Bénédicte Saintier goes ski mountaineering in the Valais Alps.
When it comes to trips, I usually just buy a plane ticket and see what happens. But I know that I can’t do that for the Alps. From previous experience I know that my husband and I will just end up mincing around the valley, drinking coffee, spending money in gear shops and being totally indecisive.
Faced with too much choice and too grand an ambition we usually don’t do as much as we could. So this time would be different - we were going to get organised. We were going to spend every day of our short trip having mind-blowing experiences and enjoying every minute of it; we were going to have a plan.
As a result we set off from Sheffield at an ambitious 4am. And, after crossing Europe using various forms of public transport, 3pm saw us in Saas Fee in the Valais Alps, walking through the snow to the start of the Felskinn cable car. Alas, the smooth mechanics of our journey were about to grind to a halt. The cable car was closed due to bad weather and we were stuck in the valley - unless we were prepared to skin up for a few hours in blizzard. We deferred that pleasure, and woke up the next morning to a bright blue sky, sunshine and fresh snow.
After a teutonic breakfast we quickly skinned up to the cable car and after disposing of lots of cash, got to the end of the resort and skinned up to the Britannia Hütte. We left some kit there then, due to the late hour and avalanche risk, decided to leave the higher summits for another day and set of across the Allalin glacier to the little Fluchthorn. It’s not that little, being 3,700m above my house in Sheffield, but is admittedly dwarfed by its neighbour - the Strahlhorn. Last year we’d skied up the Strahlhorn straight after our wedding in France. But after too much excitement and a few too many drinks, the altitude had gone straight to my head.
Today was very different, and loving the fresh powder snow we skied down from the hut. My husband, however, was quickly reminded that he’s a mountaineer and a Brit - not always a winning combination. But skinning up the glacier in fresh snow and basking in sunshine soon improved his mood. More woaah rather than baaah, we left piste skiing to the sheep.
The next day and we lay in until 6am, then took the Metro Alpin to 3,457m, and from there skinned up to the top of the Allalinhorn (4,027m). The enjoyment of skinning up on steep ground in fresh snow - swimming uphill in full mountaineering gear anyone? Eventually we got to the col, and my dear husband promptly looked at the last leg to the summit and exclaimed, “I’m not skiing down that!” We swapped skis for crampons - a big mistake. We ended swimming some more and getting overtaken by trains of people roped up together on skis. Falling in a crevasse didn’t help matters either.
The next day we skied down the Allalin glacier again then, after skinning up through the dawn and enjoying a sunrise over the peaks, we set of for a traverse of the mountains to Täsch Hütte above the Zermatt valley. We had to make tracks over the Allalin pass and ski down the other side, practicing our kick turns on steep icy terrain above scary looking seracs. We were alone all day with the Matterhorn watching us, no doubt disapproving of our skiing.
The last downhill to Täsch Hütte at a rather low 2,701m went on forever through boulder fields with variable snow cover. Someone in our party of two didn’t think that was a good thing either.
Getting up early the next day was against us as the snow had a frozen crust on top of the powder. It was quite demoralising at times, but we managed it in varying styles. Back down at the Täsch Hütte we started an afternoon of hard work with plates of Rösti and a few beers. Several groups arrived during the afternoon; some crazy Americans who lived in Geneva, a bunch of French who made me feel like most people feel when confronted with their fellow citizens on holiday abroad, and a bunch of jovial Swiss Germans who ended up being our dinner table mates.
The rest of the week was very civilized; valley walks, piste skiing, and beers. What a fantastic area this is for ski mountaineering. The more you do the more inspired you become for more. There are huts everywhere and countless beautiful mountains with your name on them. The possibilities are endless and the area very accessible (even by public transport). We basically left home with our skiing clothes on and our skis in a bag ready to be put on. If it hadn’t been for the initial snowstorm we’d have been skinning up and sleeping in a hut the very same day we left Blighty. In a six day trip we had five days worth of quality mountain experiences. Bring on next year.
ESSENTIAL INFO
When to go:
The traditional ski touring season is March through to May.
The lifts and huts close around 1st May.
Where to stay:
Hotels in Saas Fee and Zermatt, huts in the mountains. The huts provide good quality accommodation and great food for good value (especially with a reciprocal rights card). Prebooking is recommended - some huts may be shut and some are very popular.
Suggested ski areas:
• Around the Allalin glacier between Saas Fee and Zermatt.
• Around the Breithorn, Castor and Pollux,
south east of Zermatt.
• The more popular areas taken by the Haute Route
(west of Zermatt).
• The Italian side south of Monte Rosa.
Maps & guidebooks
• Saas Fee, Zermatt & south east Zermatt: Skitourenkarte (284S) Mischabel.
• Zermatt – Saas Fee: Macugnaga, 1:50,000.
• The Haute Route west of Zermatt: 283S Arolla, 1:50,000
• The maps show ski routes with grades and times, plus all huts and contact details.
• Valais Alps East, the Alpine Club.
BMC member Bénédicte is keen mountaineer who lives in Sheffield. She is a fell runner and mountain biker who loves the mountains having grown up near the Alps.
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