Haute Route Day 4

28-07-2016  Haute Route Day 4

      
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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)

Haute Route Day 4 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.

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.

Haute Route Day 3

27-07-2016  Haute Route Day 3

      
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15K

3: Champex Lac to Le Chable, valley walk

Lodging: Hotel de la Poste

Haute Route Day 3 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.

Champex-Lac to Le Chable

Today we woke up and had breakfast in the front room of the hotel with lots of windows.  I talked to an Austrian woman that wanted to tell me how much she has been training to walk the Haute Route, and demanded that I check out her legs.  I kept eye contact and said that I was sure they were great, not giving in to her demands!  Ha!  

Champex Lac

The walk today was an active recovery day, with only a slight decent and no real elevation gain.  We passed through pastoral farming villages along the way.  We went slow and enjoyed the scenery, and that was the way to go.  No one was out in the little towns, which was weird.  It almost seemed that they were abandoned or that we were on a movie set.  I’m not sure if the people were out working somewhere else or if the houses were vacation homes, but in a farming community you would think there would be people out tending the land.  Maybe they only come out at night.  A vampire village perhaps?  

I think this guy is still used.

Thomas had a great description of this Swiss magician bird.

We arrived in Sembrancher around noon and set up camp at a local water fountain.  Lunch was a pate made out of elk, local sausage, bread and local cheese.  Then, Thomas had to make his banana, peanut butter, and chocolate concoction.  

Shade, eats, and water = Good Time

Hazelnuts - not quite ready to eat.

The outskirts of Le Chable

After lunch we walked through a quarry, passed a lake, and stomped some more trail to get to La Chable.  Katherine and I took a nap while Anne and Thomas took a walk through the town.  Once we woke up, we headed to buy lunch food and snacks, purchased micro-spikes for my shoes, and secured more money from an ATM to pay for the huts out in the wilderness and supplies along the way.  This would be our last day with an ATM until Zinal, which we would reach 6 days later.

Yes please!  What a hunting rig.

A Swiss bunker in the side of the mountain.

We ended up eating at the local bar/restaurant across the street from the hotel.  The “rare” beef burgers were amazing.  The waitress was from Crete and as the place filled up, no one came to help her, so it got kind of crazy in there.  On the way out, we ran into three British dudes on a motorcycle road trip, so of course we had to get pictures.  Well at least Anne and Thomas were not afraid to hop on cruisers for a photo op.  Anne is going to get her motorcycle license soon, so she wanted to get a feel for which new ride is in her future!

They'll take it!

Tomorrow’s hike will have a HUGE elevation gain, so sleep time came early.  We will be in our first hut above the Verbier ski resort tomorrow night.  Here we go!