After
leaving SaasFee the previous evening, following two tremendous days riding cable
cars above 3000m in glorious sunshine, we knew it was going to be
hard to find a base for hiking that would inspire us in quite the
same way. Still with a vague plan to loop around the Bernese Alps
towards Interlaken and get a closer look at the mountains we had seen
from afar the previous day we had driven out of the the Valais from
Brig, heading north east and following the River Rhone towards it's
source at the Rhone Glacier and had stopped at a lovely campsite in
the little village of Reckingen.
Waking up alongside the River Rhone
on Thursday morning and looking up to see the peaks shrouded in low
cloud, our hearts sank a little. Aware only that we had already
passed by the most convenient ascent to re-visit the Aletsch Glacier
(which had been one of our possible options) some 10km back down the
road in Fiesch we felt a little lost and needed to find out what was
on offer nearby to decide if we should push on right away over the
Grimselpass in search of better weather.
Wandering into the
village we discovered the tourist information at the train station
and picked up a hiking route card which showed plenty of trails in
the vicinity, but with shaky weather we felt uncertain whether it was
worth hanging around. Also, with campsite prices in Switzerland being
much higher than the free aires we were used to, we didn't want to
waste a day sitting out the weather. However, the forecast looked to
improve the next day and in the end we opted to stay put and give the
Goms region (as we had learned this area was called) a chance, which
turned out to be a very good decision!
With lunchtime now
approaching but the clouds showing no sign of lifting, we opted to
hike up one of the valleys to the south of Reckingen where the sky
looked a little brighter with even the occasional hint of blue.
Setting off directly from Reckingen, we followed the well marked
trails across the river to begin the nice gradual descent of the
Blinnental, a round sided valley lined with pine forests. Primarily
following the river which runs down the valley from the
Blinnengletscher (which was hidden from our view behind a ridge
resting at right angles to the valley itself), we gradually climbed
from 1326m up towards Larch at 1781m which we reached after around 90
minutes of gently hiking and occasional resting.
Our heavy legs
raised some questions as to whether we should push on at all,
however, we decided to give the next stage a go and crossed the river
to follow the track marked 'Grathorn' which we knew to be another
900m of climbing – after all we could turn around at any time
(couldn't we?) The trail after Larch was certainly a shock to the
system, immediately transforming from gentle, rocky path into steep,
grassy switchbacks with heavy foliage choking the path which we
pushed through for what seemed like hours. However, the exertion did
wake us right up and as an added bonus the sun came out and started
to warm us as well. Soon looking down into the rounded bowl of the
Blinnental and the high, spiky ridge which marked the head of the
valley we felt a new energy to push on and try and complete the loop
over the Grathorn.
After 2 hours of
climbing a marker told us we had 1 ½ hours to go to the summit,
which turned out to be over much less well trodden terrain. Trekking
from waymarker to waymarker (a red and white stripe painted on a
rock), over uneven ground was burning our calves and thighs, but
eventually we saw the summit ridge a couple of hundred metres above
us which inspired us to keep at it. Finally emerging on a sharp,
rocky ridge just a few tens of metres below the summit of the
Grathorn, we treaded our way carefully to the summit cairn and
breathed in the view. Although the clouds hadn't cleared completely,
we could clearly see much of the Bernese Alps across the Goms valley,
including the Bach and Munstiger Glaciers which cascaded from the
rocky peaks. Better still was the awesome sight of the Rhone Glacier
some 10 miles away, one of the largest remaining in Switzerland, a
gigantic mass of ice at the head of the valley from which sprung the
mighty Rhone itself.
Feeling very
satisfied with our efforts, but aware that a new wave of grey clouds
had just appeared from the south we couldn't linger too long and so
began our descent of the rocky ridge towards Mannlibode some 300m
below, where the path would split. Despite some drizzle setting in we
made good time and soon reached Mannlibode, with amazing views right
along the Goms valley, where we forked right to enter the pine forest
and return to Reckingen.
Arriving back at
the campsite after our 7 hour epic we were very ready to sit down to
dinner, but were also feeling very happy that we had made the
decision to stay and explore and enjoy the magnificent views we had
just been treated to.
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