Swiss Alps - Zinal

The Zinalrothorn and Besso High Above the Zinal Valley

The first part of the Hillways’ annual foray to the Swiss Alps involved 2 days in the Val d’Anniviers based in the small, but well-placed village of Zinal which is perched at the end of the road in this easternmost part of the French-speaking part of Switzerland. There is only one cable-car in Zinal so you have to work for every bit of your height if you want to get close to the numerous high peaks that encircle the head of the valley. You are only a stone’s throw from Zermatt but the short walk between valleys would involve a challenging blend of rock, glacier and 4000m peak - so most prefer to take the car!

Besso (3667m)

Day 1 threatened to alienate the illustrious leader from the group as I led them straight past the gondola station and straight up the steep 800m slope over which the Sorebois cable car effortlessly glides! This was as much to do with fitness and acclimatisation as it was to save money and I’m sure the others appreciated that fact (if ony they’d said as much)! Once above the tree-line we traversed south along a delightful alpine path that should have afforded spell-binding views of the mighty Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn and Ober Gabelhorn, alpine giants that form the eastern skyline of the valley. Today, however, cloud intervened and denied us all but a glimpse of these alpine monsters. A 2-hr traverse high above the valley floor and across a decidedly dodgy-looking band of recent landslide debris brought us to the green pastures of La Lé and an easy descent to our first mountain hut of the trip, the Cabane Petit Mountet. This hut is perched precariously on top of the crumblimg lateral moraine of the rapidly receding Zinal glacier but a comforting hot chocolate helped take my mind off the implied state of the hut’s foundations! An hour’s leisurely descent in steady rain returned us to the welcoming ambience of the Auberge Alpina in Zinal.

Starting up the Pas du Chasseur

Day 2 started with more rain and some unseasonal fresh snow down to 2000m which precluded the planned climb to the Col de Milon via the yet-to-be-visited Cabane d’Arpitetta. Instead, we opted for a short walk back up the valley to locate the chain-assisted scramble up the Pas du Chasseur so we could get used to some exposed rock and basic ropework. The climb falls well short of graded via ferrata (the ascent of exposed rock walls using in-place ladders, chains and assorted ironmongery), but is nontheless an interesting introduction to assisted ascension techniques! A couple of hours of various ups and downs using the chains gave us some useful and entertaining introduction to steep ground by which time the sun came out and we headed back to begin our transfer around to Zermatt for the rest of the trip.

Lunch Beside La Napisence

Check out my future plans for similar walks on: http://www.hillways.co.uk/alpine/alpine.htm