Zinal to the Cabane du Grand Mountet – 2886m - Glaciers Galore
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Tuesday 16 September 2014
Zinal to the Cabane du Grand Mountet – 2886m - Glaciers Galore
September 16, 2014
Although part of
the reason we had made our way back to the Val d'Anniviers was to put
our feet up and rest our hiking legs for a few days whilst making use
of the free buses, cable cars and swimming pool, the weather on
Tuesday morning bought about a temporary postponement of the rest we
had been looking forward to. Knowing that the chance of warm weather
in the Swiss Alps was only going to get smaller as September wore
on, clear skies and sunshine on Tuesday morning presented an
opportunity we didn't want to miss. So, after a marvellous birthday
celebration the previous day, which had included a shortish walk to the Cabane du Petit Mountet, Tuesday saw us back in our hiking boots
and discovering an unexpectedly challenging yet magnificent hike even
further up the Zinal Valley.
Whilst the Cabane du Petit Mountet (2142m) sits right at the tip of the glacial moraine left by
the Glacier du Zinal and now several kilometres from the glacier
itself, the Cabane du Grand Mountet is positioned right next to the
glacial flow at 2886m, 1200m above our motorhome. Setting off
southwards up the valley for the second day in a row, this time we
used our bikes to cover the flattish valley floor to the point the
path starts to climb more steeply. From here it was just another half
an hour or so of retracing yesterdays route before we veered left to
cross the river which thunders out of the Zinal valley and begin the
challenging ascent to the hut.
Looking up the
valley from the river it was very hard to make out a route at all.
Although the glacier has retreated several kilometres from this
point, the steep sides valley with hundreds of metres of scree on
each side is then topped with near vertical rocky walls which level
off just a little beneath the snow covered summits above. So although
we could see a few switchbacks immediately ahead we couldn't make our
where the path could sensibly lead that would make its way safely up
the to the glacier itself. Oh well, things tend to look different
close up so we might as well see where the path leads – we could
always turn around if it was too much.
The climb was
tough immediately, both steep and loose rocks underfoot making the
going hard work. Ascending around 500m in the first hour in short
switchbacks that had us sweating hard, before starting a long and
undulating traverse of the cliff face on narrow paths. Ahead of us
the massive summit of Dent Blanche with it's enormous snow
cornice which turned into a near vertical glacier towered above us.
At one point we heard a massive crack and rumble and looked up to see
a huge mass of ice had broken off the glacier and was tumbling down
to the river below.
After traversing
for another hour and tiring on the ups and downs of the path the
final ascent began on very steep bare rock paths with fixed lines
hammered into the mountain for safety. Fortunately in such good
weather we didn't need to use most of them, but they were reassuring
as we climbed even further above the valley floor. Cresting the climb
we picked our way across an enormous rockfall, with the path swinging
round the mountainside to the left when suddenly the view opened to
reveal a breathtaking panorama of glacial flows all merging before
us.
We had set off
that morning with no idea what we would be seeing on our walk and
this view took our breath away – it was a real 'Wow!' moment. What
we had thought of as the Glacier du Zinal, a few tumbling ice blocks
visible from the town, was really just a tiny fraction of the icy
bowl which we could now see. There were at least 4 different glacial
flows sweeping down from the mountainside from 3 different sides to
meet in the bowl before making their way down the valley and into the
river.
From our rocky
viewpoint at around 2850m we could clearly make out the corner beyond
which we knew the hut was positioned, a relatively flat traverse of
about 30 minutes further away. However, having set off quite late it
was now 3pm and we decided that this was far enough for the day and
that we'd rather use the time just to sit and enjoy the scene.
Enjoying a bite to eat in the warm afternoon sun, we felt very proud
of ourselves to have tackled such a tough ascent and reached this
magical spot.
The descent was
just as challenging as the ascent and as we picked our way carefully
down the fixed line sections, plodded our weary legs back over the
undulating traverse before the slippy final descent to the river our
minds turned to dinner. Having not expected such a hard route we
hadn't packed quite enough food and we were definitely running on
empty by the time we reached our bikes by early evening.
However, the
wonderful Liberte pass meant that we knew that free access to the
swimming pool and a hot shower was just a short bike ride away, which
more than motivated us to reach our motorhome. Grabbing a quick bite
to eat we then dashed to the pool and dunked our weary limbs in the
water, staring out of the enormous windows right over to the slopes
we had tackled just a few hours before.
Walk Information:
Motorhome Base: Zinal
Transport Used: Bike to the head of the Valley (approx 3.5km)
Start / End Point: Zinal - Cabane du Grand Mountet - Zinal
Time It Took Us: 50mins to cycle and 6 hours hiking
Level: Challenging
Map: LS 1327 'Evolene' 1:25,000 (see below) Related Articles:
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