We didn't die... Therefore it was an adventure!

As we staggered back to the campsite... putting one weary painful foot in front of another.. Paul (my brother) made a strikingly accurate observation...
 today had just about everything...
Elation... disappointment... pain... suffering.. up ... and more up... scorching sunshine... gale force winds... pouring rain

But before I get into that... let me set the scene.
Me and Paul set off at 02:30 .. bound for the place that both of us long and love to return to. A normally chilled laid back guy.. Paul transforms in the mountains of Switzerland to a determined peak bagging... adventure seeking daredevil... or just someone for whom the line between CraZy and Life-threatening becomes occasionally blurry.

Neither of us had slept more than a couple of  hours... me in the day after my night and Paul after a long day at work... so somewhat tired we finally ended up at the campsite after a solid 19 hour travelling day.

Although Paul had stated that he was going to be grumpy... he actually proves a good travelling buddy so much so that when we got to the campsite and attempted to pitch up in the dark... rather than getting grumpy and cross with each other... we were close to rolling around on the ground in fits of laughter.

This laughter continued as we attempted to make ourselves comfortable in a tent with little protection from the cold hard ground. We sounded like we were 90! Ouch my hips... my knees... im too hot... too cold etc etc until eventually after all that... the tenth wind ran out and we conked out.

The forecast had been dreadful for this week and the rain fell regularly through the night but when i woke (cos my feet were ice blocks) I poked my head out to see bright blue sky and sunshine beating down in the valley. Unfortunately for Paul it was only 7:30 and so I spent the next hour badgering him to get up so we could pack up and set off for the Europaweg ... our intended mti day walk. Eventually after Paul had slowly stumbled up and gone for a shower... and returned to find he had conveniently missed the packing up... we hefted our rucksacks... tent and enough stuff for a couple of days and all eventualities onto our backs...
BLOODY HELL

They were HEAVY!

Still.. we had made a plan and we weren't going to go back on it now.
So we set of down the road ... walked to Tasch and jumped on the train to Zermatt (no cars allowed)
First stop information buro

We are going to walk the Europaweg I said to the lady behind the counter.

She opened her eyes wide and slowly shook her head...
Its shut... closed... impassable... too much snow... too dangerous... everything over 2000 meters is shut!
OH !! Plans disappeared faster than the avalanches had covered Zermatt this winter.

So what now??
We shook off the disappointment and decided to salvage the day... found a signpost and picked the longest walk on it... lets go

2 mins later... reality of Swiss walking  hit us squarely in the face... especially when neither of us had done much training recently...

1/2 way up the steep road .. still in Zermatt... it was time to sit down. My legs felt like lead and my heart and lungs were on fire...

We eventually reached the start of the path... many stops later... to see it winding its way up the mountainside and by winding I mean 45 degree slope up... steep sharp bend.... 45 degree slope up... steep sharp bend...
Add to that but I was dehydrating with every step. Prepared as we were for cold miserable weather... hot sunshine took us by surprise and the layers quickly came off. Unfortunately every time we stopped to take off a layer... we had to take off the 30Kilo rucksacks... stuff the layer in... and then heave it back on again. It was exhausting.
My legs were not playing ball and the stops were frequent.
All the stops did mean that we took in the views which were stunning and we did see the matterhorn in all its glory... clear of cloud (very unusual!). In the time I had taken out my camera... the cloud was almost back over it again... but still!

Any people we met... were going down... having taken the sensible option of train up.. walk down. Of course we had dome it the hard way.  It was excruciating at points... foot in front of the other... achilles screaming... hamstrings tweaking... knees groaning. It was almost like the re route again! (See my documentary!!)

As we crawled straight up the mountainside and time ticked on... plans began to change! Its only day 1... lets not totally break!  Train down became the new plan... just as soon as we could find the station.

After another interminable series of up and bend and with a few 'steps' thrown in we finally reached the station.
With Swiss timing precision we were on a train down within minutes... droppng back down the 2000ft that we had gained in just over 3 miles.  All that climbing with 30 kilo rucksacks... no wonder it had hurt!! Given the fact that everyone else we had seen was walking down and with only daysacks... i think we actually did rather well!

