Our companions in the hut left first, while I was still bundled up, dozing under a pile of blankets. The warmth of the fire had died with the embers and I woke feeling cold. Amidst the clattering of pans, and heavy ski-booted footfall, the two Swiss guys made quite a racket as they staggered around in the dark and even dropped a pan of snow all over the floor. They did, however, get the fire going before they left, so we had warm water for brews when we got up around 7am. Outside, all was calm, still and beautiful.
Porridge and coffee set us up for the day and we left before the sun had reached us. The temperatures were still unseasonably warm. It was a lovely start to the day, spoilt only by the discovery that one of my ski crampons was missing - it must have detached its self on the ascent the day before. I skied back a little way, but could see no sign of it. We carried on up towards the next ridge, hoping that it wouldn't be too icy!
You can just see the hut, perched on the ridge (in the shade) in this photo. It was here that the slopes became too steep for skis.
We continued upwards now, with skis on our packs up the steep snow slope to the col. It was relatively straight forward ground at about Scottish grade one, but a slip would have been serious. We took our time and soon arrived up in the sunshine of Col du Mont Brule (3213m).
The sunshine felt life giving and the views were wild.
Back on skis, we traversed across the hanging Haut Glacier de Tsa de Tsan. The scale of the place was enormous. You can just see Stu and Rachel in the centre of the photo below.
Then after a final uphill section with skins on our skis, we crossed the final ridge line at the Col du Valpelline (3557m) and a staggering view of the Matterhorn and Valais Alps unfolded in front of us. With only one ski crampon, it was steady going, but luckily not too icy.
We were on a high-level plateau glacier, with some of the greatest alpine views available. It felt super remote - until a helicopter dropped a small guided party of skiers a the nearby Tete Blanche. It didn't matter to us though, as they were returning to Zermatt and we had an empty glacier laid out below us, with miles and miles of untracked terrain to negotiate.
Before descending, Stu and I took note of the mountains in the distance, the main summits (to the left of the Matterhorn), I climbed on one of my first alpine summers back in 1999 or so!
With skis set in downhill mode, we had the Ferpecle Glacier laid out in front of us - over 15km and 2000m of descent to go. Downhill all the way! Yahoo!
The initial traverse across to the Moto Rota was amazing. Gently moving across the wide plateau, I took in the sights as the kilometers ticked by. Breathtaking stuff.
Stu had got some recent advice about the best line of descent, but getting there meant crossing an obviously crevassed section. We roped up briefly, just to make sure that no one disappeared through a snow bridge. Thankfully, we picked our way across without a problem.
The descent took us through some wild terrain and we stopped regularly to check the best route through the crevasse and serac sections.
Where the glacier turned a gentle corner around the valley, we must have been the only people in many many miles. There was no sign of any human existence.
The valley narrowed near the end as we approached the end of the glacial terrain.
The deep blue ice at the snout of the glacier was mesmerising, but no place to be hanging around.
We'd identified this part as the most avalanche prone and sure enough, the sun had triggered the south facing slopes. We shot past, without looking back.
After a hair raising exit through a rocky gorge that was only 2m wide, we emerged into a wider valley and found the top of the snow-covered road that would lead us back down to the valley.
The road went through a short tunnel at one point, so we had to dismount and walk though.
Amazing icicles had formed halfway along, but luckily, we could fit though - otherwise, things could have got interesting as we were still a long way from home!
A flat section followed, then some dreadful slushy snow though the woods, which almost finished us off.
Triumphantly and thankfully, we emerged from the woods and into the sunny village of Les Hauderes (1452m). Full credit goes to Stu, who then hitch-hiked back to Arolla to get the car, while Rachel and I shared cold drinks and crepes on a sunny cafe terrace in the middle of the village. What an adventure...
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