Haute Route 2010

I'm not quite sure where to start other than to say that Pete and I had the most spectacular, amazing trip to the Alps this summer! I started typing up a diary that I kept whilst I was out there but unless you are into essay reading, that was looking a little excessive, so I shall attempt to summarise!

Our first day involved a nice cable car ride up to Charamillon, followed by a 2 hour walk into the Albert Premier hut. I was astounded by the views even at this stage! There followed a huge and very tasty meal - the first of many to come. Day 2 meant crossing my first ever glacier, Le Tour, very exciting, but nothing too technical, which I was very pleased about. Spectacular views as the sun rose, and yet more spectacular views all day - and all week to be fair! A lot of puffing and blowing took place, which I'm hoping was due to altitude and not general unfitness! Once we had crossed the glaciers, there was a long hot slog up to a chairlift down to Champex, and then a bus ride to a very posh hotel, which I hadn't intended to book but very much enjoyed!

Our third day involved following a long path up to the Valsorey Hut in gradually deteriorating weather. Nothing too terrible, just not sunny and starting feel a tad chilly! Chocolate box scenery though. Unfortunately, when we arrived we discovered that the forecast for the following day was not so good, so we decided to take a rest day. Steve Green and Keith joined us in the evening which made for a pleasant evening swapping stories.

The four of us set off together for what would be an amazing day involving glacier crossing, slipping down tiny (I hope!) crevasses on a snow bridge and scrambling over scree and ice mush! There was a river rushing underneath one of the glaciers which meant that we could see beautiful blue ice inside the large crevasses and hear the noise of water when we could see none around us. At one point, we could see the Chanrion Hut, where we were heading, but had to do a 600m descent followed by a huge ascent to get there!

The next day saw Pete and I head off a different way to Steve and Keith, but we would meet again! Pete and I had a long slow trudge up the Otemma Glacier. I was incredibly shattered, feeling the effects of altitude I think. We also later discovered that my bag was heavier than Pete's, a situation soon remedied! During the course of the day, we heard the low rumble of rocks or ice falling and looked up to see ibex trotting along an impossibly high vertical slope! This was the first day when I saw Pete struggling with the navigation, a situation (he says) caused by the glaciers having receded massively compared to the maps and guidebook description. When we arrived at th impossibly perched Vignettes Hut, we had a much needed lunch and discovered that they accepted credit cards, which meant beer and chocolate all round!

At Vignettes Hut, we teamed up with two Welsh guys, and proceeded to have a day which one might expect in Scotland, a particularly wet day in Scotland! There were a few hairy moments when the edges of crevasses crumbled as we crossed them, but otherwise, it was a case of heads down and gortex up! We found a little 'bothy' part way and sheltered from the rain there for a while, along with a few others who were not looking like they were having the best time ever!! The climb up to the Bertol Hut was interesting to say the least. There were ladders - think via ferrata without gear! I was not too impressed, but there was relatively little swearing! We teamed up with Keith and Steve again, along with another couple of Brits, making a total of 8 of us. We had the hut to ourselves for a while before we were joined by 30 loud students!

In the morning, we were up at 4.30, but discovered that the forecast was poor. Adter much deliberation, we took another rest day, but couldn't venture out as the rather precarious ladders were now covered in ice and the view extended about as far as my nose! Unfortunately, we had decided to take a snow day at the place with the worst, smelliest, mingingest toilet in the Alps, possibly even the world!

However, it was all worth it. The final day, which ended up being very long due to our two bad weather days, was absolutely breathtaking. We roped together as two groups of 4, and crossed several glaciers, made particularly tricky by the recent snowfall. The view from the top of the Tete Blanche was possibly the best I have ever ever seen. It was just stunning. We also saw the Matterhorn and in fact the whole day was just beautiful!! We stopped at the Schonbiel Hut on the way down, where we had been intending to spend the night. There we had beers and food, before continuing (in sandals!) down to Zermatt, where we finally arrived at about 6pm. There we had more beers, and some very expensive food, which I'm not sure we enjoyed as much as we should have done as we spent most of the meal desperately trying to keep our eyes open.

To summarise, this was an amazing holiday. Thanks so much to Pete for being my free mountain guide, and to Steve and Keith and all the others we met who made the holiday so fantastic!

For more photos see: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30089&id=288800670&l=b89d35defe