Walkers Haute Route Trek July 2011

Walkers Haute Route trek July 2011- Day 4 to Day 6

Col du Torrent, dir Zinalrothorn

Les Hauderes

Above La Sage

Day 4- 14^th July, Cabane du Prafleuri to Arolla: A cold and moody start with low cloud and missal as we ascended the Col du Roux 2804 meters, no fabulous views today of Lac Dix from the col although the weather was set to improve as the day went along. Once we had descended to the lake we enjoyed a 3 kilometres of easy walking as we contoured the shore. Unfortunately easy walking doesn’t last long on the Haute Route as we

made our way steeply (very steeply at times) up to the Col du Reitmann 2919 metres. Still no views to be had for the majority of the day which was disappointing for the team as views are stunning all day long given the right kind of weather.

Col du Torrent, dir Dent Blanche

Col du Torrent, dir Mont Blanc

Day 5- 15^th July, Arolla to Les Hauderes: We normally class this day as our day off with an easy descent to Les Hauderes, with 2 hours easy walking maximum… or so we thought, when a topless youth who guarded the path below Guineele told us that the path was closed for maintenance and we had to ascend back to the road and walk to Les Hauderes through avalanche tunnels via the main road, not the best of routes!! Nonetheless although this set us back time wise we still managed a free afternoon.

Lac Moiry 

Day 6- 16^th July, Les Hauderes to Grimentz:  A long, long day ahead as we climbed up out of the valley bottom from Les Hauderes a 1600 metre ascent to the Co du Torrent 2916 metres. Fabulous weather gave us great views all the way to the col, we looked back towards Arolla and beyond finally getting to see some of the peaks and glaciers we missed on day 4, Mont Colon, Pigne d’Arolla and Dent Blanche truly stunning. Once we reached the col we enjoyed fabulous 360° views with the Weisshorn to the east, Zinalrothorn to the south east and Mont Blanc to the west. An easy descent took us down to the barrage du Moiry and following the river we reached our destination, Grimentz.

Mont Blanc Treks Walkers Route trek information

montblanctreks' photostream

montblanctreks' photostream on Flickr.

Check out the new Mont Blanc Treks photos from the July Walkers Haute Route Trek from Chamonix to Zermatt.

Walkers Haute Route Trek July 2011

Haute Route Trek July 2011 Days 1 - 3

July saw the first of the Mont Blanc Treks summer Haute Route’s a tough two weeks ahead covering more than 160 kilometres, ascending and descending over 7,000 metres and passing over 11 high mountain cols.

Col du Balme, Mont Blanc

Day 1- 11^th July, Le Tour to Champex Lac: We started from Chamonix on a sunny Sunday morning and headed for the first of the cols , Col du Blame 2191metres on the French/ Swiss boarder and down to Trient before ascending more than 1400 meters to our second col of the day ‘Fenettre d’Arpette’ at 2665 metres. 21 kilometres later we arrived tired and weary in the beautiful Swiss village of Champex Lac.

Trient Glacier

Champex-Lac

Day 2- 12^th July, Champex Lac to Cabane du Mont Fort: An easier day today as we descended from Champex Lac to Chable where we took the telepherique to Les Runnettes above Verbier and completed the short walk to the Cabane du Mont Fort at 2473 metres. We enjoyed fantastic views back towards the Mont Blanc massif and the Grand Combine over on the Swiss/ Italian boarder.

Heading towards Sembrancher

Early start leaving Champex-Lac

Cabane du Mont Fort 

Day 3- 13^th July, Cabane du Mont Fort to Cabane du Prafleuri:  A tough couple of days ahead so and poor weather forecast getting worse after midday meant an early start in order to get to our destination before the heavy rain and low temperatures.  We were soon at the first of today’s 3 cols, Col du Termin 2648 meters via the Sentier du Chamois, the weather was better than expected and we even enjoyed views of the Grand Combin massif. From here we headed up steeply to the Col du Louvie at 2921 metres before descending into the Grand Desert a stunning expanse of moraine and glacial lakes that have been left by the receding Grand Desert Glacier. From here the weather turned cold and wet and we knew we had to get the Cabane du Prafleuri as soon as possible. The group were moving well as we climbed up to the Col du Prafleuri 2987 metres we arrived at the Cabane below the Col in a very respectable 6 hours from hut to hut. A well-timed day of high level trekking as the worst of the weather came in within 15 minutes after we had arrived. Heavy rain, hail, snow & strong winds took hold making it very difficult for those groups we had passed en-route.

Col du Louvie

Grand Glacier

Cabane du Prafleuri

More to follow.