HAUTE ROUTE_2013

DAY 5: CABANE DU MONT FORT (8061 FT) TO CAB. DE PRAFLEURI (9593 FT)

(Alternate Stage 6; via Col de la Chaux, 9646 ft; Col de Louvie, 9583 ft; Col de Prafleuri, 9728 ft)

This was our second epic day of the trip (Day 2 was the first epic day) and it really drove home the notion that we were on the Haute (High) Route. We woke up around 6:15am, neither of us having slept well.  Breakfast at the cabin consisted of bread, butter, jam, muesli, milk, and coffee. The cabin guardian informed us the standard route via Col Termin should not be attempted due to snow and poor trail conditions.  So we headed off at 7:45am for Col de la Chaux instead. We hiked this entire day with Bruce and Christine of Australia and were very glad to have their company and moral support.

The morning started off sunny but cold as we ascended the west face of Col de la Chaux in the shade.  The three British hikers camped in tents the night before and got an even earlier start, so luckily we were able to follow their tracks in the snow and watch them pick out the best line to gain Col de la Chaux.  The hiking became increasingly steep, and the snow remained hard if not icy in many spots.  We made slow but steady progress and focused on not slipping. At one point, Christine post-holed into waist-deep snow on a steep slope and got her leg stuck.  Fan was closest to Christine at the time and helped her take off her pack, which in turn allowed her to free herself from the snow.  It was a convenient opportunity to take a break, so we all sat down to catch our breath and enjoy the stunning views of snow capped peaks near and far. 

We reached the top of Col de la Chaux (9646 ft) around 10am; as usual, much slower than the estimated time posted.  The initial descent was steep but slightly less nerve wracking because the snow was softer on the east face of the pass.  We met an Australian family of four hiking in the opposite direction. They had gotten lost the day before after abandoning their attempt to reach Cabane de Prafleuri and then tried unsuccessfully to find another cabin (Cabane du Louvie?).  The family ended up bivying out in the snow overnight under a boulder (but had hot soup for sustenance and a deck of cards for entertainment) and were heading back to Cabane du Mont Fort that morning.  We continued on despite this sobering news, hoping we would fare better.  (A few other hikers we met later on during the trip had also heard indirectly about “the Australian family that bivyed in the snow.” Meeting them in person and hearing their story first hand was like a brush with celebrity for us.  A perfect example of how news spread on the trail and the intimacy of the community of Haute Route hikers each year.)

We, along with Bruce and Christine, continued following the tracks left by the three British hikers, which proved very helpful for way finding because snow had buried trail-blazed rocks and boulders for several hundred feet at a time.  The bright sun shone relentlessly as the day wore on and reflected off the endless snow.  Despite feeling extremely hot (it was perhaps 85 degrees in reality), we kept on our long sleeves, long pants, and caps in order to minimize sun burn.  Unfortunately, we forgot to apply sunscreen to our ears, and they ended up getting badly sunburned.  The 6 liters of water we carried between us was barely enough, but we had enough to share a little of our supply with Bruce and Christine.  Polarized sunglasses helped reduce the strain on our eyes from the glare off the snow, but glacier goggles likely would have been better.

The route from Col de la Chaux to Col de Louvie (9583 ft) passed through a cluster of beautiful turquoise tarns surrounding Lac du Petit Mont Fort. The ascent to Col de Louvie was tiring but not technical. Near the top of Col de Louive a hiker going in the opposite direction passed us while glissading down into the basin.  (Why didn’t we do that? Because we were too chicken and inexperienced.) We stopped at the top of Col de Louvie for lunch but did not have any appetite due to fatigue. But we knew we needed calories, so we forced down some sandwiches, apples, and chocolates that we had bought from Cabane du Mont Fort.

We hiked with Bruce and Christine as one group for the the remainder of the day, helping each other with route finding, track digging, and moral support.  We passed through barren snowscapes carved out by glaciers, crossed a stream, and saw more turquoise tarns. The approach to Col de Prafleuri (9728 ft) involved gaining a couple of false summits, the second of which was followed by a very steep descent on snow and rock.  One by one we took off our packs and slid down a 10+ feet, near-vertical slope at the edge of a snow-covered drop-off, landing on a ledge no more than 2-3 feet across. This was followed immediately by a 4th/5th class scramble down an exposed face over wet scree. A while after passing this series of obstacles, we turned back and saw two more hikers navigate the same terrain.  Jan (Swiss) and Nagas (Iranian), who would catch and pass us soon, were a fun couple with whom we all shared dinner that night.

After more post-holing in soft snow, we finally gained Col de Prafleuri and were greeted by views of another basin full of snow, rock, and scree.  Somewhere in the middle of the desolate landscape was Cabane de Prafleuri.  The final descent to the cabin was not too bad, and we even saw a herd of approximately 10 ibex (or chamois?) grazing on exposed grass.  Two of the alpha males put on a show for us as they butted horns repeatedly on the side of a short but steep cliff.

We arrived at Cabane de Prafleuri around 7:15pm, barely in time for the end of dinner.  (Caution: dinner is served early in the mountain huts; don’t miss them!) Jie still didn’t have a great appetite, but we ate as much food as we could: veggie soup, green bean salad, rice, beef stew with mushrooms, canned pear with whipped cream, and hot tea.  The food was good, but our fatigue was overwhelming. We ordered two picnic lunches for tomorrow, asked the guardian to call ahead to Arolla to make a hotel reservation, enjoyed hot showers (5 CHF for 2-minutes), and bought some ridiculously expensive bottled water (8 CHF per 1.5 liter!) to replenish our supplies because the tap water at the cabin was supposedly non-potable.  For our sleeping quarters, we shared an almost full dortoir room with Bruce, Christine, Jan, Nagas, the three British hikers, and a couple other hikers.  Fan was kept awake for almost the entire night, first getting bitten repeatedly by a tick-shaped insect that was under the bedding, and then by other people’s loud snoring (despite wearing ear plugs) and flashbacks of the day’s events. Jie didn’t sleep well either.

6.2 miles, 11.5 hours (the snow slowed us down a lot)