Thursday 3rd September 2009 There was a very good buffet breakfast at 7 but I had gone out before & it was raining. This had stopped when I left at 8 but came on twice more during the morning on the way up. In fact, until late afternoon, it was very cloudy. The path starts stony, then goes a long way up the valley, crossing several streams & only gaining about 300m before a big wash, after which it splits. (More pictures of this part on this link). The left-hand path goes to the Davo Dieu & over to Scuol but I went right, where it is fairly unremittingly 'up' to the little glacier. The waymarks are blue & went up the right-hand side (going up) but become very iffy as you get to the ice. Care is needed to get onto the ice & by this time, I had my old orange anorak on & had unshipped my ice-axe, so my fingers were pretty cold. This being September, the ice was very hard, dirty, wet & slippery, so I negotiated it with great care.

Map (not to scale) from the Official Map of the Automobil-Club der Schweiz, (with their permission) which is on this link.

From the Fuorcla di Val Gronda

Vadret da Fenga (Kronenjoch Glacier)

Ken above the glacier

It soon became slag heap again. I had been passed by a couple of Gerries, one friendly & one, not. The friendly one took my photo at the cloud-girt sign at the top but this is not the top of the pass. That comes a little later after a stony stroll, which I took while they had their lunch & I did not see them again until they got to the Jamtal Hutte.

Down from the Kronenjoch

Looking back up to the Kronenjoch

Jamtal Hut

The path down is, at first, a long, steep, slippery, shaly nightmare, requiring extreme care as slips are possible & possibly terminal. (Those of you with poles will be better off here but I have enough to carry). There is a lot more of this further down as well but otherwise, it is quite a pleasant descent through several steps. The Jamtal Hut (hut website) only appears with 20 minutes to go, after 6 hours 20 mins. It seemed at first, even more of a hotel than the Heidelberger, with automatic sliding glass doors to get in. I was at first, ignored which annoyed me but eventually, I was given a room. No hot water but there was a plastic jug to get some from the washroom. It was €46 half board but you also got a welcome bowl to quite good soup & bread on arrival. The table numbers are tied to the rooms. There was no water at all when I arrived but after the Hut Guardian had fiddled with running a pipe down the hill, there was plenty. I chatted to several people in the course of the evening & was invited to join an interesting guy from Munich at his table for dinner, which was as good as the Heidelberger's with a big chunk of pork. Beers € 7.60. 24,447 paces.

The next stage ought to be over the Getschnerscharte to Bielerhohe...

However...Forced rest day...Friday 4th September 2009

As the forecast was rain all day & it was raining when I got up, I resolved to go down to Galtur (village website) instead of over the Getscnerscharte to Bielerhöhe after another excellent buffet breakfast. It took 2.5 hours & about 14,000 paces to get to Galtur, where I checked into the Hotel Alpina, run by the entire Walter family, cheap & quite nice, just above the town centre. I washed all my Alpine clothes, trousers included & myself before going down into Galtur at 1200, the rain having stopped, to buy 14 cards (€7) & write them in the Hotel Fluchthorn, accompanied by their excellent home-made tomato soup & coffee (€6.90).

Down the Jamtal on a dirty day

Galtur when I got there

Galtur later!

The 2009 tour will continue on the next page with an alternative route to meet up with my original start point of Gargellen.

Original route start from Gargellen

Next North East page: Jamtal Hut to Bielerhohe not done yet

Alternate North East page: Galtur to St Gallenkirch

Previous North East page: Laret to Heidelberger Hut

Alternative North East page: Ischgl (A) to Heidelberger Hut

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