Once back in Zermatt... frankly we just collapsed into a pizza restaurant! But another plan was forming as we rested our aching bodies... why not walk from Zermatt back to our campsite further down the valley. It would be mainly down we reasoned and although the sun had disappeared behind the clouds... it was still warm and reasonable.
So that became our new plan and we headed down the road.
There must be a path off the road we reasoned and sure enough... up to the left climbed a path.
Up again!
A part of the path as it levelled out was covered in snow and avalanche debris.. fallen trees and the like and maybe this should have given us a clue... but it didnt... or at least we ignored it... clambered and slid part of the way down the snowslope (in a controlled manner) before picking up the path on the other side.

The path undulated nicely... not too much steep up or down and above the train tracks... it was a good path...

Well until we got to a few fallen trees blocking the way... and by a few... I mean a lot! Off came the rucksacs and we clambered and ducked under and over.... then through more and tighter spaces. Paul reccied ahead...

Yeah its doable... just

So we clambered and scrambled a bit more and came to a dense patch of trees.... forced our way through... and found the path once again.
Search for the Pink Alpine Elephant complete! (That's where we go off piste on a 'path' that probbly isnt a path... get a bit lost ... scratched... banged up... only to find that the path was near us the entire time!)

We still didnt take this as a clue and continued on... the path carried us on top of the railway tunnels and snaked along the mountain side.

The avalanche chutes were still full of snow... hovering precariously...melt tricking from the underside of the snow packs... and there we were jaunting underneath. The path was often covered by the snow and alternate routes were found... occasionally by sticking our hands deep into the snow as holds and tiptoeing on the edge across....

Fun... yes... slightly risky... yes.... still alive...yes
Then its an adventure!

The next chute we came too blocked the path so completely that we backtracked slightly to find a part of the slope to scramble down... we picked our spot and clutching roots and boulders inched our way down... I was in front and watching my steps... when I heard a crash and rocks falling and turned round to find Paul .. on his back... head downslope ... grind to a halt just next to me...

OUCH... he said in a typical paul understated manner. I could see a gash in his trousers and wondered aloud if his leg was broken...
Dont think so....
Can you wait bear?
We will see!

He clambered to his feet... put his weight on his leg... and found it didnt buckle...
No break...

No head injury either as he had managed to twist as he fell so the rucksack took the brunt.

Thats one way to get down the slope!

I dont mind if its me... but it scared the shit out of me that paul might have done some real damage... so as we wondered over to the snowpack we were trying to get round... paul went up and peered at the waterfall coming off the edge and tumbling down the mountainside.

Its doable... he said!

Apparently there was a (only slightly wet) path wide ledge that we could cross over and then scramble up the rocks on the other side....

Errrr nope!
No No No

I admit that if by myself I might have done... maybe... but my big sister responsibility kicked in and there was no way I was going to let him try it. He had already gone down once and this was a worse potential one!

Its doable... he kept repeating...

Mainly i think cos we were fairly close to Tasch and therefore not far from our campsite and to turn back now meant a walk back up the path... back over the avalanch chutes we had crossed and back through the fallen trees...

Gutting

Reluctantly we turned back
As we did so suddenly the wind picked up significantly..
Catching our large heavy rucksacks and making it hard to stay upright... then the wind died away again... but only because the clouds were tumbling over the mountaintops and began to unleash a multitude of water!

We started walking again and Paul suddenly rememvered a bridge across the ravine to the road... yup... there it was... but can we get to it! A little further on... having the advantage of a different viewpoint... Paul noticed a wooden ramp ... down the edge of the train tunnel. We leaned over...
There was another path!
Could this be the path to the bridge... was this the way we had supposed to have gone??
We followed the ramp down to the path and despair turned to elation as we realised that this path was our salvation from having to walk back the way we came.
We hotfooted it over and stood... victoriously on the road. Now it was just a short hop down to Tasch and then a little further to the campsite!

The rain however didnt want to give us too much time to celebrate and it began bucketing it down. Add to that ... after all the exertions... entire body ache had taken over and so the walk... which should have been a stroll... turned into a nightmare of each body part taking turns to complain. It was not pretty... but with one foot in front of the other... we made it... threw the rucksacks down... and crawled to the restaurant for hot chocolate (me) and beer (paul)

Mistake....
Siezed up!

We sat in the car to warm up and dry off.

Thats enough talking for today sis
Yup... I wholeheartedly agree!

So as i write this blog... its still raining and neither of us have the will... or the muscle power to get up and re-pitch the tent!

What a day!

Was it painful?
Yes!
Was it scary?
At times .. yes!
Did you die?
Nope

Then it was an Adventure!