Swiss and French Alps

So much has been said and written about majestic Alps, and I had  lot of visions and expectations. Only few months ago I red Maurice Herzog's Annapurna, and learned about the early days of mountaineering in the Chamonix Valley. I imagined Alps to be swarmed with hikers every step of the way, and have hence planned for some quieter routes. What I found most of the time, regardless of where we went, was the quietness of the immense mountain range that filled the horizon for hundreds of kilometres.

Grindelwald Valley

Our story began with lots of rain and clouds, green grass and the sound of Swiss cow bells around Grindelwald. While we felt the presence of Eiger, Munsch and  Jungfrau, we only caught quick glimpses of their rocky faces. At the same time, the rain intensified sounds and smells, and the feeling of mountain freshness dominated us.

A very unique experience was the train ride up and through the tunnel drilled in the rock of Eiger mountain, into the clouds and onto the viewing platforms and glaciers at 3500m altitude, where we were surrounded by many tourists who have never seen snow before. Seeing women in short dresses and kids having snowball fights, while feeling the deadly cold North Face of Eiger behind us was as surreal as the price we paid for the privilege!

A ten second break in the clouds allowed us to see the top of Monch, 4107m.

Matterhorn

Leaving Heidi-land, Richard and I headed south towards Zermatt, the famous snow resort, at the foot of Matterhorn. The drive was fun, as at about 100km south of Interlaken, the road seized and we were loaded onto a cargo train that took us through a 15km tunnel to bring us close to the entrance to Mattertaal (Matterhorn valley). Zermatt is a clean village that bans cars. While everything is reachable on foot, there are soundless electric mini-buses to drive you around if needed. To reach Zermatt, we parked in Tasch and took a 12 minute train that arrived on the dot, as expected in Switzerland. While all surrounding valleys are French speaking, Mattertaal has a strong German heritage.

We stayed in a beautiful, cozy and friendly Bristol hotel and got upgraded to a room with the special view. The first day, however, the view was hidden in the clouds and we did some running, sightseeing, local hiking and eating Swiss cheeses and fantastic German strudels and cakes, and drinking local Savoie wines. 

The second day we woke up to this heavenly view!











Perfect day as it was, it got better and better. We started the hike through the eastern part of Zermatt called Winkelmatten at below 1000m up over Riffelalp and Riffelberg, to Gornergrat at 3500m. Except for the initial 1.5 hours through the forest, we spent most of the day surrounded by Matterhorn on one side, and Monte Rosa Massif on another, with numerous fantastic looking mountain tops, lakes and glaciers in between. I could only imagine how wonderful the skiing would be here and promised myself to check it out one lucky day.

Every hour or so, on our left, a cog railway mountain train was bringing tourists up to Gornergrat, making these beautiful mountains accessible to everyone!

Mont Blanc

Sad to say good bye to the perfection of the Alpine experience that Switzerland has created for us, we drove on to check out the biggest one of all - Mont Blanc in Chamonix Valley. There, we just caught it in the sunset. It is amazing how exposed Mont Blanc is - from anywhere in Chamonix at about 1000m, a single mountain mass raises to 4810m to make it the highest mountain in Europe (apart from Elbrus on the border with Asia).

The first day in the valley, we decided to take it easy. After barely finding a parking spot and going through the typical French experience of waiting in line for an hour ( seeing only two ticket windows open, remanded me of the longest ever line I saw in Versailles last year, when thousands of people were stranded, funnily, also behind two ticket windows), we boarded La Flegere gondola up to 1,877m and then hiked for a couple of hours to Lac Blanc at 2352m. We didn't mind the tourists here and it felt more like a scenic walk with Mont Blanc always in sight, on the opposite side of the valley. 

We finished the day with a nice stroll through Chamonix's lovely pedestrian zone checking out the posh sports shops and restaurants featuring French and Alpine cuisine. As we had tried raclette and fondue in Switzerland, this time I feasted on Escorse de Sapiu baked round cheese accompanied with salat and boiled potatoes,  and Maison Trosset wine from Savoy.

The second day, well rested and ready for a challenging adventure, we took the wonderful Bossons ski chair up to 1425m, then hiked for a couple of hours through the pine forest to reach Chalet des Pyramides on the slopes of Mont Blanc. Soon after, we had Bossons glacier on our left and could see the Taconnaz  glacier on the right, hiking higher through plateau des Pyramies to La Jonction at ca. 2500m, where two glaciers merge and form the kingdom of ice that covers the top of Mont Blanc. For hikers planning to do this route, there is some scrambling and few steep drops near the top, everything very doable if you are a sturdy hiker. We met few kids and dogs along the way. The boulders at La Jonction are a perfect spot for lunch under the ice pinnacles of the top of Europe.

