Sunday, August 23, 2015

Swiss 3000m Week

I have been in Switzerland all week this week running our Swiss 3000m week. I met up with Alan, Tricia, Liz, Simon, Alan and Ronnie on Monday morning in Zermatt and we enjoyed some beautiful alpine sunshine as we trekked up towards Fluhalp. After a lunch at the hut we climbed Pfulroe (3314m) which gave some stunning views towards the Monta Rosa, Dofourspitz and Rimpfischhorn. There had been some overnight snow and so we enjoyed some alpine looking photo posing on the summit, although in reality it was soft and didn't hinder our progress.








After a night in the Fluhalp we headed down to Zermatt and then trekked unto the Hotel Thrift which is run by Hugo, a character of a guardian who manages the difficult task of being friendly, fun, efficient and a little scary all at the same time. We had some dreich weather and so didn't get to listen to him playing his alpine horn this year but we still enjoyed his apple tart.



The following morning saw a lot of fresh snow and it was still precipitating heavily and so summit plans were abandoned and we headed down to Zermatt. I had booked us into the newly refurbished Hornli Hutte on the Matterhorn but the fresh snow and a few headaches in the group meant a change of plan and so we headed round to St Luc and walked upto the Cabane Bella Tolla. The hot showers were a definite hit.


An early start saw us climb Bella Tolla (3025m) and again we had some snow underfoot but once again not enough to hinder progress without winter kit. These last two days gave us stunning weather and the views were amazing, especially having been in some pretty poor conditions the day before. A long descent back to the valley and then a 4 hour walk back up the other side saw us arrive at the Cabane Becs de Bosson for our last night together. This is more of a high mountain hut in style and situation and another early start saw us bag the summit of Becs de Bosson (3148m) on the Friday morning. This summit is gained via a nice grade 1 ridge scramble and provides an airy climax to the week.












It was great to get back into the mountains after an enforced layoff for 4 weeks due to injury - thanks folks!



2 comments:

Jamie Bassnett said...

Looks amazing! :-)

Alan said...

Great week, Great people, Cheers Rob i had a fantastic time...