UPDATE 2020: As of 2020, this trail which we walked out of the valley is no longer passable due to a landslide (until further notice)
Wednesday August 22, 2018 -- Day 4 of our second week of hiking vacation. When we spend a few days in Canton Valais, we also like to ride the bus up one of the side valleys of the Rhône Valley, to a lake at the end of the valley where we either walk around the lake or walk out of the valley. This time we chose to ride up the Lizerne Valley to Lac de Derborence, on the North side of the Rhone Valley. It's the valley we saw when we were on top of Mont Rouge, that looked like there was a lot of forest along one mountain flank, where we could walk out of the valley and hopefully it wouldn't be too hot. We learned some interesting things from the bus ride up the valley: Namely, Lac de Derborence is one of the "youngest" natural lakes of the Alps, there having been two massive rock slides in 1714 and 1749, which dammed the rivers and created the lake. The slides were so massive and quick that in the first slide, 55 homes and 15 lives were lost, and in the second 40 alp homes but no lives lost as the shepherds were able to get themselves and their flocks out in time. Also, the Post Bus travels into this valley since 1906. The ride up was VERY impressive! Narrow road blasted through the rock (tunnels with "windows" at regular intervals), and we looked down into the steep valley and across to the massive bands of exposed rock on the other side, hardly expecting that we would be able to walk there. The trail itself was a bit anticlimactic in the end, as it was wide enough for a car to navigate (which a couple did, although I wouldn't dare) so as a hiker, you never had to get near the steep edge that dropped into the valley. And in each recess where the bare rock bands were, what should have been waterfalls and rivers were all dry rock beds. But looking DOWN at the road we came up on, THAT was impressive. The last part was a long drawn-out section and a very steep descent back into the Rhône Valley. Altogether it took us 4 hours to walk the 13 km out of the valley
From Mont Rouge on the other side of the valley two days earlier we saw the Lizerne Valley to the North, and decided we wanted to do a trip up that valley.
It was a one-hour bus ride on the narrow road North into the Valley
The bus ride was impressive, with lots of views into the steep valley. On the other side we could see the trail we were going to walk out on.
Looking at the bare slopes, we could hardly imagine that there was a trail on the other side for us to walk along. There is actually a road there...
Up ahead the road disappears into a tunnel which has a series of windows looking out into the valley. It was particularly impressive to see from the other side of the valley.
Video: Two minutes of the bus ride into the back of the valley. At the end is a short piece showing a car going through the tunnel (viewed from the other side)
The valley opens up at the back and there were surprisingly many homes back here.
End of the line: The Hotel/Restaurant at the Lake, "Lac de Derborence".
We started by walking around the lake before heading out the valley to the right. Up ahead is a passage that takes you to the next valley to the East. That is a hike we also want to do one day.
This part was the best part of the hike, the narrow trail, with a view of the vehicle road at the back on the other side of the valley!
At this point the Post Bus was returning to Sion, so we were lucky to get a clear view of it as it entered the tunnel gallery!
Post bus entering the tunnel gallery on the East side of the Lizerne Valley.
Soon the "trail" became wide enough for a car to travel on. This quite surprised us. There are about 3 small houses on this side of the valley, and for this they built a road....
Nevertheless, this is a road I would not want to drive on.
They say you must not have vertigo to walk this trail, and yet the road is wide enough that you wouldn't need to get close to the edge like this.
Seeing the tunnel on the other side like this was AWESOME
Zoomed view of a vehicle driving through the tunnel
As we move further down the valley, different angle view of the tunnel on the other side.
These are the bands of bare rock we saw from the other side. It turned out they were not difficult to cross at all.
That's quite a wall they had to build to keep the road on this side from collapsing.
Superb view through the narrow ravine to Ardon in the Rhône Valley below
So at this point, we've pretty well made it out of the valley. All that remains is a very steep descent.
The steep descent took us past a few vineyards: They use even the steepest slopes here.
Nearing the valley bottom in the Rhone Valley (Ardon, where we caught the bus back to Sion)
(This picture was taken on the way up into the valley by bus, shows the steep last descent we did when we came back out on foot).
Altogether 13 km from Lac de Derborence to Ardon. Took us 4 hours. The weather stayed stable and we did have lots of shade for the hike, as expected.
