Grande Traversée du Jura: Day 1

As I am balanced precariously in a downward dog stance in the middle of an icy country road, poles in hand and skis on feet, I wonder why I did not stick with Plan A. I stare backwards between my legs and notice the rapidly approaching small red Swiss car and curse myself for changing my mind. Plan A was obviously the right choice. That is why it was Plan A!

Sometimes you choose to visit a ski resort for thrillingly shallow reasons: because bits of it are steep or deep or long; because of where it is; because of its reputation. At other times, the attraction is more subtle. The main factor driving my curiosity for the Jura Mountains: a growing affinity with small, community resorts – the kind of places where locals go to ski, that feel part of the culture and not somehow transplanted.

On paper, the Jura Mountains are France's best kept secret, and one of the least explored pockets of the Alps. Straddling the Franco-Swiss border, the Jura Mountains extend for a 250km arc from the Rhone to the Rhine. The ski route, which was first completed in 1978 (the year I was born), crosses the Haut-Jura regional park and follows much of the route of the world famous Transjurassiene ski race. Unlike the jagged peaks of the Alps, the landscape is more Nordic and rolling.

My plan was simple. I would ski a bit and eat a lot. My Grande Traversée du Jura (GTJ) starts in the Swiss town of St. Croix and ends 153 kilometers later at Giron, France.

Upon arrival in St. Croix, I carelessly and recklessly throw away my original plan (short taxi transfer to the trail head at Les Fourgs) in favour of the more adventurous option of following vague instructions from the Hotel owner to ski across Swiss snow-covered meadows to join the GTJ on the French border.

A short hike through town to the Col des Etroits and armed only with a tourist map, I am ready to depart on my cross-country skiing tour. After a shortly while the track splits, whereas the map shows just one route. I choose the left track simply because it does not cross a road (and there is no road marked on my map). After a little while further, the route begins to descend. The groomed piste then disappears and becomes a vague route on hard compacted snow. I am now picking up a bit too much speed on this descent. As I ski over and around all the bumps, a narrow road appears before me. I need to make a short, sharp turn to brake, but these are not the skis for that job, so I head for a part of the road that has a thin layer of snow. As I land from the small drop-off between the field and road, I realise that the road is covered in ice, not snow. I struggle to land and end up folded over looking between my legs at an oncoming red Swiss car. I try to scramble out of the way, but I have no traction at all. I resign myself to the inevitable skidding of tires and painful impact, but, to my surprise and relief, she simply squeezed past me. Is it wrong of me to question why she did not stop to see if I was OK?

On the other side of the road, I continue to follow the vague trial until it truly disappears. I take off my skis to hike up a narrow trial up through pine trees to reach La Gittaz Dessous. Here, with a weird mixture of happiness and anger, I find the correct trail and make up for lost time. I ski along the perfectly groomed piste, down through pine trees and across the gentle terrain to the border.

Shortly after crossing the border, I picked up the signs for GTJ to Les Hôpitaux Vieux. With navigation issues a thing of the past, I follow the well marked ski trail over a handy ski bridge to the snow-starved village of Les Hôpitaux Neufs. The GTJ ski trail continues gently over undulating terrain to a small ski town of Metabief.

Alternating through forests and clearings, used in summer as pastures for cattle, I join a network of trails where I begin to climb to the plateau of the 'Mont d'Or’, before dropping down to Longeville-Mont-d’Or for a well earned rest.

Distance: 32.5km

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Bastille Day

Somebody somewhere once said that even the longest journey begins with a single step. This one begins with a roar as my motorbike is awakened from its winter hibernation.

Ten minutes into the journey I am reminded of how careful you have to be when riding a motorbike. I decide to leave the chaos of the motorway and head into the Black Forest...

Here there are sweeping bends, hairpins and long fast straights, corkscrew loops, uphill climbs and tricky, twisty turns, ensuring that my motorbike and I stay nimble. This is why I love riding my motorbike :)

The route I am following is exhilarating and enjoyable, but is not really helping me to get to France on Bastille Day. Essentially I am wasting time cruising around the Black Forest, but I like to think the time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

That said, I should not squander time as it is the stuff of which this journey is made. With this in mind, breakfast in Germany is followed by dinner in Switzerland and tea in France. As I leave behind the forests of Germany, I weave between the lakes and towering peaks of Switzerland and pop across the border in to France.

As the sun is slowly setting, I choose Annecy as my home for the night. Somewhere called "The Best Hotel" is clearly the place to stay. When I check in I am shown the area where the fireworks will be... I guess that my plans for the evening are sorted :)

The firework display over the third largest lake in France is spectacular. The wall of colours is only  enhanced by the sonic boom of each firework reverberating around the mountains that encircle the lake. What a beautiful way to end my first day on the road.

