Thursday 28th August: Most magnificent day AGAIN - Morning 0°C, Afternoon 20°C
Rifugio Theodule to Zermatt: 15.2k: 8.30am to 2.15pm: 5hrs 45mins
What a view from Rifugio Theodule
Leaving Rifugio Theodule at 0°C
On Glacier from Rifugio Theodule
Can you believe this view
3km down the Glacier Theodule
Rifugio Theodule at 3,317 metres
Too good to miss this photo shot
The Matterhorn at the south face
Blue skies, Swiss Alps - pure magic
ian can't help himself
And more of the same
Clouds in the Zermatta Valley
Sunshine on the Swiss Alps
Skiers going up to the Glacier
On top of the world
Martin and Steven about to ride
Coffee with a view
More Blue skies and Swiss Alps
Finally back in Zermatt
Rump Steak at 33CHF = $44
Re-sorting for the next stage
Washing everything we own
Posting excess stuff to Luca in Bern
Salad and wine to celebrate
Tomorrow's lunch - safe from foxes
One last look at the Matterhorn
Oh what a beautiful day!! AGAIN!! You don't need to read the blog, just click on the magical photos to get a picture of what we've seen today. We left Rifugio Theodule at 0°C and arrived in Zermatt at 20°C, after a 1700 metre steep descent, which included a 3km trek down the glacier. The day was absolutely stunning. The photos speak for themselves.
it's 6.30am when we awake, expecting to be frozen. But surprisingly with two of us in such a small room, it was very pleasant. I hang on for as long as I can before venturing down to the freezing cold squat toilets. We've slept in all our walking clothes, so it doesn't take too long to pack and go downstairs for breakfast. Packet biscuits and cake, stale bread and jam. The tea and coffee are disgusting, so I drag out our own tea bags to at least have a nice cup of tea.
The morning outside is absolutely stunning. It's 0°C so we rug up with every ounce of warm clothing - t shirt, thermals, light jacket, thick jacket, rain coat and pants and 3 pre of gloves. Then it;s time to head off down teh glacier. We've read so much about this Glacier Theodule. Hillary Sharp in her Book Tour de Monte rosa put the wind up us in describing in vivid detail how to climb out of a crevasse should you fall in, and how to wear crampons and get roped up for safety. But when I inquired at the Swiss Alpine Club in Zermatt, I was told it was just a track - and they were right. It was easy peasy and the crevasses were only 2 inches wide - barely wide enough to get a toe caught.
But it was a 3km trek down the Glacier Theodule on a mixture of ice and snow - tedious but not dangerous. And the scenery was so stupendous, it was easy to footslog for an hour over this glacier. Finally we arrive at a rocky outcrop leading to the Gandegge Hut, another Refuge high up at 3,000 metres and from then on it was just all down hill. Sound easy but down hill is hard - I've said before, less exertion on the heart and lungs, but more painful pounding on the knees and quads. After 1 hr the temperature had risen to 12 °C and we were stripping off our layers
Every which way we look there are picture post card photos - blue skies and snow capped alps. There's cable cabins silently gliding above full of skiers ascending to the top of the Glacier before racing down the all year ski piste. We've been waiting for Martin and Steven to whiz down on their mountain bikes, and we finally catch site of them near the Trockner Steg cable station contemplating which way to go down.
Time for a coffee. There's any number of place to sit with a view, and the temperature continues to rise. Then it's down and down towards Zermatt deep in the valley. 2hrs of descending and we're at Furi, a cable car station with 3 sets of cable cars, gondolas and cabins going in all directions up the mountain. It's 1pm and time for another quick cup of tea - we have no lunch remember, the fox ate it back at Alpenzu, so we'll wait til we get to Zermatt to get a real lunch of fresh Swiss bread tomato and sausage.
It's 2.15 when we finally descend into Zermatt. It's a warm 20°C and everyone is wearing shorts and T shirts. It's a familiar place, and we head to the local CoOp supermarket and but some real food. We've had enough biscuits and cakes for a while. Our Hotel Dufour Traditionell is expecting us and have placed our large chines bag with all our left over junk and stuff for the next stage, in our room. It has a magnificent view of teh Matterhorn, which we can see from our balcony while we eat lunch.
Then it's time to shower and wash everything we own and hang it on the balcony hoping that no one complain that our exclusive hotel looks like a Chinese Laundry. It takes ages to sort and pack and repack and it's 5.30pm when we head off to the Post Office to post an assortment of stuff to Luca in Bern, whom we'll visit in 3 weeks time. Spare shirts, jackets, and two chinese bags ready to put our back packs in for the flight home. Their only $2AUD bags, but we've found that you can never buy them when you want them so easiest to post them to Bern and re-collect them for the flight home.
Time for some serious shopping. Ian's Ground Effect Storm Trooper is falling to bits. The inside is shredding white stuff over his clothes and all over the floor wherever he stays. His gloves are wearing out and so too his socks. Men!! So we go to Bayard's sport's store and buy a Hagloff's RIM Goretex rain jacket, same brand as mine that has lasted for 5 years, a pair of Ice breaker sockes, and warm gloves. I'll use his old ones if it get's cold so long as he carries them. But he doesn't want to part with this Storm Trooper which is in tatters, so we've decide to post it on to Luca in Bern in the morning.
Time to call in at the CoOp and buy dinner with a bottle of wine and tin of beer, and enjoy our salad with a view of the Alps outside our window. A Rump Steak dinner is $44 and we don't need to be "seen" eating out in Zermatt and waiting to be served 2hrs for the privilege.
It's been a good day. A great day, and we're now looking forward to our next part of our journey from Zermatt to Chamonix. Whilst I've been blogging, Ian has booked a few hotels ahead on booking.com.