Tuesday August 21, 2018 -- Day 3 of our second week of hiking vacation. This was actually going to be a day of no hiking (resting our legs from the long hikes both days before) so we decided on a train and bus ride (2 hours 45 minutes from our vacation apartment) via Martigny and Orsières to the Great St. Bernard Pass, the third highest pass road in Switzerland, which connects Martigny with the Aosta Region in Italy. Neither of us had been here before, so the plan was to spend 90 minutes at the Pass (according to bus schedule) before taking an Italian Bus down to Aosta and visiting that Italian city, before returning later in the afternoon via the 6-km Grand Saint Bernard Tunnel. This is one of the oldest passes in the Alps and was a very important route to the Northern provinces in Roman times. There is a lot of history here: In the year 1049, a monk by the name of St. Bernard of Aosta came up here and founded a monastery and hospice, offering simple accomodation and meals to travelers crossing this dangerous pass road. It was also here that the breed of St. Bernard dogs was developed, to traverse deep snow and scent out lost people. The dogs no longer belong to the monastery, but spend the summer up here. You can pay to go for 90-minute hikes accompanied by the dogs. And of course, Napoleon made his legendary crossing of the pass in the year 1800, apparently NOT on the steed that is depicted on all the paintings (See at bottom of report) We were lucky to reach the Hospice at 10 a.m. under blue cloudless skies, but that lasted just long enough for a few photos and then, as expected, cloud cover and it got cold again! It was right about when we were drinking cheap cappucinos at the Hotel Italia on the Italian side of the pass, waiting for the 11:20 bus to Aosta, that I noticed I didn't have my ID. We debated risking it... would the Italians put me into holding like the Americans do when you cross from Canada without ID? We wanted to get a day visa at the Swiss border control, but it was closed. Luckily I didn't have to find out. We asked the waiter where the bus stop was, and he said "Right here, the bus left at 10:30". Does this say 11:20, or what? We waited 10 more minutes to be sure, but no bus far and wide. Apparently, the Italians do whatever they want.
So change of plans (I was kind of glad). We had a look through the monastery building and the treasury with all its gold chalices and finely embroidered cloths and hand copied books, watched the St. Bernard dogs going on their walks, purchased Absinthe chocolate in the tourist shop, and headed back with the bus to the North entrance of the tunnel to hike along the dammed lake called Lac des Toules from Bourg St. Bernard to Bourg St. Pierre (which turned out to be an 8-km, 2-hour walk just the same). At the most exposed section the sun came out (very hot, even up here -- changing from pants to shorts and back again all day) and as we got to Bourg St. Pierre, it started to rain.....
Heading South from Martigny with the St.Bernard Express Train to Orsières. (This view is to the North, to the Rhone Valley)
From Martigny you take the St.Bernard Express train to Orsières, and in Orsières we switched to the St. Bernard Bus.
In Orsières we had 15 minutes to spare, so we went looking for a bakery for some pastries for a late breakfast. Very French influence here.
On the way to the Great St. Bernard Pass by bus, we passed by the lake called Lac des Toules, where at this point we did not know that we were later going to walk that trail on the other side....
The beautiful high alpine landscape near the Great St. Bernard Pass
This is the part of Switzerland where we spent 4 days, including this trip to the Great St. Bernard Pass at the border near Italy, and also near the border to France.
Tourist Photo
The St.Bernard breed was developed by the monks up here in the 17th century, but since 2005, the newly founded group called the Barry Foundation in Martigny has taken over breeding these original, shorthaired dogs. They spend their summers up here, though, for tourists to enjoy.
Before catching the bus down there on the Italian side of the pass, we have enough time to climb the hill for a few photos with the (not for long) clear blue skies.
We also walked around the Great St.Bernard Lake, twice. This photo is taken from the Swiss side, and across is the Italian side.
On the Italian side is this famous monument. In the Internet you can find it listed as the Statue of St. Bernard, but on the inscription plate it reads "Pius XI Pont Max Anno MDCCCCXXIII"
Looking South down the Italian side of the pass, this is the closest we got to getting to Aosta on this day...
The Hotel Albergo Italia, where we had lovely cappucinos, and where the bus for Aosta left almost an hour earlier than scheduled.
View from the Italian side: The Swiss Border Crossing office (closed) and the St. Bernard Hospice and Monastery on the Swiss side.
Barely 90 minutes after getting here, the clouds have moved over the entire sky and it got cold.
We had some time to kill before the next bus back on the Swiss side, so we visited the St. Bernard monastery church and treasury. (All the items in the treasury are donated)
It gets cold quickly in the mountains.
We took the next bus at 12:30 back toward the North and did a 2-hour hike along Lac de Toules before catching the last bus out of the valley at 16:30 from Bourg St.Pierre
It was a lovely walk along Lac des Toules to Bourg St-Pierre, so not a totally wasted day after all.
Here on the uphill section the sun came out and it became extremely hot again
We found a breezy spot to eat our Absinthe chocolate which we bought at the St. Bernard Shop
Looking South along Lac des Toules.
Heading down the valley toward Bourg-St.Pierre, this is looking South back to the dam.
Bourg St. Pierre. As we got here it started to rain. We had a little over an hour to kill, so sat in a road-side café and had beer and dessert....
This is the famous painting of Napoleon crossing the alps, which apparently was here at the Great St. Bernard Pass (he also rested at the hospice) but apparently also was on a donkey or mule, and not on this great steed...
