To Cabane d'Orny and back
I've become obsessed with this day. The traditional way is to hike from La Fouly through the Swiss Val Ferret into the small town of Champex. It is supposed to be an easy day, mostly hiking through villages and forests. There's lengthy discussion in TMB groups whether this is a day worth skipping. But I don't want to skip - I just had a rest day, and my brother only has five hiking days. I've read a post mentioning Cabane d'Orny as an alternative two-days hike, and i'm totally obsessed. Once I see a photo of the hut I'm in love. I research this hut to death, and find that we can climb up to it from Praz-de-Fort further down in the valley, or from Champex with or without the La Breya cable car.
We take the bus to Champex, and it's probably the most expensive bus ride I've ever taken: 12 Swiss Francs one way per person, or if you insist on paying in Euros - 12 Euros. The bus driver indicates that we need to stay on the bus all the way. The journey takes us along the valley's single lane road through some very old villages. This is Switzerland, so everything is well organized and beautiful. We stay on the bus as it stops at Orsières, changes numbers and move on to Champex. We are all alone on the bus now, and I wonder if everyone's just hiking the regular trail.
Champex is high up above the valley, and even though I know there's a lake there, it's a nice surprise to find a large lake this high up. We get off in Le Breya cable, a few stops from the town center, and take the chair lift up, not before putting on a bunch of warm cloths. It's a steep journey, and it's getting really cold. The clear skies allow us to see all the way to Lake Geneva ! I notice my brother casually takes the chair on the inside, which requires more agility in jumping off at the end. He will do the same on the way back, and I smile to myself, as it is what I do when hiking with our mom.
Off the chair lift the path takes us a bit higher and then wraps around the mountain. It's a narrow path, much above the tree line. Every once in a while the fog moves and we see the drop into nothing on the left. Occasionally we are overtaken by mountain climbers, distinct by their smaller backpack with ice axes dangling from them. We even walk past a family with a toddler running forward, wearing a harness on a leash!
There's a path in here somewhere
Soon we hit a field of boulders taking us up the mountain. It is clearly an avalanche path, and I wonder for a minute about its history and make a mental note to check when was the last one.
As we climb the boulders my brother and me discuss the difference between Israeli children and the local ones, who seem so eager and accustomed to hiking. Looking at a local family that is overtaking us, I realize the difference is simple: local children are part mountain goats. There is no other way to explain the ease in which they traverse the boulder field.
A bit more up the mountain, now there's an edge of a glacier on our left and two small mountain lake on our right. The hut is on the edge of a rocky outcrop, with a strangely horizontal access to it. Above us we can see groups out for a walk on the glacier. It's magnificent.
This is not a hut that gets random day hikers, as it's not en-route to anything other than the glaciers themselves (and the next hut up - Cabane Trient). It's a mountaineering hut, evident in the amount of climbing gear we can see in the equipment room at the entrance. The hut is warm and inviting and we order soup (fantastic, with huge chunks of cheese), and Rosti, which is a fancy name for grated potatoes fried to perfect golden brown. We sit in the corner, enjoying our food, looking at the climbers out on the glacier. Snow is falling again, giving the hut an almost romantic feel.
Heading back out, it's retracing our steps down the field of boulders. There's no fog anymore, and we debate whether the void on our right is more or less scary with the fog. We agree that although without the fog you can see how deep it is, the fog makes it more eerie and therefore feel more dangerous.
According to our map there is a junction where, if we take the left option, it will take us up and then down the mountain and into our hotel for the night. When we reach the junction it doesn't look very well tended to, and as we are debating this option, a couple head down towards us. We ask them about the trail up, and using a mix of languages to communicate we understand that they went up and then back down when they couldn't find the rest of the path. We decide to give up and continue retracing our steps. As we reach the chair lift we agree that this is it for the day. It's raining and foggy again, one more hot chocolate and down the chair lift again. This has been a great hike, so sometimes my obsession and love of research really does pay off.
From the bottom station of the chair lift we take a left through the forest along the Bisse - a little brook carrying fresh alpine water down into town. Even this late in the season, the water are raging in places, cool and tasty. It's a nice ending to the day, and we soon reach our destination - Relais d'Arpette. We share a room with a couple (Israelis. We are everywhere on the trail), showers are next door - clean, spacious with unlimited hot water. We turn down dinner of Fondu again, and opt for the game meat stow. Yet again we are set next to other Israelis, perhaps they group by language here? it will not be the first hut to do that. Food is good, but the conversation is overtaken by tomorrow's forecast - snow again. It's likely that we will not be able to take the more challenging variant, but we will know more tomorrow. I'm over taken by strange melancholy, thinking of quitting the trail and heading to Chamonix by public transport. I regret it the moment I say it out loud, but the melancholy doesn't leave me and I head to bed earlier than usual.
Pro tip: Lunch on the Tour Don't expect fresh fruits and vegetables on the TMB. Among Israelis, this was probably the number one complaint. However, if this is something that you would like to eat, there are enough towns and villages along the way to purchases fresh fruits and vegetables to supplement your diet. I like taking small plastic containers to store cherry tomatoes and small cucumbers. Carrots are also an option as they store well. For fruits, apples of course, pears are a favorite of mine (I add it to my sandwich!), raspberries are a nice addition but only for the first day, as they don't keep well.
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