Traffic Jam
Last day on the trail
The Hotel Schwarzhorn is a quaint alpine hotel, worthy of a visit. It is appropriately located for the walkers last night on the trail (although some do plan one more night between here and Zermatt). Every room was booked for walkers flooding into the home stretch. When we arrived there was a pyramid of red duffle bags with a trekking company's logo stamped on their side. A large group soon followed.
Although we, I mean Andy, made all our arrangements last winter, others can opt for a fully supported and guided route where all but your daypack with lunch water and maybe a jacket will be waiting for you at each nights destination. Others are self guided, but have a company make their arrangements and also shuttle your gear each day or so. Anyone can do this.
Not us. We humped all our gear on our backs each day. My pack weighed nearly 40 pounds, which for a standard back pack trip doesn't seem all that heavy. Still, 12 days staight over 100 miles and about 40,000' of climbing wore me out. Maybe later I'll post my "what I would do differently" list. For today, I just wanted to enjoy our last day on the Haute Route.
The organized Trekkers were getting an early start. I'm sure they wanted plenty of time to hump those 5-10 pound day packs up the 1000 meters to our last Col. Our troupe started the hike around 7:30. As we climbed the Swissbacks up through the trees, then the meadows with their cow bell chorus, we began picking off small groups. I would wipe the sweat off my face and control my breathing before I passed.
By the time we entered the tundra weaving through the boulder fields traffic jams appeared. At the summit the was a large, almost "trumped" size group, resting, eating, breathing. The extroverts made new best friends. I took their pictures.
Years ago, back in the early 80's, there was a summer with the "Hands Across America" movement. During our annual Beartooth Backpack trips, whenever we see a large group of hikers, we call them "Hands Across America". It appeared this movement just came to the Alps (ok, it wasn't that bad and I'm sure it's pretty normal here, but we haven't seen these large groups on our trip).
As we wound our way down the other side, we soon passed all the groups. We rounded a corner looking south and saw the most wonderful view where we stopped for lunch. Anders and Eva were there, but we had the spot pretty much by ourselves for most of our lunch. No one seemed in a hurry.
About another 300meters below was the Hamlet of Jungen where we would take a small cable car another 800 meters down to St Niklaus and then a train to Zermatt. The single car holds only 4 people. We feared a long wait with Hands Across the Alps gaining on us. So we left our lunch perch and headed down.
When you arrive in Jungen, you load your packs on the outside of the car, get in and use the phone to call the operator below. Two French speaking ladies were there and we thought we would let them go first. The operator below would have none of that! A camera let him know there were enough people to fill the car and even though we could not understand his words, his tone was perfectly clear.
The ride took 10 minutes or even more. As one car descended, another came up. By the time the first load was down, 4 Brits caught up to us. Andy and I would be the final two in our group. So the next four went down and during that trip, Anders and Eva arrived at the tram. The 4 Brits suggested Anders and Eva join us and they would go down together later. We learned that Anders and Eva are retired librarians and after that, developed software for managing libraries. They have trekked extensively throughout Europe. Anders has a keen sense of humor. They are actually going to extend their hike on an optional Europaweg segment. So we said our good byes at the bottom.
The train station was just around the corner. Tickets were bought just as the train arrived and we rushed onto the car. As the train left the station Frau Beuhler checked our tickets. The young girl ahead of us got a stern second warning about putting her shoes and feet on the chair. We knew Frau meant business, so when we learned our tickets were 2nd class and we were on a first class car, it was Mach Schnell to the next car.
We entered the station in Zermatt and just like that, our Haute Route was over. What an adventure! So much to absorb, so many memories. It will take time to process. So stay tuned. In the meantime, Zermatt awaits us for the next three days.
