Monday August 20, 2018 -- Day 2 of our second week of hiking vacation. It was very hot in Canton Valais, 30 degrees, so we went up high. But it was still hot. And we got up early to be out the door by 6 a.m. and at the start of our hike by 8 a.m., and it was already hot. As luck would have it, the clouds and fog, which were only expected mid-afternoon, moved in quickly up here as if they knew I was there. Unfortunately this had the effect of just making everything too cold, so I spent the day changing in and out of pants and shorts....
The trail we chose for this day is called the "Tour du Mont Rouge", Mont Rouge being a peak above the vacation village of Veysonnaz near Sion. I saw a video advertisement of someone running along the ridge and I thought: "That's a ridge hike I want to do". But I learned quickly, ridge hike does not equal ridge hike, and I really need to avoid ridge hikes that look like this on a map:
The description on our Switzerland Mobility Map reads as follows:
Magnificent high altitude walk, passing by the Crête up to the summit of the Mont Rouge, then the summit of Greppon Blanc and return via the highest bisse in the Valais, the «ancien Bisse de Chervé».
The tour starts with an ascent to the Crêtes de Thyon above Veysonnaz. A panoramic path will lead you then to the Mont-Rouge, suspended between the Val de Nendaz and the Val d'Hérémence. ...
The Mont-Rouge can be recognised by its cross.... A panoramic information panel helps you to identify the surrounding summits. Then the path becomes rockier and more difficult to access the Mont-Loéré and Greppon Blanc to come back down to the pastures.
The return to Thyon is made via the «ancien bisse de Chervé», the highest in the region, now unused. You, therefore, finish your walk on a wide and easy path running along the mountainside, shaded by pine and larch forests......
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There were many things wrong with this:
1. Because of the fog, we could identify no surrounding summits.
2. "The path becomes rocker and more difficult".... that was an understatement. We never did get up to the Greppon Blanc.
3. "Bisse de Chervé" was misleading. We were all excited about another irrigation channel, especially "the highest in the region". There was no irrigation channel at all, just a wide dirt road, and by the time we got there, after an annoying steep descent, happily warmed by a now fully cloudless sky...
4. Marked as 4 hours and 20 minutes for the whole round tour, we had 5 hours 15 by the time we reached the Veysonnaz cable-way (in other words, we didn't even go back to Thyon) and never even attempted the additional 30 minutes' climb to "Le Greppon Blanc"
But along most of the ridge the hiking was good, and when the fog lifted to give us some view windows the sights were incredible, all the way to Mount Matterhorn and the stunning Dixence Dam (highest gravity dam in the world), and down the Rhone Valley from West to East. Not one of my favourite hikes, though. Maybe I was too tired from the very long hike the day before... In retrospect, we should have gone down sooner, but I was always waiting for the fog to disappear. (Side note: this was the only day there was fog up here).
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| Early morning light on the two hills of Sion, as the bus takes us up the switchback road to Thyon |
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| At 8 a.m. as we start our hike the clouds are already moving in. Just one single glance at the unusual West side of Mount Matterhorn (on the right) before the view diasappeared. |
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| Time to Mont Rouge was correct. At 2:45 we were about 30 minutes short of Greppon Blanc |
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| In the background and not visible in the haze is the magnificent Grand Dixence Dam. A goal for another day (or year) |
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| The marshlands of Essertse were stunning. Down below a large herd of Ehringer cows were grazing. Ahead is the ridge: Mont Rouge on the right (easy) and what turned out to be a difficult climb to Mont-Loéré in the middle. |
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| Already looking like autumn with the pink heather on the slopes |
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| The cross of Mont Rouge up ahead, and the daunting-looking crags of Mont-Loéré |
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| A quick look back as the fog rolls up the hill to swallow my partner... |
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| All of a sudden the marmots started whistling. I looked around and there was this dear bolting it across the marshes! |
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| A short break at Mont Rouge in the hopes that the fog would clear and we could finally get a view. No luck with that, so we press on. |
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| The trail disappeared into a bunch of soft slippery limestone and you had to find your way through carefully. The slopes fell much more steeply than it appears, and it took us way longer to reach the top than simply shown on the map. |
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| Looking back again to Mont Rouge on the left and the marshland below on the right. |
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| Happy to have made it in one piece to the top of Mont-Loéré. The ultimate goal of the Mont-Rouge Tour, i.e. Le Greppon Blanc, is in the fog on the left. We didn't even try that peak. |
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| Our little bit of sunshine up here. |
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| On the next dip after leaving Mont-Loéré, we finally got some views: Below are the pastures we will ultimately cross on the way back, and WAY below is the Rhone Valley. |
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| Looking South and still just barely visible (zoomed shot) is the mighty Grand Dixence Dam |
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| Looking East, the last glimpse of the Essertse marshland. |
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| It was at this point where we saw the next peak we had to cross (on the right) before heading up Greppon Blanc (behind Urs on the left) that we decided to take a shortcut down at the non-operational chair lift. |
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| The soft limestone shale is very crumbly and I'm surprised not more of it comes down. This farmer had to turn back to get help to clean this up. |
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| There was even still snow up here which was a surprise, but this is a ski area so it was probably hard-packed snow which takes way longer to melt. Down below is the Rhone Valley and the city of Sion. |
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| The fireweeds created splashes of colour across some parts of the slopes. This is on the way back to the West of the slope of Mont Rouge |
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| And here is where we got our idea for the fourth hike we were to do: across the Rhone Valley to the North is a large Valley we wanted to discover. It takes you up to a Lake, le Lac de Derborence. Below on the slope is the very large vacation village of Haute Nendaz |
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| Instead of returning to Thyon 2000 (next bus not till 3 hours later), we took the cable car down to Veysonnaz, where there were better bus connections back to Sion. |
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| Early morning we took the bus up on the East side of the hill to Thyon 2000, and after finishing the loop, we descended by cable car to Veysonnaz. This loop took us 5 hours 15 minutes. And we didn't even go to the top of Greppon Blanc |
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