Chamonix To Zermatt

The Haute Route

The Real Journey Begins

August 8th 1994

Tuesday morning and our resolve to complete this walk was restored. We had only lost one day and we could still reach Zermatt in the time we had available. So an early breakfast, boots on, packs on and out into the fresh alpine air. We left The Belvedere at 07:30, it was a cool and clear morning, the sun had not yet penetrated the depths of the valley and in the shade there was frost on the ground, but this was it! This felt like the real thing. At last we were on our way to Zermatt. 

The village of La Tour behind us, we headed for the Col De Balme

Our objective for today was to walk up to the Col De Balme at 7,163 feet, cross the border and then down to the Swiss village of Trient where we would spend the night, a total distance of ten miles. Not the longest or the highest walk on the route, but certainly challenging enough for this early stage in our acclimatisation. Leaving the village of Argentiere behind us we climbed steeply through the woods and up to the village of La Tour where a large queue was forming outside the cable car station. For the most part they looked like walkers, but really, there’s more to it than just looking the part. Our path zig zagged up the mountainside, mostly under the cable car and we watched as people were taken effortlessly up to the Col De Balme, not once wishing we had taken the easy option (well maybe once). The views back down the valley were magnificent. As we climbed higher and higher, the views became wider and wider. The sun was shining on the snow capped peaks of Mont Blanc, Aiguille Rouge, Aiguille du Midi, Grand Montets and Verte. Grand Jorasses, Drus, and the Glacier La Tour, all looking magnificent.

The Col De Balme and Chalet Refuge 

After four hours of walking we approached the Chalet Refuge Col De Balme which sits a few metres over the otherwise unmarked Franco-Swiss border. It is known locally as ‘The Dragon Lady Refuge’, apparently due to the delightful disposition of the landlady. Regardless of this fact, the refuge was busy with people who had come up on the cable car for lunch before making the ‘arduous’ journey all the way back down in the cable car. We stopped for lunch, sandwiches which I will describe only because of their remarkable qualities. Irene had salami and I had ham, just to ensure that the quality was consistent. Rustic French bread can be a chewing challenge at the best of times. This was the best of times and it was the worst of times, because if the bread was a chewing challenge, then the contents were a masticating marathon. Even the Alpine Coughs looked at it with great suspicion. Still chewing, we left the col behind us to make the steep descent towards Trient. From the open mountainside we descended into the forest, a pattern that was to become very familiar to us over the coming days and weeks. We came across a couple in the forest who were scrutinising a book that looked very familiar to us, it was Andrew Harper’s Tour of Mont Blanc, another long distance trek that runs alongside our trek for a few days. The ‘TMB’ is a very popular walk and we met many people who were enjoying it’s undoubted delights.

As we approached the valley bottom we could see the Glacier de Trient and the Fenetre D’arpette up to our right and the village of Trient down the valley to our left. The Fenetre is a narrow cleft in a rocky wall high (8,661 feet) above the Glacier de Trient and it is one of the options for tomorrows walk. We could see that the path up was across rough scree and looked very steep. Much as we would like to have taken this option, we felt that such a challenge could be a little early in the walk for us. We were still measuring how well we could do against the daily rigour of constant walking and climbing. So we decided to take the easier option known as ‘The Bovine Route’, no, not the easy option, there are no easy options this side of Zermatt, it was the easier option and even that is debatable.

It is one of the strange anomalies of walking that when you are walking down a steep mountainside and you can see the flat valley bottom, you start to long for the easy stroll that it surely must be. You start to fantasise about the joy and ease of walking on the level, but by the time you get there it has gone. Your legs are tired to the point where just walking in a straight line becomes an effort and that respite that you had longed for doesn’t materialise. You are knackered and just want to stop, sit down and have a beer. Which is precisely what we did when we checked into the Cafe Moret. One beer became two and inevitably two became three as we reflected on our day and felt very pleased to have the first full days walking under our belts. Trient is only very small with a population of less than 200 and a limited number of beds available for visitors. Apart from the Cafe Moret there was the Hotel du Glacier which appeared to be closed. A couple of young lads form Wigan arrived soon after us but were turned away as Cafe Moret was full. We saw them wandering back and forth through the village and eventually leave, it probably pays to book ahead if you are staying in Trient. By eight thirty we had dined, explored the village (three times), wandered around the churchyard and sat for a  while on the bench outside the church. That’s all there is to do in Trient, so we retired to our room to plan our walk for the next day. 

Glacier de Trient with the Fenetre visible as an indent in the ridge.

 

Trient in the valley bottom and the Col De Forclaz above.