The Haute Route : Day 5

Chamonix-Verbier-Zermatt in 6 days
(« back to day 1)

Day 5 : Dix Hut to Vignettes Hut

950m up, 730m down, 7km across



Wearing contact lenses sucks when there's no running water. At least I can buy bottles of mineral water ($6 each), but I haven't seen soap in days. Next time I'll bring hand sanitizer.


Today is the biggest continuous climb of the trip: 950m in one fell swoop, up to our second true summit, Pigne d'Arolla (3790m). Conveniently enough, it's another crisp dawn on another bluebird day. I've seldom been so happy to be awake at this hour.

We drop down 100m and cross the Glacier de Cheilon, stopping to skin up minutes later. Jean sets a deliberate, slow climbing pace and the entire group sticks closely together. This is a smart move: we've climbed 300m before I even notice my legs moving.

Zigging and zagging upwards, we gaze at crevasses and icy blue caverns below the pointy rocks of Tsena Refien. The trail is superb: our predecessors have picked a comfortable angle of ascent and cut nicely into the slope, allowing me to stand upright without awkwardly rolling my ankles downhill. This makes all the difference: I kick turns with an effortless grace that few men have ever achieved.

Sunlight catches us on a high plateau, directly below a 100m wall of ice known as La Serpentine (right edge of photo). As you might expect from a wall, it looks pretty damn steep. Yikes. I'm wondering whether we shouldn't go on foot, but Jean seems unconcerned: he's not even sure that ski crampons are necessary. I'd rather not take my chances, so I attach them under my feet.

And indeed, it's not easy climbing. The trail carved into the icy snow is too narrow to accomodate both of my skis, so my downhill leg dangles helplessly as I push along. The steepness and the exposure do little to calm my nerves. At the crux, both guides stand below the kick turn platform and support all the clients by bracing our skis with their poles. My uphill ski flips around easily enough, but it's always the downhill ski that's the tricky one. I can't even get it halfway around before my tip is wedged on the steep ice above me. I let go of my poles, which dangle from my wrists, and use both hands to yank on my ski tip and force it around the turn. Not an impressive display.

The final 200m ascent to Pigne d'Arolla is mellow, and we're at the summit before 11:00am. I already know it will be impossible capture the panorama on film: we can see from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, and even the Jungfraujoch in the distant Bernese Alps. Truly spectacular. This is the highest point we'll reach, about 2200m (7200') above Zermatt. But it's not all downhill yet: another full day of climbing awaits us tomorrow.

Summits mean descents, so we enjoy a long, steep 630m descent to the Vignettes Hut. No fresh tracks to be found on this section, but the snow is forgiving and hasn't yet transformed into wet concrete.


We quickly spot the Vignettes Hut below us, perched on the edge of a wide chasm (see photo). Skating along the rim to reach the entrance, I wonder how the Swiss ever managed to build this massive structure. I grip the handrail tightly and explore the perimeter. Amazingly, the toilets are located beyond the cliff's edge: all waste falls directly through a hole and drops 100m onto the glacier below. Not a pretty picture.

On the positive side, the hut features a convenient helipad for sunbathing. We spend another rough afternoon drinking beer and playing cards, enjoying our last evening in the mountains.

Day 6 : Vignettes Hut to Zermatt »