Trient, Valais, Switzerland
The Alpine Haute Route is something I’ve been considering
doing for ages, probably at least since 2008 when I chose to do the Pyrenean
Haute Route instead. To me it’s like the ultimate in the trekking version of
mountaineering, where you can stay in mountain huts rather than carry food and
cooking and camping gear, which significantly lightens your load, and from two
of the most significant towns in the Alps beside the two most famous mountains
– Chamonix below Mont Blanc and Zermatt below the Matterhorn. I seriously considered the Alpine Haute Route
as part of a 2016 trip, but that was right as my mother was put on hospice and
I naively assumed her end was near. I thought about it again last year (2017)
but passed on a European trip in favor of a western road trip to take in the
Great American Eclipse in August. So now I’m finally doing it; to me there’s
something very satisfying about finally accomplishing something you’ve thought
about for a long time.
I think I slept quite well after my first night on the
trail, even if conditions weren’t ideal for me in a shared room of four.
I can
be slightly claustrophobic, so prefer to have some natural light when I’m
sleeping so I can see around me when I wake up. I also prefer a slightly open
window, especially when I’m sleeping in a room with other people. It somehow
seems cleaner than breathing everyone’s CO2. The trio had closed the windows
and closed the shutters outside them for some stuffy absolute blackness. But
both dinner and breakfast were ample and very good – you always eat well in
France. And if portions can be small elsewhere, they’re hearty for trekkers and
alpinists.
I knew the day’s hike wasn’t an especially strenuous one so
didn’t rush to hit the trail early. The way from Le Tour to Col de Baume was
mostly on open meadows that are ski slopes in winter, partially on easy dirt
roads and partially on somewhat steeper trails. The first hour or so in the
valley to the mid-station of the ski lifts was a little chilly and mostly in
the shadow of the peaks. I take the uphills slowly to keep from overheating,
though, even when it’s cold, so suggested trail times in guidebooks aren’t
accurate for my chubby self.
From the midpoint on the ascent to the pass to the
top there was a chairlift, used mostly by the mountain bikers for whom this is
a significant playground, but open to trekkers to for 10 Euros. I thought about it briefly and felt that
would be cheating, especially under the most perfect hiking conditions anyone
could ask for and a not particularly difficult trail in one of the most
beautiful places on earth. I Would have
hated myself for it too since the latter half of the climb to the pass was the
most stunning. At a 750-meter (2,500 foot) climb, it was still a pretty easy
ascent as far as they go on the Haute Route. And one of the best things about
the ascent was the cows, all decked out with bells and all enjoying their great
views. The tinkle of cowbells in the mountains has to be one of my favorite
sounds; human voices in the mountains are one of my least favorite sounds.
The Col de Baume at the top of the pass is also the border
with Switzerland. There’s a small mountain hut at the top, but around noon it
was packed with trekkers and mountain bikers, most of the trekkers part of
organized groups doing the Tour de Mont Blanc and heading in the opposite
direction from me.
The view ahead wasn’t as impressive as that behind me, but
you can see to the Rhone Valley and its vineyards through a window between the
mountains as well as the other major range of the Alps north of it.
On my descent into Switzerland I hardly passed anyone else.
The 900-meter (3,000-foot) descent into Trient was on a zig-zag trail that
dropped steeply and then entered a thick forest with few of the great views of
the French side of the pass. When I got to the valley, though, the view to
Trient Glacier hanging above opened up, whetting my appetite for the next day’s
more strenuous hike which will take me past it.
Trient turned out to be much smaller village than I had
expected with only two hotels, no bank machine, and no store. One of the
hotels, though, had some dortoir (dormitory) space at a reasonable price with
dinner and breakfast, not much more expensive than in France, relieving
somewhat my worst fears about things being exorbitantly expensive. I’m already
making a few trail friends too that I see along the way or in the same
accommodations at night.
Switzerland has to one of my favorite countries, but the
fact is I’ve spent little time in it on my travels in Europe, probably about
five or six days on my 1991 Eurrail trip and then a few hours along Lake
Constance on a bicycle between Germany and Austria. Oh, plus a day crossing the
country on our 1985 coach trip to Europe. Maybe I’ve been scared away by the
high cost of the country. To me, though, it’s a perfect place of incredible
mountain scenery, quaint architecture, good food, and three different European
cultures. I guess I also admire the Swiss independence, local control at the
cantonal level, direct democracy which thwarts the control of globalist elites,
traditional and capitalistic values, and resistance to joining the European
Union. I’ve also always appreciated the
heavily-armed Swiss neutrality which involves military training for all male
citizens.
2025-05-22