Saturday 30th August: Overcast and Misty until 3pm then sunny: Morning 10°C, Afternoon 12°C
St Niklaus to Gruben: 22.6k: 8.00am to 6.00pm: 10hrs
Short cut to where we're going
Looking back at St Niklaus
Rushing water down the gullies
Up through the pine forrests
Looking over Jungu into the mist
Coffee on seat outside church
Up again into the mist
More mist in the valley below
Backdrop of mist
Alps peaking through clouds
Rocky road to Augstbord pass
Time for a second morning tea
Rocky landscape and lakes
Spot the trekkers in the rocks
Looking down valley to Gasenreid
Blue skies at the Augstbord Pass
There's people on top of the pass
Now we see they're on motor bikes
It's a hard slog to
5 more steps to the top
Mist lifting and views spectacular
Ian rugged up in a neck scrunchie
Ready for lunch at the top
Augstbord pass at 2894 metres
Afternoon tea with a view
Not far down to Gruben
At last - the Hotel Schwarzhorn
The highest ascent of our trek so far - 1841 metres - the total amount climbed today. We started at 1053 in St Niklaus and climbed to the Augstbord Pass at 2894 metres. It took us 7hrs including two 15 minute coffee breaks. Then it was another 1200 metres down hill into the valley to Gruben. A total of 22.6k in 10 hrs. We're stuffed! This was more climbing than a few days ago when we trekked up to the highest point at the Theodule Pass at 3,317 meters, but then we started at about 2000 metres, an ascent of only 1300 metres.
We've had 10 hrs sleep. It's a long hard day today, and we wake refreshed. A hot shower and time to blog til breakfast. No internet! We're told it's a problem but no one seems to know how to fix it. Breakfast is nice with meusli and croissants. The tea is Black Liptons and boiling hot. So all is good.
We leave just after 8am It's not cold - about 10°C - and it's not raining - but it's very misty. We need to walkabout 1k back to the St Niklaus train station to the start of the long climb to the Augstbord pass. There's a gondola whizzing overhead. We could opt for a short cut up to Jungu at 1900 metres, but think better of it. The first few kilometres is a gradual climb up through pine forests, across gullies with rushing water. There's a break in the mist and we can look down to the village of St Niklaus, and see our Hotel Edelweiss with the Migros just over the road.
It's steep, and get's steeper as we finally reach Jungu at 11am. There's a slight break in the mist looking back down the valley. A seat outside the church makes a great stop for coffee and a piece of bread and jam - not too much to eat or we'll never get to the top. Up into the pine forests and mist. The track zig zags back and forward and finally turns the corner at about 2500 metres to traverse a boulder field. Along this stretch, we encounter 4 separate groups of trekkers coming in the opposite direction from Gruben - and they're all Americans. There's more activity on the stage from Zermatt to Chamonix than the tour de Monte Rosa.
It takes an hour to scramble across the boulder field, and emerge on a grassy meadow, where we have a quick cup of tea before making a final ascent to the Augstbord Pass. The mist clears, and the track gets steeper. We can now see people at the top of the Pass. It's still a long way off. Then we realise these people are on motor bikes, zooming down the mountain side at break neck speed. They slow down as the near us, as we're walking across large boulders.
It's another 40 minutes to the top, and we finally get there just after 3pm - after 7 hrs and 1841 metres of ascending. There's a sheltered spot behind some rocks where we devour the lunch we've carried up the mountain but daren't eat because it slows your legs down. We dawdle for half an hour, then head off down into the sun. It's about 1200 metres down across boulders and meadows and half way down, it's time for a cup of tea. More down, my toes hurt, Ian's knees hurt, and about 6pm we're at the bottom of the narrow Turtmanntal Valley which is only ever open in summer, and everyone leaves town in winter as it's inaccessible. There's only a dozen chalets in teh small hamlet, and teh Hotel Schwarzhorn stands out. It looks nicer than described in trip advisor. A bit posh even.
We've booked by email, but we've been told there's no double rooms, just the dormitory on the 4th floor. That's fine, as we're the only ones in this 4 person attic with mattresses on the floor. The shower is so good, and we barely have time to sort out our back packs, when dinner is ready. Ian orders 2 large beers. Dinner is luke warm soup, a wonderful salad, followed by chicken and mushroom with rice, then creme caramel. We're full.
The WiFi works well so time to sit in the lounge and blog, catch up with news from home and study the route for tomorrow. It's another up and down day, but not nearly as up and down as today. Kev Reynolds, author of Chamonix to Zermatt, The Walkers High Route, hasn't quite got the distances right, but is not as far out as Hillary. It seems like we'll need to do some adjustments to our distances and make sure we don't get caught out like on the Monte Rosa.