Which way do we go!?

After (too) much deliberation over our final route, we eventually settled on a rock route up the Egginerjoch and along the ridge towards the Mittaghorn before descending to Saas Fee.

Unfortunately when we reached the bottom of the route, no-one could pick out a clear route up the steep ridge from the vague description in the guide book. In addition, two members of the group did not feel confident to attempt the rock route in big boots and with our big bags.

So this year's Alpine adventure has kind of fizzled out... Matt and I headed straight to the valley for some sports climbing, whilst Tim and Simon headed up the Mittaghorn via the walker's route.

That said, during this year's Alpine adventure I have climbed my first 4000 metre peak! Happy days :)

Strahlhorn

After the best night's sleep at altitude so far, the 3am wake up call was surprisingly easy to respond to. I forced heavy bread smeared with some sort of plastic cheese into my belly and headed off into the dark...

From the Britannia Hut a marked track led steeply down to the rubble strewn Hohlaub Glacier. We then traversed the glacier and popped over a rock shoulder to join the Allalin Glacier. Ascending the glacier on the right hand side took us under the cliffs of the Hohlaubgrat and the Rimpfischhorn. We then weaved a route through the crevasse fields to reach the Alderpass (3789m).

From the col, we climbed the rounded snow ridge before continuing in the searing heat of the sun on more open slopes. One final steep section, one final push - we reached the horizontal summit rock ridge (4190m) and peered over... The view down the other side made my knees go wobbly. The face was almost vertical and over 600m high.

We were fortunate to have this small exposed rock ridge to ourselves, so we took the obligatory photos before descending...

For me the descent is always the trickiest bit. You are tired. The heat from the sun is melting the snowbridges across the crevasses. Your knees hurt. Rocks are falling from the cliffs... I could go on :)

That said, the plod back to the hut went without any major incidents.

After 11hrs and 20mins on the route, we arrived back at the Britannia Hut for a well deserved rest.

The Purist Approach

With clean clothes, a new rope and feeling more acclimatised, we began the climb out of Saas Fee to our base for the next few days - the Britannia Hut.

The purists amongst you will appreciate the fact that we did not use either cable car to access the hut. Instead we climbed through the forest to Plattjen (2570m) and snaked around the East sides of Mittaghorn and Egginer to the final ascent over moraine and Chessjen Glacier to 3030m.

The Britannia Hut holds three times as many people as the Bordier Hut and is one of the busiest huts in Switzerland, despite being on the edge of the wilderness of the Allalin and Hohlaub Glaciers. The views towards the Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn are wonderful. From the hut, we could pick out West-North-West Flank on the Strahlhorn - our route for tomorrow...

Die Bergengel

With a knackered rope and a lack of proper acclimatisation, we decided to go down to the valley and have a rest day. Retracing our route down was supposed to be straightforward and it was until we met Rudi and Elisabeth...

This elderly Swiss couple were slipping and sliding their way across the Ried Glacier. Naturally we offered assistance, for which they were most grateful. As we safely reached the footpath, Elisabeth told us a story of how you must be courageous in the mountains and the Bergengel (Mountain Angel) will protect you. She said that we were her Bergengel, which was nice. I think we all had an extra spring in our step on the way down because of that :)

The rest of the trip down and round to Saas Fee was pleasant, but fairly uneventful.

Once we had cleaned up and completed our food shop, we headed to a local crag for a spot of sports climbing. The crag (Biele) is situated just below the top part of Kapellenweg - the path linking Saas Grund and Saas Fee. As the sun began to set, the North face of the Mittaghorn was lit up and provided a wonderful backdrop to our climbing position.

That evening we headed off into the town to find somewhere to eat and celebrate Matt's Birthday. Happy Birthday Bud!

Balfrin

The 7am alarm was difficult to rise for despite being in bed by 10pm! My first night at altitude never results in a good night's sleep - I tend to have the strangest dreams and last night was no exception :)

The Balfrin and Gross Bigerhorn were chosen as our training and acclimitisation route. After a simple yet effective breakfast, off we set... only to discover, once we were out of sight of the hut, that I had left my sunhat, sunglasses and camera behind :(

With the sound of the Mountain Guide's heckling still ringing round my head, I rejoined the group and we set off in earnest.

The track from the hut twisted and turned ever upwards along the moraine until we reached the glacier.

Care was taken on the glacier as yesterday two people fell into crevasses. However, we successfully navigated our way through the crevasses to the plateau of the glacier.

From here we climbed to the crest of the South West Ridge via a scree slope. The rock on the scree slope was loose and not much better on the ridge - this lead to a few nervy moments...

