Pete Buckley - A Long Walk in the Alps: The Eiger to the Matterhorn

A Long Walk in the Alps

Copyright 2013 PeteBuckley

Smashwords Edition

First published inpaperback in 2008

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Introduction

Leaving my skipoles in an upright V position, I settled down to wait for thesnowmobile that would take me back down to Plan de Jeux. It wouldbe dark in an hour and sleety snow gusted across the mountainsidewhile the higher peaks merged into the iron grey ceiling justabove. I tightened my hood against the rising wind.

My knee nolonger hurt now that I was sat down but the effort of trying tomake turns on skis had risked worsening the injury and though Iprotested that I could have walked or at least limped down theslope, I felt a secret relief that the effort was over. I know thateffectively being rescued when I wasnt that badly hurt was likegiving up but my instructor had said that a lift down was notrouble to anyone and given the lateness of the hour, she wasprobably right. Besides I had never been on a snowmobile and wasquite looking forward to it.

Looking aroundI began to appreciate my surroundings a bit more. Alone, fivethousand feet up a mountain, in rapidly deteriorating weather andapproaching twilight I was warm though and Plan de Jeux waslittle more than a mile away so my situation didnt unnerve me. Theonly sound was the wind brushing the snow against my hood andjacket, any other noises there might have been in the forest werelost in the white swirling mass. Below through the trees, the faintlights of the village were starting to appear and much furtherdown, the dark valley of the Rhone was almost lost from view as thewinter darkness approached.

This was myfirst time in the Alps in winter and I tried to imagine these hillsabove Torgon in the summer, green meadows dotted with grazingcattle and forest trails leading up to breezy summits with far offviews. It would make good walking country this. Gradually, I becameaware of a noise above the wind. It became louder, cutting throughthe muffling snow, rising and falling in strident tones anengine. Then the lights appeared through the trees and I waved tothe driver. My taxi had arrived.

Chapter One

As the rainbattered the window violently and Winter Hill once againdisappeared from view behind the squalls, I thought back to theskiing trip and felt a sense of relief that the injury had beenminor. I could have been sat here writing a story called GreatTrain Journeys of Switzerland or something similar. The EnglishSummer was now upon us and Id be back in the Alps in a little overa month

The injury,while confirming my initial opinion that skiing is dangerous had turned out to be nothing worse than a bad sprain and theGlacier Express would have to wait until another time. Seriouslythough, I had enjoyed my first efforts at skiing and was maybelucky to get away with nothing worse than a sprained knee. Thesport is surely a more dignified way of descending a hill than onones backside although that same backside has a lot further tofall from a standing up position.

It had been forsome time now that Id been thinking about doing a decent sizedtrek in the Alps, my experience so far consisting only of day hikesand easy summits. I was after doing a trip that could be done byany reasonably fit hiker in a normal fortnights holiday withouthaving to walk 20 miles a day or risk winding up at the bottom of acrevasse. Just a look on the internet or in any hiking magazinereveals an endless list of possibilities Chamonix to Zermatt by achoice of Haute Routes, the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), the AlpinePass Route, the Oberland Haute Route as well as the Tour of MonteRosa, the Circuit of the Matterhorn and many more. You can go in agroup, self guided, backpacking, hut to hut, in hotels or on bike!Such is the level of choice available. I immediately thoughthowever that it would add to the excitement if I could come up withmy own route.

Coming up withan original route though would be far from easy. It seemed thatwherever I went thered be little I could say that wasnt alreadyin the trekking companies brochures! Or was there?

Lengthyexaminations of a map of the Western Alps began to reveal thatthere was indeed a route linking 2 fantastic locations; a routethat could follow mountain trails for much of its length whilststill having bad weather alternatives; a route that would traverse2 Swiss Cantons from the northern rim of the alps almost to theItalian border as well as showing the walker some of the bestmountain scenery in Europe. It couldnt be booked as a package toureither not yet anyway.

The route wouldlink 2 quintessentially alpine villages and their mountains whichhave become very symbols of the Alps themselves. My journey wouldtake me from Grindelwald in the Canton of Bern south to Zermatt inthe Valais - from the Eiger to the Matterhorn.

As the routefollows several ancient pathways through the mountains, it hasdoubtless been walked many times, at least in part, by villagers ofBern canton visiting relatives in the southern Valais for instance.Many sections of the route have been used as trade routesthroughout history though I could find no reference to the routebeing done for its own sake and therein lay a good reason for me totry. Besides, though it may not be a new route in the Alps in thestrictest sense of the word, I thought it would make a good chaptertitle.

A possibledownside of trying a route of my own though was that I had noitinerary to follow like the hikers on the Haute Route or TMB so Iwould effectively be making it up as I went along thus giving ampleopportunities for getting lost. Certain sections would be fairlyobvious such as the high Sefeinenfurka heading west out of theJungfrau Region and the Gemmi or maybe Lotschen Pass fromKandersteg to the Valais but for much of the way I would be quiteliterally on my own.

I had at leastdecided on the first and last days walking which was a start Isuppose. I figured that if I was to walk from the Eiger to theMatterhorn then I should start with the wonderful Eiger Trailabove Grindelwald and it followed that the finish, quitepredictably, would be the Matterhorn Trail linking Schwarzseewith Zermatt. As for the rest of the route was concerned... Well;Ive not thought about that yet but I suppose Id work it out whenI get there.

It had seemedlike the proverbial Good idea at the time but once Id told a fewfriends and family type people that I intended to walk fromGrindelwald to Zermatt I began to think that I might actually haveto do this walk instead of just talk about it after all, it was along way over very big hills. I normally day hike and am not soused to walking somewhere new day after day and this was what boredown as a weight on my mind.

Hotels it wouldbe the best of the internet which in my case means the cheapest Ican find that are still standing. Yes I know the purist wouldcarry a tent and cooking equipment including a (very heavy) gasbottle and sleeping bag as well as clothing, food and water. Sodthat for a game of soldiers! I wanted to enjoy the walk not killmyself! Anyway the internet came up with bargain after bargain on2/3 star hotel bookings so why rough it?

The second bigtest of the route was how much would I use my ability andpredisposed will to cheat? Cheating on anything resembling aphysical challenge was something Id learned at school during crosscountry running. This sport was one I took to, more so than Rugbywhich at times appeared to ignore many civilised principles such asthe Geneva Convention, and so I actually put the effort in on the 5mile runs through the woods and fields managing quite good times. Idid, however, find that despite all my hard work, many of therunners who mysteriously appeared ahead of me seemed a lot lesstired than I was. It turned out that simply taking short cuts wasthe main reason behind this but there were cases of runners hoppingonto the Number 37 bus which would speed them effortlessly along athird of the course at an average speed of over 25 miles an hour a speed I was only capable of on my bike. There was even one caseof a lad, David Rogers, who came in last having spent the best partof an hour enjoying tea and biscuits aboard a canal barge speed 5mph not a good choice if youre looking to win a race!