Ascent: 4,300 ft
Descent: 3,855 ft
Pass:
Forcletta: 9,429 ft
While we had been in a low-lying village the night before (Zinal - 5,495 ft.) we were soon back onto a high pass and had a stunning few of yet a new mountain range, which included our first views of the Bishorn (13,625 ft.) and Weisshorn (14,783 ft.), which are part of the Pennine Alps. While the passes we crossed everyday were a lot of work to get over we were nearly always rewarded at the top with spectacular views of a mountain range we had not previously seen, which is a part of the attraction and beauty of the Haute Route.
We ended up in Gruben, which is a very small town. The town seemed to have no more than a dozen or so houses, which mainly seemed to be summer vacation cottages. There were also a few farm huts and quite a few cows up the sides of the steep valley -- and the valley was always filled with the ever-present Swiss cow-bell jingle. The Gruben Valley is apparently only occupied in the summer.
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| We started the day with a nice forest walk, which had a surprising length of relatively level trail. |
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| A lunch break atop the Forcletta. |
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| A typical trail lunch. This bread loaf lasted several days and weighted about five pounds -- it was some seriously dense and hearty bread! |
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| We hit a bit of snow on the pass' shadow side. |
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| ...and walked through some lovely meadows. |
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| Our first view of the Weisshorn. |
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| The entire town of Gruben, with the large building being our hotel, although we ended up in an annex dorm down the street. |
