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Monday June 30, 2014
Cabane de Prafleuri to Verbier
Tuesday July 1, 2014
Verbier, Chamonix, and Zermatt
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Wednesday July 2, 2014
Zermatt, Leuk Stadt, and Leukerbad
I woke up far too early and checked the weather online. It was
supposed to be clear until the early afternoon when high clouds came
back, followed by rain later this afternoon or evening.
Today I was supposed to take the bus over to Champex Lac - this would
be a rest day, and then I would hike two more days to complete the
Haute Route.
I was completely exhausted and had no desire to hike tomorrow in the
rain. At least I my shoulders just ached now, instead of the
shooting pains I'd experienced the night before. I moved slowly
but I was at least mobile.
I really wanted to see Chamonix, or more precisely the mountains above
the town. I decided to
take the train over to Chamonix, then head up to Zermatt to meet up
with Kent. I had plenty of time to come back to finish the hike
later, but I needed to recuperate first.
Breakfast didn't start until 7:45am.
I walked about 5 minutes to the center of town and tried to find the
bus station unsuccesfully.
Breakfast was a fine buffet with a waiter who brought coffee and hot
chocolate. There were about a dozen other people in the hotel,
and they all appearred to be hikers or adventurers of some sort.
None of them spoke English.
I paid the bill and found out that the bus station is indoors, which
makes sense since this is a ski town and waiting for a bus in the
blowing snow is for peasants, not the Swiss. I would have missed
the bus
if I hadn't asked. I was moving so slowly I barely made the
9:28am bus.
The ride down the mountain was an endless series of switchbacks.
There was a line to buy tickets at the train station in Martigny and I
barely caught the Mont Blanc Express cogtrain to Chamonix. The
train was packed - there were no seats left. I decided if I had
to stand I might as well stand at the front of the train. Two old
guys were filming the entire trainride through the front window.
The trip up the Valley du Trient was more picturesque than I expected,
but it was dificult to take any good pictures because there were
endless trees and trestles blocking the ever changing views.
Nearly everyone got off the train at Finhaut and got on buses headed up
to see Trient and the glaciers. We had to change trains in Le
Châtelard on the French border. Coming down the valley I had a
good view of the mountains.
Arriving in Chamonix at 12:30pm and quickly noticed a reasonably priced
restaurant right across the street from the train station. I
proceeded to explore the town and pretty quickly decided that Paul and
Kent were correct - there isn't really much to do or see in
Chamonix. I saw the tourist office, the church, and looked for a
place to eat lunch.
Eventually I made my way back to the place
across from the train station and ate there. The hamburger and
fries were clearly frozen, but the gorgeous sunny day and the mountains
made the meal. I got back on the train at 1:54pm.
I had a 20 minute layover in Visp. I found the restrooms
downstairs and noticed 3 cops in a cluster in the garage - I thought
they were arresting someone but realized upon closer inspection that
they were just messing around.
Shortly after getting on the empty train to Zermatt a German speaking
man asked me a question. I thought that was a little
unusual, it isn't hard to tell I'm an American... Shortly after
the train pulled out of the station an
American couple realized that one of their backpacks they'd left at the
end of the car was missing. That was almost me, except my pack
was clearly much heavier than the thief wanted to steal. I told
the conductor about the man I'd seen and asked if they had cameras at
the train stations. She said that luggage theft was a
huge problem in Visp but that the police did nothing about it.
She also said they just recently installed cameras but she wasn't sure
they were running yet. She was right, the police weren't doing
anything about the luggage theft problem, they were busy messing around
instead.
Meanwhile.... Kent climbed the Rothorn but wasn't able to summit
After I arrived in Zermatt Kent found me walking up the street
right in
front of the hotel. We shared stories from our mountain
adventures and eventually tried find a place to watch the end of Swiss
World Cup soccer match, but we were too late - every bar was already
standing room only. We settled on Chez McDonalds, the only place
in town to get a meal for under 40 francs per person other than the guy
selling sausages in the alley and the scary dive at the end of the
street. McDonalds was playing the soccer game on the overhead
speakers in German but we couldn't understand a word. After a
while they turned off the audio and the place got fairly quiet -
Switzerland had lost. We tried to find a spot at a bar
again to watch the American game but again we were too late. We
went back to our room and watched on the tiny tv until I passed out mid
game.
Previous
Monday June 30, 2014
Cabane de Prafleuri to Verbier
Tuesday July 1, 2014
Verbier, Chamonix, and Zermatt
Next
Wednesday July 2, 2014
Zermatt, Leuk Stadt, and Leukerbad
