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Round the Matterhorn. Mauvoisin to Breuil tour - 4

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Last Stage, half day - From Rifugio Barmasse to Breuil

Breakfast minimal at 7. I retraced my steps to the Alpe Cignana, where the path carries on to the Fenestra di Cignana (2441m), a very simple pass & 1000 feet in 1 hour 20 mins. A long 'contour' path goes North above the Valtournanche. That is, it goes up & down a lot. Much cloud which did not however obscure the Sun but normally, the Matterhorn would be visible. It was, once & I photoed it, see below. There are several derelict farmhouses along the way which provided shade for snacks. At the Vallon de Vaufrede, a big glacier washout, the path disappeared, so I cut off across the moraines & snowfield delightfully through alpenrose, anemones & gentiana acaulis to the waymarked path down its other (North) side. This ends at the private fishing lake, around the East side of which, a path runs for a couple of kilometres to the vast camper-truck park at Breuil, alongside the new road tunnel built against avalanches. The village itself has been much improved by pedestrianising the High Street. Here, I met up with my Monte Rosa Rundtour. This walk is just a morning's stroll.

Fenestra di Cignana

The high-level path to Breuil

The Matterhorn from the high level path

Breuil High Street, now pedestrianised

Breuil High Street (Via Carrel) in 1975

It would have been a suitable completion of this tour to walk over the Theodule Pass to Zermatt but with the high night temperatures & snow left from last Winter, this might have been suicidal. To travel the 15km to Zermatt, I hitch-hiked 200km round via the Great St. Bernard Pass.

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Contact: Ken Baldry, 17 Gerrard Road, Islington, London N1 8AY +44(0)20 7359 6294 or e-mail him URL: http://www.art-science.com/Ken/Alpine/RM/RM4.html
Last revised 29/3/2004 © 1998-2004 Ken Baldry. All rights reserved.