Towards the top, the ridge narrows but we were able to climb in on the South side. I was beginning to feel the effects of altitude. My heart was thumping so hard I thought my ribs we going to crack. Maybe we needed to take longer to acclimatise...

Just as we reached the South summit, snow and hail began to fall, so we abandoned our plan of traversing the summit ridge to the slightly higher North summit (well it is only 12m higher!). Instead we traversed the main NW ridge towards the Gross Bigerhorn. As we rammed a quick sandwich down our gullets, I noticed a nick in the rope which may prove problematic...

Descending the steep snow slope off the summit was made tricky because of the knee deep, soft snow on the ground and the hard snow falling from the sky.

From the saddle at 3594m (Balfrinjoch), a rocky ridge led to the summit of Gross Bigerhorn. Despite the guidebook describing the ridge as an easy snowy ridge, we saw no evidence of either! There were some tricky gendarmes to climb around or over en-route to the summit.

We stopped on the summit of the Gross Bigerhorn long enough to take a few photos and a quick check of the rope... The cut was getting deeper. We then descended the West-South-West Ridge which was essentially the biggest collection of jumbled boulders I have ever seen.

Back at the Bordier Hut again - just in time for tea after nine and a half hours on the route - another rope check: I can now see the core of the rope. Not good. Maybe we need to rethink our plans!

Ah! Bisto

After a leisurely start, we departed the Matterhorn Valley Hostel in Gasenreid and headed up to the Bordier Hut (2886m). On the bridge that crossed the glacial river, our noses caught the scent of freshly BBQd meat.

It was as if we were in a Bisto advert; we floated across to the picturesque lake (despite our weighty rucksacks!). Unfortunately the distraction resulted in us being on the wrong path... (to be fair, we have subsequently discovered that there were only three signs pointing us in the right direction!) Despite this, we only realised that we were on the wrong path at the head of the valley. At this point, the sides of the valley towered over us, so we had a dilemma - retrace our steps or scramble 150m up loose moraine. We chose to scramble. We chose badly...

That said, this did lead to a beautiful secluded Alpine meadow - ideal for a wild camp. We rejoined the path and headed onwards and upwards, but I was feeling the effects of the altitude.

The top of the zig zag path joined the Europaweg which lead to the base of the Ried Glacier which we needed to cross to reach the hut. Halfway across we refreshed our crevasse rescue technique - just in case...

We reached the Bordier Hut just in time for tea :) This small quaint hut is in a remote and wild setting under the upper glacier downfall.

As we were tidying up after our hearty meal, we were joined by some Steinbock who were enjoying licking the salt off the rocks.

With the sun setting and a storm rolling in, we planned our route for the next day and jumped in to our cots for the night. Zzzz

Mont Blanc de Cheilon

The hustle and bustle of the hut is tricky to cope with at the best of times; 5:15am is not the best of times! Bleary eyed, I got fed and watered. I was relieved to get out on to the route...

After a slippery start on the bridge, we headed along the moraine past the beautiful pyramidal form of the Mont Blanc de Cheilon to the Col de Cheilon (3 243m). Here, we prepared ourselves for glacial travel. We climb on to the glacier and slogged our way up it, dodging the huge crevasses that lay in our way.

The steep ascent up the glacier took us to a South West Ridge, where we could take in magnificent views of the Matterhorn, La Ruinette, Dent Blanche and Mont Blanc. The final steep section of rock on the ridge took us to the small summit at 3 870m, which was barely big enough to fit us all on!

We then followed our earlier footprints back down to the col and past the clear-cut north face, which we had sat upon hours earlier, to the Cabane des Dix. After a short pitstop, we continued onwards and downwards to Arolla...

La Luette

As I peered out of the hut window, I could not quite believe what I was seeing... Snow in August!?!

With our stomachs full, we trudged off in to the mist leaving the warmth of the hut behind. The path from the hut snaked it's way along the moraine to the Glacier de la Luette.

We put crampons on, roped up and took our ice axes in hand and began to weave our way between crevasses. The steep zig-zagging route took us to the col at 3465m.

After a short food break, we climbed a loose rocky ridge to the summit of La Luette at 3548m. From this fantastic vantage point, the clouds parted to grant us a quick peek at what surrounds us.

We then re-traced our route back to the Cabane des Dix that has a deserved reputation for great food :)

Le Miroir d'Argentine

It is illegal to mow your lawn before 10am on a Sunday. If, however, the Sunday happens to fall on the 1st August (Swiss National Day), then it is fine to fire a cannon at 6am!!? :)

The early start was not such a bad thing as today we will were attempting the fourteen pitch route Le Miroir d'Argentine Directe, which was first climbed in 1963.

