Le Chargeur. The Hotel & Dam

Backside of the ugly dam. Les Diablerets in the distance.

Mont Blanc de Cheilon (left) from the dam

I had breakfast with some Danes on an educational trip to the electric works. They came from Odense Energie & were surprised that I immediately discussed the cathedral organ there. I could not understand what they expected to take back usefully to Denmark with them.

Off at 0845 & flogged up to the dam (again: I did it in 1995), where I found a French party assembling. I walked out on the dam to take a photo of Mont Blanc de Cheilon. There was a meter which showed tha the lake only held 90 million cubic metres of water & full is 400. It showed! After a while, the French paused & I prevailed on Marie-Noelle from Savoy to photo me after chatting to her on the path, which at first, goes through a series of tunnels, the first of which has a light switch giving one 5 minutes of light. I got ahead of them, as they kept stopping & was at the end of the lake in 2 hours.

The lakeside track. The pointed hill (centre) is Le Pleureur

Ken (me)

The bridge at the end of the lake. I have marked the track but it is still not clear

The old suspension bridge has been destroyed & there is a new iron bridge further up, so one proceeds along the Dix Hut path a little way before descending to the new bridge (clearly sign-posted). This 'new' bridge has also been destroyed! It took another 4 hours to get up to the Pas de Chevres, as there were obstacles. Soon, a gully (centre of the right photo) was almost blocked with a mass of ice & I needed my ice axe to get up it. I wondered how the French would fare, as they only had Lekis but somehow, they managed, as they caught me up just before the steep & loose gully which gets the last serious piece of height over. This is clearly marked on the maps. Then, they went off-path, I don't know if it was deliberate but I suspect they had a Proper French Lunch, as I never saw them again. Meanwhile, I spotted the correct route but often found myself breaking trail for them over the snowfields, which became more common as one ascended. Route finding was often tricky, as the slope increased (across-wise), so it was a bit up-and-down, with much loose rock.

The Pas de Chèvres is.

The Dix Hut (circled) from the foot of the ladders

The lines show the ladders on the Pas de Chèvres

Eventually, a passage takes one to the foot of the ladders up the Pas de Chevres &, although they needed three pont climbing & a few rests, they were a relief. At the top, one's immediate view was hidden by a mass of snow but, on standing up, a fantastic view appears, rather dominated by the Dent Blanche but including the Matterhorn.

The view East from the Pas de Chèvres.

Arolla, dominated by Mont Collon, is not very big

Although there was a lot of snow, it took barely an hour to get down to Arolla. 7 hours altogether.

On Friday June 25th, I had headed for Arolla & stayed in the Hotel du Pigne d'Arolla, the Pigne being the big hill to the right of the dominant Mont Collon. I left there on the Sunday for the next stage on the next page. On this Tuesday, I thumbed a lift to Les Haudères, see the next page, as the trip was over & I was to walk out of the Pennine Alps the next day. It was in Les Haudères that I found four English women who had had the nasty experience crossing the Col de la Chaux. but it was in Arolla on Saturday that I met two English guys who vouched for the practicality of the Pas de Chèvres, even if they did do the short start from the Dix Hut.