Shonbielhutte to Zermatt & the AHV Weg
13.93km (am) & 5.88km (pm) / 366m Ascent / 1428m Descent
After a long night, interrupted at frequent intervals by the buffeting
storms outside, we woke to find conditions a little calmer, if not much drier.
By 7.30am, we were pretty much packed and ready for breakfast - Museli, bread,
cheese, jam and coffee drunk from a bowl.
By the time we were ready to set off, the wind had dropped a little although
it was still raining pretty hard. However, we had decent gear with us, so we
battened down the hatches, said goodbye to our host and fellow “hutters” and
headed out into the deluge.
To be honest, with reasonable waterproofs both top and bottom, walking
in the rain wasn’t too unpleasant. Down the zigzags, past the moraine, along
the path, and we were back at the Arbenbach in a little over an hour.
Our original plan was to take the high level path from here to Trift,
and descend beside the Triftbach to Zermatt. As we “um”-ed and “ah”-ed at the
junction, the rain seemed to relent, but in the end we decided to keep to the
lower path, We knew the route we were taking was narrow in places with some
serious drops into the valley, and was therefore incompatible with a windy day.
Striped rocks in the river bed |
Keeping to the north side of the valley, we made our way towards
Chalbermatten. A re-routed path passed through an area of moriane that was
being recolonised by scrubby plants and stunted trees. The original path under
the cliffs had been swept away by a rockfall a few years ago and, if we are
being honest, the new path probably has more in the way of interest than the
old one did.
Path through the moraine |
We reached Zmutt in about 3 hours, and having been on our feet all that
time decided we needed a break. So we popped into a nice restaurant for drinks
and a sit down, but resisted foodie temptations. A window had been propped open
to vent the smoke from the open wood fire, and although a chill wind blew in and we didn't really get warm and dry, we were
glad of the break.
The last section was an hour or so into Zermatt and back to the flat to
get dry and warm again.
Checking the map on the AHV-Weg |
As the afternoon wore on, the weather improved, so we popped out again
for a short walk around the edge of town - the AHV-Weg. It was a pleasant
little circuit taking about an hour-and-a-half at a leisurely pace. We just
about kept dry and came home via the shop where we topped up on groceries.
A wise old bird and a wooden sculpture |
Dinner was leek and chorizo risotto again, with yoghurt and grapes for
afters. We had lots to drinks too to rehydrate, and spent the evening playing Scrabble,
writing notes and reading.
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