Haute Route Day 5

29-07-2016  Haute Route Day 5


      
    Haute Route 1 on Vimeo               Haute Route 2 on Vimeo          Haute Route 3 on Vimeo

Mont Fort to Cabane de Prafleuri

 12.3 Kilometers

Lodging: Cabane Prafleuri 27 Suisse Franc per person, 28 for dinner, 15 for breakfast, must call and reserve ahead! It was very full.

Haute Route Day 5 Google Earth File

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.

Mont Fort to Cabane de Prafleuri

Looking back to Cabane du Mont Fort as we departed in the morning. 

Attaining Col de la Chaude.  Mont Fort is behind the lake.

Col de la Chaude

Today we conquered three huge cols and snow like crazy!  Since it will be August in a couple days, we expected to encounter very little snow on the trek.  The guide book suggested that no special equipment (ice axes and crampons) should be needed unless you choose to hike in early or late season.  We searched out intel from locals during the first couple days of the walk, and they suggested we carry micro spikes.  See below.

Micro spikes are in no way crampons, but help you out on the crispy ice.

Our first glimpse of ibex.  This group was not shy.  

Anne and Thomas heading over Col de Louvie

We bought some for insurance and were glad we did today.  If the rest of the trail is like this, we have no idea what we will do as we are not prepared to hike for days in the snow.  There was one section the was really sketchy without ropes and I have no idea how the other groups managed.  Our Canadian friends were behind us with very large packs, so the tricky rock/ice section might just gobble them up.  I hope not.  Most of the day was not technical or dangerous, but it was annoying to walk through snow without the proper footwear.  Anne and Thomas made easy work of the downhill sections by sledding down on their ponchos while Katherine and I  decided to glissade and sometimes sled down by mistake.  

We were following these markers all over the trail, and this one happened to be HUGE.  You could see it descending the previous col from a mile out.

Col de Prafleuri took us by surprise.  It was another rough one to make it a 3 col day.

The col smasher, me. 

Katherine with the massif in the background.  Wow!

After what felt like a very long day, we finally arrived at Cabane de Prafleuri.  The hut is part of an old quarry that was mined for rock to build the giant barrage (dam) lower down the valley.  The ruins are a little messy and out of place, but it made me feel like we were back in Nevada with mining and railroad debris.  

At the cabin we talked with a group from the USA.  They were a guided group from Salt Lake, San Francisco, Montana, and New Jersey.  The guy from New Jersey brought a full sized drone for panoramic video and interesting views.  I was chilling out on the patio in one of my favorite “Coca-Cola” chairs and watched him take it straight up in the wind to over 600 feet!  Thomas brought a drone as well, but a much more compact and lightweight one that makes more sense when you are carrying all your other gear as well.  The guided group has their luggage driven to the next accommodation while they hike with a very light day pack, so I guess the heavy drone was not too much for their particular circumstance.  The New Jersey man’s (never got his name) knee had an ice pack on it though, so maybe the drone was still a little too much for him to carry.  Oh well, I am sure that his video will be worth it at the expense of his knee.

Hopefully tomorrow will be mostly snow free.  If not, we will have some difficult trekking ahead.  At dinner the hut keepers alerted us that a weather system is moving into the area tomorrow, so we plan to get an early start to be over the passes by lunch time.

Ibex tracks in the muddy meadow.