed into the much quieter section of forest. The village and ski resort town, Verbier, was soon in our sights.
We had a very nice hotel room in LeChable which meant, plenty of room to do laundry!
Ascending to Verbier
Colors everywhere!
Upon reaching the top of the ski resort, we witnessed a paraglider launch area. Paragliders had been circling over us for quite some time, but now that we were closer it was interesting to stop and watch the take off zone. Anne and Thomas had gone ahead of us and secured a bench. When Katherine and I arrived they had lunch waiting for us. How nice! We just sat down and enjoyed the views.
After our short lunch break we traversed the mountain towards the hut. This was our first hut and we had no idea what to expect. After we crossed some flower strewn sections, we were there, or we thought. We had to round the backside of the cabin and make another brief ascent to the patio.
On the patio, we saw lots of day trekkers enjoying the views and eating the food from the hut restaurant. We set our packs down and took off our boots. The air was fresh and the scenery was very dramatic. I tried a few time lapse shots with the GoPro and was impressed. Take a look.
Soon, the crowd thinned out and we checked in with the hut attendant. We left our shoes in the boot room and were guided upstairs to our four person dorm where we set up camp. There were wash troughs with hot water for us to clean up, and showers if you wanted to pay extra. Showers were 5 Suisse Franc for 3 minutes.
Chill Time!
Napping Suisse Style
In the huts, you have dinner all together at the same time. The tables are reserved for your party and there are several courses (3 or 4) brought out as your finish the last. Usually the first course is soup, if there is a second course it is salad, then your main course and finally a small dessert. Some meals are served family style, and others are plated for you. Hikers are hungry, so this is a much needed refueling session with high calorie, hearty foods. Some of the guests at Cabana du Mont Fort were not impressed with the food, but from their reaction, I don’t think they would ever be impressed. I guess they forgot where they were.
Tired hikers also go to bed early, so when the sun set at 9:15pm, we crawled back upstairs and found our beds. Tomorrow will take us up and over 3 cols and into some very remote and desolate areas.
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