Here we go, the day of departure has finally arrived after a season mainly devoted to ski touring. I was joining Jerome on the train before meeting with Markus and Jerome our guide in Martigny. From there, we took a taxi to Argentière, where we met Christine and Olivier. The day plan was getting a short cable car ride before leaving on ski towards Switzerland and the Trient mountain hut via the "col de passion" and the "Col du Tour". The day was perfect and warm, it had snowed the previous week, the conditions were ideal. We reached the Trient hut (3170m) in the late afternoon, the day was long but beautiful, we were slightly dehydrated, we did not expect such a heat. After an excellent meal, we quickly headed to bed, we were all exhausted.
After a good night, we got up early to enjoy the downhill to Champex by the "Col des Ecandies". The descent was in the powder, we stopped for a quick break at the bakery. This time we anticipated and hydrated well. Then a taxi took us to Bourg-St-Pierre and we climbed under a blazing sun at the moutain hut of Valsorey (3030m). At the cabin, Jerome our guide, showed us the col we had to climb the next day and announced us a good hour with the skis on our backpack ... He told us that the 2 longest days were over though, fortunately I was not sure how I would have hold the distance otherwise.
The next day started on the ski with the ski knife for a good hour climb, followed by an hour attached with our skis on the backpack and crampons. It was extermely steep and quite challenging, we were definitely out of our comfort zone. We arrived at the top despite some delicate climb in the rocks. We were all quite proud of our achievement, especially the less experienced of which I belong. We crossed then to the hut of Chanrion (2462m) by the "plateau du couloir" and the "col de Sonadon". Physically it was getting better on my side, but Jerome was still struggling quite a bit. The others were of course easy, no surprise there.
On Thursday, the weather forecast was not good, at least in the morning. The plan was to join the hut of "les dix" (2928m) by the "col de la Lire Rose", the "col de Mt-Rouge", and the "col de Cheillon". Should the sky clear, we would also climb the "Mont Blanc de Cheillon" (550 more meters). After we reached the top of "Col de Cheillon" we stopped for a picnic. The sun finally appeared and we all became motivated for the summit of "Mont Blanc de Cheillon". We started the climb 45 minutes later, the fog was rising fast and visibility was becoming somewhat limited. This was when our guide presented us our options, either continue climbing and getting down attached because there was a lot of crevasses and hazard considering a low visibility, or we would take advantage of what visibility was left at the moment to reach the hut quickly. We remained on the safe side almost unanimously choosed to join the hut quickly to enjoy a good beer and a card game.
The next day we were again on the standard route and therefore more busy. This was the day we would climb the "Pigne d'Arolla", which was the highest peak of our trek (3790m) before descending to the montain hut "les Vignettes" (3160m). The sun was shining and the day was simply splendid...The view on the Matterhorn and the "Dent Blanche" during the climb, plus we were above the cloud which brought us a breathtaking scenary. We saw where the accident took place the year before when few people died in the cold during the night. It was easy to understand that in strong difficult conditions with high winds, it could become very complicated to find the hut. We arrived early enough to the hut to enjoy their world famous Roestis (hash brown), their signature dish. Christine was convinced by the guide to try the steep powder downhill the next day, which meant a shortcut to Bertol's hut.
In the "Vignettes" hut, breakfast was served at 5:30 am for everyone, but hey we were getting used to get up early anyway. We let everyone start before us, we were taking the shortcut of Jerome anyway;) The downhill was awesome to get to the bottom of the Bertol's hut(3311m) climb. We reached the hut with its world famous ladder at 11:30 am, just in time for aperitif and roestis, over here we do not joke with the kitchen opening hours. In the evening, there was even a couple who came with their dog, apparently he had mastered the climb of the ladders better than a lot of humans, on the other hand it didn't please at all the hut's caretaker, therefore the dog's owner would have to sleep with her dog in the dining room... We loved the lasagna, which apparently is their signature dish.
Finally it was the last day, everyone was dreaming of a shower, but before that we had to climb up "Tete Blanche" summit and then ski down to Zermatt, a long and beautiful descent was waiting on us... It was freezing cold and we all wanted to speed up to warm up. Jerome was a little slow and we overtook him while the guide remained with him to the top. They joined us at a little later. We enjoyed the scenary with views of the Matterhorn and the "Dent Blanche" in particular. We put the climbing skins in the backpack for the last time, yeah ... The descent to Zermatt was splendid, we had been lucky all week with the weather. We reached Zermatt and enjoyed a beer on a terrace before splitting and go our on separate way. Wendy was joining me for another night in Zermatt, while the other were taking the train back. It was a fantastic week surronded by great friends in a great atmosphere. I am looking forward to summer hikes and next winter for new ski treks.
