Saturday 19 August 2017

HAUTE ROUTE, DAY 5. PRAFLEURI TO AROLLA

Nearing
the Col Reidmatten 

Mont Blanc de Chiellon 

Fabulous cloud & sun 


Overnight thunderstorm and quite windy as the window rattled at the Prafleuri Refuge. The weather forecast was 'changable' with much cooler temperatures has the winds veared to the NW. We woke to cloud and poor visibility.  Two cols today.  The first, the Col de Choux,  is just 20 minutes from the hut to the top. We arrived to a wonderful panorama of cloud swirling,  a broken spectre and ibex roaming about above the Col. Stunning visability when the sun broke through in the crisp air. By the time we had descended to Lac Dix the cloud had all burned off and the marmotts had woken up. After the stroll beside the lake it's up hill again and onto the moraine below the impressive Mont Blanc de Chiellon. The second col today is the steepest, narliast of the Tour, the Col de Reidmatten.  It's short but higher than the adjescent Col de Chevres which most people go up. If you go via this col you aren't doing the Haute Route proper! A descent down to Arolla is easy and we enjoyed plenty of marmotts and Eidelweiss before reaching civilization again. A brilliant 3 days of the Tour.


Lac Dix & cloud


No comments: