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Monday August 20, 2012
St Niklaus to Gruben
Tuesday August 21, 2012
Gruben to Grimentz
Next
Wednesday August 22, 2012
Grimentz to Les Hauderes
Breakfast was served in the breakfast room on the ‘ground’ floor, one
level up from the bar, on the same floor as registration. The
breakfast room was full – I had no idea there had been so many people
in the hotel overnight.
Overnight Mike had decided not to hike today, taking the ground crew
route instead. I got him the full set of maps, and went over the
bus, gondola, train, and bus schedule closely with him. As I
always do, I had not only a schedule, but also a backup schedule laid
out in case of problems. I also got the number of his temporary
Verizon phone – we could talk to each other, and he could text me, but
when I texted him back he got garbage instead of a text. His bus
left at 8:30. I asked the waitress if there was an 8:30 bus, and
she said there was a 10:30 bus. We checked with the woman at the
front desk, who confirmed that there was indeed a 8:30 bus and directed
us to the bustop in the parking lot.
I had a seemingly random older gentleman take a group picture shortly
before we left. At about 7:30 we said goodbye to Mike and started
hiking long before the sun got into the valley. As soon as we
started hiking, the rest of the group told me that the guy who I asked
to take a picture had clearly been annoyed at our relatively loud and
obnoxious behavior upon our arrival yesterday afternoon. I’d been
oblivious, and the guy seemed nice enough to me. In retrospect I
had hoped I’d somehow manage to repair strained international relations
with my cluelessness.
Leaving Gruben
Gruben in the morning
Paul's picture - Leaving Gruben
We hiked up relentlessly under the shade of the pine trees. After
just about an hour of hiking we reached a small hamlet of Meide and
took a 5 minute break. There was ice cold running water for the
cattle trough, which felt good but was running so fast it was hard to
get a drink without drowning and freezing. It was already hot, I
was already drenched in sweat, it was only 8:30, and there was clearly
no more shade today. We pushed onward. As we hiked we saw
the couple from Paris, as well as a pair of young women we’d
seen at dinner the night before.
Meide
Paul's pic of Miede
Weisshorn
The hike was somewhat nondescript. We could not begin to tell
where the pass was ahead of us, which was a little disconcerting.
At one of our rest breaks we talked to the pair of women – one of them
was from Zurich, the other from an hour outside of Zurich. They
hadn’t seemed to smile much until we talked to them, but they were
quite friendly and eager to practice their English.
The trail up. The trail
generally headed northwest, which was taking us away from the heart of
the Alps
Kent's pic
Meidpass
I took relatively few pictures, but finally decided to take a series
for a panorama once we could see the trail ahead and could more or less
spot the pass. Kent and Paul got quite a ways ahead of Ray and
I. Paul mistook a false pass for the real thing and decided to
run to the top. This proved to be a mistake, as he then had to
hike up the real pass after spending himself running. I got to
Meidpass (elevation 2790 meters / 9153 feet) last. It was
gorgeous but hot. Unlike
Augstbordpass, we didn’t need to put on sweatshirts, instead Ray took
his shirt off entirely.
Meidsee from Meidpass - looking back
the way we came
Weisshorn from Meidpass
Looking ahead to the Hotel Weisshorn
(the tiny white dot)
Meidpass is on the border between the German and French speaking
regions of Switzerland
Paul's Picture of us on
Meidpass.
I'm drinking copious amounts of water from the 3 liter Camelbak that's
tucked into my backpack.
Kent's video
The hike downward was hot but nice. We spent perhaps 5 minutes
trying to determine why a signpost was telling us to hike down a stream
at the turnoff to Lac de Combavert. (This was one of the few
times I used MotionX – worked like a champ!) We finally realized that
the stream had taken over the path, and the signs were now somewhat
misleading.
Looking back up at Meidpass
Hotel Weisshorn is just out of sight
When we got to the point where we had to decide whether we were really
going to see Hotel Weisshorn, none of us had any interest at all in
turning left and making the 4km, 125m vertical detour to see the
place. Instead we simply turned right and hiked the fairly
level road / trail toward Tignousa.
The Matterhorn is barely visible in
the center of the picture
Hotel Weisshorn is in profile on the far right
By the time we arrived at Tignousa (elevation 2169 meters / 7116 feet)
we were very, very ready for a beer
and some relaxation. I broke up the party at around 1:20pm after
just 2 quick beers when I pointed out that if we didn’t catch this next
funicular down to St Luc, we’d be waiting at least another 2 hours for
a bus from St Luc to Grimentz
Paul's picture of Tignousa
Kent's video
Kent's video
We caught the funicular, then wandered the town trying to find a bus
stop. St Luc was nearly totally empty. It was truly a ski
town waiting for the snow. I finally stopped inside a hotel,
where they pointed me in the right direction.
The Hotel Bella-Tola is a pricey resort
St Luc was trying to cash in on the
comically bad planetary sculptures above in Tignousa.
Judging by how few people we saw, it was not money well spent.
We caught the bus to Vissoie, which is the 'grand central station' of
this valley, and we had about 20 minutes until the next bus to
Grimentz. Half of us used the ATM, since it was the first
one we’d seen in days and we had no idea where we’d find another.
Everyone else got another beer, I opted for coke and chocolate
croissant instead. By the time we got on the bus, it was clear
that this was also the schoolbus – school had just let out, and the bus
was full of kids. Made the ride up to Grimentz more entertaining.
Paul's picture of Vissoie
Mission, Switzerland from the bus
We arrived in Grimentz and were quickly reunited with Michael.
Hôtel de Moiry was very close to the bus stop, as was the TI. We
slowly changed out of our sweaty, stinking hiking gear, showered, and
then explored the town. Just up the street from us were
granaries. A little further up the street we saw working water
mills. The town has plenty of charm and is quite authentic.
Kent picked yet another cool spot - I had been giving Kent no end of
grief since he suggested we stay in Grimentz instead of Zinal, since
Grimentz is not technically on the Haute Route.
Eventually we grabbed yet another beer at the far end of town, then
decided to have dinner at our hotel.
The 2nd building on the right is the
bottom of our room at the hotel
Hotel de Moiry
Our room at the Hotel de Moiry - there
are actually 2 rooms with lofts, each in one half of this annex
Grimentz Granaries
Our hotel is in the background
The Hérens cows 'fight' using the
waterwheel. Hérens cows actually do fight
Another waterwheel powered atttraction
Paul's picture of the waterwheel and
stream
Grimentz flooded badly in 1999, I assume this stream was the culprit
since the town is on a hillside 1000' up from the valley floor.
The view back down the road from our
hotel
Dinner turned out to be the finest meal we ate on the trip, at least
for me. Everyone else chose pork chops, which turned out to be
slightly dry, but I selected quail with honey sauce. The food and
presentation were both amazing. I ate all the plants and flowers
they’d served me – all good stuff.
We turned in relatively early after watching some really bad Swiss
television
in our room. We were kept awake for a while by the sounds of
children playing – I believe there was at least one family living in
the same building as our ‘room’. The room was streetside on
Rue du Village, but we were actually on the 2nd (3rd floor US) floor of
the building
that sat on Route de Moiry below.
Previous
Monday August 20, 2012
St Niklaus to Gruben
Tuesday August 21, 2012
Gruben to Grimentz
Next
Wednesday August 22, 2012
Grimentz to Les Hauderes
