Stage 7: Climbing the Ladder of Success

Cabane de Prafleuri – Col des Roux – Col de Riedmatten – Arolla 

Thursday, July 11  

"He that riseth late must trot all day" Ben Franklin

We awoke in a dark dormitory room in the top floor of Cabane de Prafleuri, somewhere in the Alpine Mountains in Switzerland.  I grabbed the bowl of rice, dug out my iPhone, pressed the power button, and it turned on!!!!  I was so happy! 

Our Israeli friends were almost packed and ready to go, but we were still indecisive about whether or not we had the strength to hike.  After yesterday, the most physically difficult day of our lives, we weren't sure if we ready to tackle another 16k and 2 more cols (mountain passes).  

The Cabane we were staying in charged for meals, trash, lights and even drinking water.  They claimed they would not be responsible for what happened to guests who drank water from their sinks.  However, after watching some of the employees drink water in the bathroom, my dad decided it was a hoax and drank anyways.  He was not affected.  

As we ate breakfast we talked with Rick and Anne about the next stage, while we watched the distance Israeli hikers climb the next col. It was steep, snowy and unforgiving.  After a breakfast of toast, jam, cheese, coffee, and orange juice, we had a late start after the Americans and a group of Japanese left.  We got on our crampons and headed toward the steep snowy mountain it took us about 30 slow minutes to climb, but we made it up and caught up with the Japanese group in time to take a picture with them.  We said sairnara and they moved on.  

The pass, Col des Roux, looked out over a beautiful valley and at the bottom, a lake, Lac de Dix, and we could see all the way, about 10k, to the next pass, Col de Riedmatten.  Since the rest of the path was mostly snow free, we packed away our crampons and headed down the switch-backs.  

At the bottom of the hill, in a meadow was a Hutte called Refuge Des Ecoulaies, a self- serve house for people to stay, cook, sleep, for a price they would deposit in a lock box on a door. 

Further down, past beautiful streams, another Hutte, called Refuge La Barma, was also a self-serve cabin.  

We followed the path to a flat route along the length of the lake.  There we passed other hikers, got information, saw a few marmots, ad marveled at the beautiful mountains, lake, and waterfalls.  The length of this route, so far, had been nonstop, National Geographic/ postcard/ mind-blowing landscapes.  It is truly, the most beautiful place I have seen.  And when I post these pictures and videos, it's just a boxed, poor reflection of experiencing the majesty of God's creation.  

At the south end of the lake, there was a giant waterfall, the wind and mist of which, chilled us as we started the next climb.  We hiked up steeps slopes of lush green moss and flowing streams. 

 Then we came to a valley of rocks and boulders, crossed over a bridge atop a raging glacial melted river, and kept on walking along the huge stone and snow basin, surrounded by snowy summits and a glacier in the distance.  As we maneuvered through harsh large rock fields and snow, we could see the two cols on our left: Col de Riedmatten and Pas de Chevres.  

We decided on Chevres, because there is a ladder.  But this is different from the ladder you keep in your garage.  These are 3 long steel ladders bolted into a vertical rock face.  The first 2 go straight up and you have to traverse to your right to start the 3rd.  Dad, want to strap harnesses on and carabiner to each rung, but I thought that would take too much time and increase the risk, so we freestyled it.  It was a little scary and really excited!  We both enjoyed it.  

At the top of the pass, we descended down into a valley first rocky, then grassy, through forests, and finally the town of Arolla.  We noticed a few very old Hutte's, probably used by herdsmen and hikers in decades past.

Arolla is a small skiing village, mostly containing hotels.  By this time, after 11 hours of hiking, we were exhausted and arriving late.  We stayed at a 6 person dormitory at Hotel de Glaicer.  

We decided to make Friday a rest day.  I took 3 Advil pm to numb the pain and sleep in late.