Talking to people along the away about many great hiking paths and even better mountain vistas surrounding Mont Blanc, we knew that we could have spent the entire two weeks of our holidays here, but this was a great introduction to the area, and we craved quieter grounds. To leave Chamonix Valley, this time we headed towards Italy, through the 15km long and whooping 45 Euros expensive Mont Blanc tunnel.

Vanoise National Park

The final stage in the Alps for us was a four-day circle in Vanoise park. As now our routine would have it, the first day was rainy as we drove through Italy, and back into France to Val-d'Isere, a beautiful skiing resort that looked very sleepy on this cloudy Sunday morning.

Up few high passes through the barren Alpine landscape, overtaking many road cyclists, we then started descending towards Bonneval-sur-Arc and came across this beautiful French view. Little did we know that four days from now, we would be descending through this crack in the mountains, bathing in the sunshine, in the final hour of our hike.

Day 1: We parked the car across the street from the tourist office, loaded the gear on our backs, and started walking through the village, stopping at the farmer's market for some heavenly plums and apricots. The first part of the day was a slow descend, following a river through the valley, then steep up the sides of the mountains to Vallonbrun Refuge. Our first experience with French refuges was great - picturesque stone building with stone shingled roof, warm wooden stove, good homemade food and a lot of French speaking folks who knew just enough English to take us through the rules. The sleeping was in the cold dormitory, in comfortable bunk beds. The other two guys staying there were in the far end of the room and, apart from a bit of snoring, didn't disrupt our long sleep.

Day 2: The next day was tougher, as we went up and around the mountain range, occasionally loosing the badly marked foot path, but figuring it out with the help of the map (don't come here without one!) and listening to cow bells to guide us out of the clouds. The second part of the day, we hiked in the steady rain, and, quite cold and exhausted after 25km, we reached Refuge Plan du Lac, settled on a beautiful plane surrounded by mountain peaks and glaciers. This time, we were treated with a private room and a hot shower. We spread our wet clothes around and slept like babies.

The morning made up for all the rain the previous day. Waking up and going for a walk on the frosted grass, felt like a dream, as the clouds were slowly dispersing.

Day 3: By now, figuring out that our circular 4-day hike was quite challenging, we set off early leaving the hut in a crystal clear sunshine. The walk was over the beautiful planes, by tiny Alpine villages, creeks and waterfalls. We met only one couple along the way, otherwise, the endless beauty was ours to selfishly enjoy on our own. Here, I started desiring to see mountain goats and kept trying to spot movement on the surrounding peaks. Instead, we saw herds of marmots, and an eagle.

Past Refuge la Femma, the path started ascending, and soon, the beautiful alpine meadows gave way to the bare and moon-like landscape, poked by the turquoise mountain lakes, up to the highest point, col de la Rocheure at 2911m. Here, we were in for an unexpected surprise - hundreds of kilometres away, we didn't expect to see Mont Blanc dominating the sky far beyond the sea of mountain peaks, now from the southern side, shielding Chamonix Valley from us.

From here on, we descended stepping over the crumbling gravel and trying not to pay attention to a couple of unpleasant deep drops on our side, down back into the valley, to our final sleeping destination, Refuge Fond des Fours. This place was busy, and we caught up on chatting with folks from other European countries who spoke English. Dinner was great (hearty vegetable soup, cheese potato gratin with green salad, and heavenly tiramisu for desert) and I praised the chef who was also the boss around here. Sleeping was cozy and a bit weird in a room with 14 other people.

Day 4: We got up early, had our breakfast and were on our way as the sun rays started reaching the peaks around us.

Over Col des Fours at 2976m, we were descending on the gravel and rock path into the valley, when we spotted two mountain goats running fast across the clearing and up the slope to the left. My wish from yesterday came true and I was happy to see these great animals in their natural habitat.

Leaving the mountain desert behind, we breezed down to the valley, back into the green world of meadows and creeks. As we broke onto a paved road, a nice chap pointed out a herd of mountain goats, frozen on top of the peak straight above us. Twice in an hour, wow! The next three pics were taken from the same spot, 1) looking into the sky, 2) looking up the creek, and 3) looking down the creek.

Then, we and the creek went through the crack that I mentioned at the beginning of the story, and down to a beautiful 'house by the bridge and pink flowers', were our steps became lighter, and the creek gained power and turned into spectacular waterfalls.

Our journey ended in Bonnival-sur-Arc, where we quickly changed into summer wardrobe and had pizza and beer on a patio, like proper tourists, and decided that it was time to head south and warm up!