Valais Alps, 8-18 August 2014
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Day 4. Col des Roux - Col de Prafleuri.
This was a really rainy day, we had to walk in the rain for at least 5 hours. Nevertheless, we saw quite a few people. The passes this day did not present any technical difficulties, but descent from Col de Prafleuri includes a couple of short sections which required very simple scrambling. The plan for the day was to cross Col de Cleuson - either after crossing Col de Prafleuri, or by doing a sequence Col des Roux - Glacier de Prafleuri - Col de Cleuson. However the weather was very wet, Glacier de Prafleuri was covered by fog, and we decided to do Col de Prafleuri. After passing the lakes, we left the path and walked towards Grand Desert glacier. We decided not to cross it in the evening - although the weather improved, it was getting late. We pitched our tent by the glacial lake.
The red line shows our track. The red arrow shows the direction of travel. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.
It rained all night. In the morning, the clouds would sometimes cover the lake, only to temporarily rise the next minute.
Undisturbed by the drizzle, we went around the lake. We stopped by a refuge to enquire about the weather but the forecast was disappointing.
We saw a small herd of ibex near Col de Roux.
The weather suddenly improved and we could see the place where we camped overnight, just above the waterfall on the other side of the lake.
Col de Roux is in sight.
The weather on the other side of the pass was cloudy. It soon started raining. Somebody made a squiggly line from stones.
We descended some 200 m to the refuge, and then started climbing towards the next pass. There must have been mines here in the past, judging by the scarred and surreal landscape. Col de Roux is in the centre of the picture.
The rain just wouldn't stop until we descended from the next pass. Lac de Cleuson and the dam are visible far in the distance.
Looking back at Col de Prafleuri. Here we left the path and made our way towards the Grand Desert glacier.
We camped on the side of a glacial lake. It was quite fresh but dry and there was no wind. This was easily the best camping spot.
We even had mobile reception, probably from the ski station on top of Mont Fort (hiding in the clouds in the centre of the picture).
Victor and Sonya ran barefeet on the snow. Sonya hesitated at first but then enjoyed it so much that it was hard to get her off the snow.
At the very end of the Universe...
