HAUTE ROUTE_2013
DAY 8: LA SAGE (5469 FT) TO CABANE DE MOIRY (9268 FT)
(Stage 9; via Col du Tsate, 9409 ft)
After a very restful night of sleep, we woke up at 6:45am and had breakfast. The bread and croissants were freshly baked and delicious, and there was fresh fruit (watermelon, cherries, apples). The very friendly hostess kindly called ahead to Cabane de Moiry for us yesterday to make a reservation for tonight, and we picked up two picnic lunches before heading out around 8:30am. The hiking was steep and strenuous but never too technical. We hiked past a friendly herd of calves that tried to follow and lick us, and then saw a herd of calmer cows sunning under a cross on grassy bluff. The skies turned cloudy in the late morning, and we were not sure if we could reach the top of the pass before it started raining. So we stopped for lunch just past a group of beautiful tarns. The food from Hotel de La Sage was the best pre-packed picnic from a hotel or hut during the trip. It consisted of whole grain baguette with lettuce, cheese, butter, cornichons, prosciutto; mini-wheels of brie (very smelly rinds but creamy and delicious interior), apples, chocolates, and perfectly soft-boiled eggs. During lunch we were passed by Ollie, a fast solo hiker from Finland who was pressing wild flowers in his journal as souvenirs for his girlfriend.
The ascent to Col du Tsate (9409 ft) was mostly snow free and not technical, but there was a brief section of exposed scree near the end. We reached the top of the pass around 12:30pm, just as it began to rain lightly. The initial few hundred feet of the descent was steep and very snowy. The sun struggled to peak through, casting an eerie silver lining around the swiftly moving clouds. There was sleet for a brief period and Jie took another short unplanned slide.
When we reached the Parking du Glacier (7707 ft), we (Fan) took a right turn (south) on the west side of the moraine and continued south for over a kilometer, gaining probably 1000 feet on a ridge. The views of Glacier de Moiry from the western ridge were magnificent. Three teams were walking on the glacier below, each team with eight people harnessed into the same rope. When we finally spotted Cabane de Moiry on the eastern/far side of the Moiry icefall, behind the rain and fog, we realized we had taken a wrong turn at Parking du Glacier. Needless to say, this was quite a let down. There was nothing to do but turn back and descend in the steady rain. Once we reached the parking lot we would have still over 1500 feet of elevation again awaiting us to the hut. The wrong turn cost us almost two hours and the last of our remaining energy.
Shortly after we reached the parking lot and started up the eastern side of the moraine towards Cabane de Moiry, we found ourselves hiking together with four Americans from Connecticut: Cat, Chip, Leslie, and Michael. All four were very friendly, but Cat really impressed us by how quickly she hiked. The hike up to Cabane de Moiry passed over some exposed snow slopes, including one section with fixed ropes, followed by short steep switchbacks, and finished with more exposed snow slopes. Since we had spent our remaining energy hiking up the west side of the Moiry icefall (mistakenly thinking the cabane was just around the next bend in the trail), we were running on fumes as we arrived at Cabane de Moiry around 5:30pm.
Cabane de Moiry is perched at the southern end of the eastern ridge next to the Moiry icefall. It was recently renovated and features a gorgeous dining room with floor to ceiling windows with views over Glacier de Moiry. We shared an eight-bed dortoir with three British school teachers who were chaperoning a couple dozen rambunctious teenagers. We dropped off our packs and promptly settled into the dining room with a pot of hot tea and a cold beer. Assigned seating at dinner had us sitting with the four Americans, plus two others from their group, and a German guide from Freiburg with father-and-son clients. Dinner started with split pea soup, baked pasta with cheese, ham, and onions, tomato salad, and apple sauce with whipped cream for dessert. We were famished and exhausted. Fan chatted mostly with Chip, who previously worked in communications and presently does landscape architecture with Cat. We fell asleep around 9:15pm to the sounds of screaming teenagers running through the halls.
7.5 miles, 9 hrs.