We scrambled to the base of the climb and roped up in the shade of this large bit of rock. We remained in the cooling shade for the first pitches as we climbed up the huge left leaning corner groove. The climbing got very interesting at time with narrow chimneys and a tight squeeze through the letter box.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat on a small ledge, there was a short steep section between us and the warmth of the sun. As I pulled over on to the slab, I could feel my fingers being brought back to life by the sun's rays.

Once in the sun we moved up by finding small toeholds or smearing the soles of our shoes against the rock and sinking our hands into the huge crack. We followed this interesting line as it wanders up to the ridge.

We then moved along the ridge on to the true summit. After a short time on the summit, we began the long descent back to the valley, as there was a storm closing in. Luckily we arrived back at the car minutes before the storm started :)

Bonavau to Van d'en Bas

The final day started in a similar fashion to the first, with a huge climb to a distant col. Initially however, we had to negotiate the seemingly impenetrable Pas d'Encel gorge...

We climbed into the gorge - never really clear as to how the route was going to unfold. Handrails were in place for the exposed and/or steep sections of the route. This had a feeling of a hardcore mountaineering route until an elderly lady gracefully descended past us with a chirpy 'bonjour'...!

Having successfully navigated the gorge, we found ourselves in another high secluded valley. We followed this valley, skirting under the hanging glaciers on Mont Ruan and up to the Col du Susanfe.

Descending from the col proved just as tricky as any other part of the tour and soon we found ourselves at the familiar Lac de Salanfe.

The Vallon de Van was just a short descent from the Lac and, before we knew it, we were having a beer and discussing what the next adventure will be...

Mex to Bonavau

Natalie and I were up and away this morning as we had a lot of kilometres to cover...

The morning was spent weaving our way through the forests from Mex to the eco-friendly refuge at Chindonne - occasionally popping out by a beautiful waterfall or in a summery alpine meadow.

Yesterday I moaned a lot about the yellow signs that mark every junction - taking the map reading challenge out of the tour. After this morning, I take it all back :)

In the afternoon, the terrain became more challenging. The narrow disintegrating paths clung precariously to the steep sides of the mountains. Again, we were rewarded with moments of jaw-dropping beauty, such as the view of the Dents du Midi. Natalie and I tried to balance and tip-toe our way to the Refuge de Bonavau and after eleven hours of walking, we made it!

Too tired to really appreciate the beauty of this delightful 'Heidi' style mountain hut, we ate a fine meal and turned in for the night...

Zzzzzzzzzz...

Van d'en Bas to Mex

A jolly Swiss man bounded past use this morning,"always climbing to the Lac" he informed us... How right he was!

After a short break at the aqua green waters of Lac de Salanfe, we climbed onwards and upwards to the Col du Jorat. From here we could see the Mont Blanc Massif and the Matterhorn.

Descending from the col, the beautiful peak of Cime de l'Esthe came into view. The peak, also known as the 'Little Matterhorn', dominated the skyline. As we continued to descend towards the quaint village of Mex, we could not help gazing at the steep faces and sharp ridges of the 'Little Matterhorn' .

Tired and weary, after over 900m of ascent and 1100m of descent, a warm welcome greeted us at the Auberge de l'Armalli. Closely followed by a huge thunderstorm...

Last Minute Preparations

The terrifying Vallon de Van Road leads to the picturesque and secluded starting point of our tour. We used the Auberge du Vallon de Van as our base before heading off into the mountains...

The Route

A nineteenth-century traveller once described the Tour des Dents du Midi as the “best of the Alps captured in miniature.” And they were right – it’s an ideal quick fix for those in need of a hit of alpine air. While other ‘Tours’ often take over a week – if not several – this trip can be completed in four or five days... Natalie and I will be doing it in three!

Day One: Van d'en Bas to Mex
Day Two: Mex to Bonavau
Day Three: Bonavau to Van d'en Bas

The hills are alive...

Left the overnight train in Feldkirch, Austria and hopped onto a bus heading for Vaduz (the capital of Liechtenstein). We wandered around Vaduz for a while, then headed up the hill to the castle where the Royal Family live. The views were impressive.

Next we wandered along the Rhein. As we crossed an old wooden bridge we had crossed into Switzerland! Not bad eh!? Three countries visited and it is only 11am :)

There really wasn't much to do in Liechtenstein - unless you want to buy dentures or stamps, so we got on a train bound for Salzburg...

In Salzburg, we visited the gardens from the Sound of Music (just so that I could take pictures for my Mum - I didn't really want to go!) and then headed across to the old part of town. Here we had some excellent food and quality beer.