Sunday 31st August: Sunny then misty then sunny 8°C to 12°C
Gruben to Zinal: 21.9k: 8.00am to 4.30pm: 8hrs 30mins
Sunny morning down at Gruben
Ahead is the Turtmann Glacier
Snow capped Alps appear
We're up a long way from Gruben
The mist begins to roll in
Chalte Berg and Forcletta that way
Coffee in the mist
Mists lifts near top of Forcletta
The Alps appear in all their glory
Someone on top of Col de Forcletta
At Forcletta at 2874 metres
Pushing bikes up to Forcletta
Other side of Forcletta is rocky
Lunch in a hollow in the meadows
Looking down on St Jean
Alps in the distance
That's Zinal down there
Awesome backdrop to cows on knoll
There's a supermarket in Zinal
A kinda easy day to the top of Col Forcletta at 2874 metres, as we were starting from Gruben which was already 1822 metres - only an ascent of 1000 metres!! not the 1800 metres we did yesterday. A sunny, then misty morning then sunny afternoon, meeting dozens of trekkers, most English speaking, going in the opposite direction from Chamonix to Zermatt, and all with tips and tales and to tell.
Our 4 person room for just us two made for a good nights sleep. We're on the 4th floor - the mattress floor where there's 29 mattress in 4 rooms spread over the floor - so we pack up everything and take it down to breakfast so we don't have to go up and down again. We do enough climbing without climbing 40 steps that we don't need to. The breakfast at the Hotel Schwarzhorn was great and at 8am we're out the door and on our way.
There's a 2k walk down the Turtmanntal Valley named after the Turtmanna Stream. Then there's a sahr right turn up. Up and up to Chalte Berg at 2488 metres - it's a 2 house village plus humungous cow shed. Skirting around this, we look for a place to have coffee, away from the cow plops. It's cold now when we stop climbing - still about 8°C - and there's not too many places to choose from for coffee. Coffee and a jam sandwich in10 minutes and we're off again.
The mist seems to dissipate the closer we get to the top, and whilst not an easy stroll in the park, we seem to get there pretty quickly by midday. And then we encounter the streams of trekkers walking towards us - mostly from the UK with a few Americans and most doing a non-guided walk - a tour group does the booking of accommodation, provides van support for the luggage so they only need a day pack, and gives everyone a diagrammatic map for each day - but they don't have an on-site guide.
The wind is cold as we head on down the other side. There's 3 guys pushing mountain bikes and just beginning the steepest part of the climb to Forcletta. That's hard work for a short thrill down the other side. We look for a hollow in the meadow to have lunch out of the wind. Lunch is left over bread, meat and cheese.
It's not far to the edge of the plan where there's a steep downhill drop into the next Val de Zinal. The larger town of St Jean can be seen far off to the right. Zinal is around the corner to the left. It's sunny and 12°C as we walk several kilometres around the contoured balcony overlooking the valley below and then it's down, down down through the pine forests for a descent of 600 metres into Zinal. We encounter lots of directional signs for an impending race around Zinal 21k up around and down - I sure wouldn't like to be running fast on these stony tracks. Good ankle breaking country.
Finally at 4.30pm we're in Zinal, spy our Hotel de la Poste, but make a B line for a supermarket we can see in the next street to check it's opening hours. Then back to the hotel to check in, shower, wash some clothes, and go downstairs for a beer and a blog, but not before picking up a loaf of nutty Rogenbrut that weighs one kilo.
A quick beer while I download Ian's photos, then over to the supermarket to buy tonight's dinner of meat cheese and green leaves to go with our ten ton bread. It's warm in the room so the clothes should dry. Time to plan for tomorrow's trip to Cabane du Moiry, which Ian booked by phoning on skype. I'm really looking forward to this Cabane du Moiry, it's had rave reviews.