Distance: 10.0 miles
Ascent: 2,900 ft
Descent: 4,500 ft
Passes:
Col des Roux: 8,448 ft
Col de Chevres: 9,367 ft
This was supposed to be the second most difficult day of the trek and would involve the much anticipated/dreaded "ladders" pass crossing at Col de Chevers. For days the conversation at the various cabanes had always come back to "are you going to Arolla and do you plan to go over the ladders"? Most hikers answered along the lines of "we're thinking about it, but we will have to see when we get there."
In any event, we had a big early morning pass to cross and five hours of walking before we could even worry about the ladders. In anticipation of a long day we set off early and were hiking in the drizzle by a little after 7 am. The weather was somewhat "iffy" as the day started but improved mid-day - only to turn a bit more ominous as we reached our late-day pass. In the end, the rain and snow did hold off so we stayed dry and footing wasn't affected by the moisture.
As expected, this ended up being a long and tiring day. I believe this ended up being close to a nine-and-a-half-hour hiking day. This included a few rest stops -- maybe three of 10 minutes or so each -- and 20 minutes for lunch, but the rest was hiking. The day was filled with challenges as well as amazing high-mountain scenery.
The ladders: At the bottom of the Pas de Chèvres is a dramatic climb up a steep rock face, which is negotiated by climbing ladders which are 30-35 meters (100-115 feet). The ladders are loosely hung on hooks bolted into the rock face, and they shake and vibrate quite a lot as one goes up. Nether Michael or I looked up or down as we climbed, which I think is typical; we just stayed focused -- hand, hand, foot, foot and always making sure to have three "grounded" contact points. Others who went down the ladders after we went up used climbing robes to secure themselves. These things were a bit nerve-wracking, and we were both a bit shaky/exhilarated after finishing the climb.
Ascent: 2,900 ft
Descent: 4,500 ft
Passes:
Col des Roux: 8,448 ft
Col de Chevres: 9,367 ft
In any event, we had a big early morning pass to cross and five hours of walking before we could even worry about the ladders. In anticipation of a long day we set off early and were hiking in the drizzle by a little after 7 am. The weather was somewhat "iffy" as the day started but improved mid-day - only to turn a bit more ominous as we reached our late-day pass. In the end, the rain and snow did hold off so we stayed dry and footing wasn't affected by the moisture.
As expected, this ended up being a long and tiring day. I believe this ended up being close to a nine-and-a-half-hour hiking day. This included a few rest stops -- maybe three of 10 minutes or so each -- and 20 minutes for lunch, but the rest was hiking. The day was filled with challenges as well as amazing high-mountain scenery.
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| The weather is looking a bit questionable as we head for the morning's first pass. |
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The hike did involve an easy and flat hour-long walk along Lake Dix, and under relatively sunny conditions. One portion of the lake trail we dubbed "marmot city" as the little creatures were everywhere. We also saw quite a few Ibex (large mountain antelope) after crossing the first pass - a few of which were locking horns. |
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| This boulder field seemed to go on way too long. In part, this may have been because we got "off-trail" and had to double back a bit -- making the crossing of the field go on for well over an hour. The trail here is marked on rocks every 30 yards or so. There is no "path" as such so one must just pick a way from marking to marking. |
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| This is a view of the Col de Chevres pass. The pass is the notch in the right-center of the photo where the clouds are sneaking through. As can be seen from the next photo, there wasn't really a conventional "trail" that was available to get to the pass. What the climb required was an initial thirty minutes or so scrambling up a very steep slope, practically on all fours, and securing whatever holds one could find using trekking poles and digging into loose rocks and dirt with boot toes. I kept Michael close above me for this section of the hike as a slip here seemed as if it would easy, and would definitely have had bad consequences. |
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| The beginning of the stretch of "chains" (bolted to the wall) leading to the ladders. The footing here ranged from poor to barely existent. |
The ladders: At the bottom of the Pas de Chèvres is a dramatic climb up a steep rock face, which is negotiated by climbing ladders which are 30-35 meters (100-115 feet). The ladders are loosely hung on hooks bolted into the rock face, and they shake and vibrate quite a lot as one goes up. Nether Michael or I looked up or down as we climbed, which I think is typical; we just stayed focused -- hand, hand, foot, foot and always making sure to have three "grounded" contact points. Others who went down the ladders after we went up used climbing robes to secure themselves. These things were a bit nerve-wracking, and we were both a bit shaky/exhilarated after finishing the climb.
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A climber before us tackles the ladders...the bottom ladder is a bit less vertical than the others. The second and longest of the three ladders has very small round iron bars as rungs, which are sometimes very tight against the wall and makes it difficult to get more than an inch of boot on a rung at a time.
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A view of the third and shortest of the three ladders, from the top. The other sections
are to the right and not visible in this picture. As one climbs up you must "step"
from the second ladder sideways over to the third (about 70 ft up) - a delicate step! Climbing three tall ladders bolted vertically to a sheer rock wall does indeed get the heart racing.
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The hour-long boulder field traverse; a 30-minute climb up a virtually vertical slop,
which required lots of strength to make sure poles were very firmly planted; a 60
yard shuffle around a ledge holding on with both hands to a chain bolted into the rock wall; and then climbing the ladders leaves Michael visibly exhausted and a bit shaken. The day's remaining two-hour descent to Arolla was tough. This was a very challenging day for us both.
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After a tiring day we hit a bit of a fiasco as we tried to stay in La Sage and couldn't find a room. This required us to go back to Les Hauderes, which was about a half-hour away. We were too exhausted to walk so we talked a kind Swiss family into giving us a ride!
Les Hauderes ended up being our favorite town. We stayed at a very simple pension, but the town was great and had a beautiful old-town section. They also happened to be having their annual summer festival, which involved beer, sausages, bands, Swiss horns and people dressed in traditional outfits. Like most places we stayed this was a very small town and there didn't seem to be any other non-Swiss tourists there.
We were often surprised at how "Swiss" the Swiss towns were -- people really did eat fondue, live in old traditional timber houses and, of course, every house was decorated with loads of red geraniums. Rural Switzerland is an amazing mix of traditional and modern that somehow seem to seamlessly blend.
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| Festival ladies. |
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| The horns they seem to blow at sunset in many of the small Swiss towns. We encountered this in at least four towns although this was an unusually large collection of horn players. |
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Recovery Mode: We went to this great place for dinner. They only had one thing on the menu -- steak fondue -- so that's what we got. It came with soup, salad, and the fondue -- it was a fantastic meal and just what we needed to replenish our energy. This was a bit of a splurge to celebrate finishing the previous two days of the hike.
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| Did I mention the six-item desert plate that was included for each of us? Fantastic! |
