Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Alan (tall-guy) is a photographer from York, England.
Check out his top 50 as favourited by flickr users. There are many excellent waterfall time release pics. Most are from North Yorkshire.
Alan’s work was recommended to me by Stuart of the excellent trailspotting blog. Stuart adds:
Alan’s stomping grounds include most of Yorkshire, Northumberland and the Lake District in Cumbria. All of which are excellent places if you’re looking for hiking spots in England.
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 7 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
Heaven.
The sky was clear at dawn, again. Matterhorn beckoned.
I love these high traverse walks. You have a superb bird’s eye view of the highest peaks on the other side of the valley. But without so much climbing and descending.
Today I planned on nearly 30km walking to finish this trek above Zermatt. The highlight is views of the most sought after mountaineering peak in Switzerland, Weisshorn.
I left a Summit Stone with St. Bernard, the patron of mountain travellers.
He will keep it safe until collected by another High Route walker.
I said farewell to the goats, too. Pretty creatures spending the Summer in this alpine idyll.
The Europaweg has many, many interesting sections.
I heard it was “closed” at one point. Due to rock slide.
This is the most dangerous section. Those tunnels (now crushed) were meant to protect walkers from falling stones.
In the end, I was able to complete the entire route as laid out in Kev Reynold’s guidebook, including the under-the-waterfall section.
FINALLY, Zermatt. It took me at least 10hrs of walking to get here!
To celebrate completing Rick’s High Route, I toasted the Matterhorn.
Wonderful. Wonderful.
It’s a wonderful world.
See the rest of my photos from day 7.
Or start reading from the beginning of this 7-day journey, a valuable resource if you MIGHT want to do the Haute Route yourself.
I highly recommend this adventure. You can do it independently as I did. Or sign on with a guide or group. Or … do as another Canadian did. Hire a company to do all the logistics … (booking accommodation, meals, ground transport, etc.) … then hike it independently. This cost about CAD$1500 in his case.
The best guidebook in English is Chamonix to Zermatt: The Walker’s Haute Route by Kev Reynolds.
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 6 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
Out of bread, as usual, I wanted to stop in the quaint, quiet town of Gruben for supplies.
There was only one stale loaf of bread left in the small hotel shop. What! This is Europe. The grocery stores are terrible. But you can always get good fresh bread! (subsidized by the National government)
Turned out that these blokes had tented by the river in town. And then bought up all the bread first thing in the morning.
Here are manly men, even the 2 wearing skirts. They were the first to pass me on the trail since I started this hike.
Amongst the 7 friends they were fluent in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Nice.
We hiked the same day towards a challenging goal, Augstbordpass. It was high. Well above the helicopters.
In fact, Augstbordpass is the last high pass before the Zermatt valley. Many are excited to cross it. I was less so having opted to do the high, long and difficult 31km Europa Way traverse to finish.
But it was fun to drop down and down towards the valley far, far below.
A hiker walking the other direction tipped me to the fact that Ibex were posing on the rocks.
We assumed they’d been staked there by the tourist industry. What a photo op!
When we finally got to the valley floor, I dashed around like a madman trying to resupply with food. And still catch the bus up the other side to the trailhead. I wanted to get up high so I could start the long traverse to the finish first thing in the morning.
… the U.K. hikers passed me again! Waving from another bus.
Blast.
Pushing hard, I did manage to climb back up to 2300m to greet St. Bernard at dusk.
Kev Reynolds:
The satue of St Bernard … commemorates the opening of the Europaweg in 1997. This patron Saint of mountain travellers was … Bernard of Menthon, who had spent many years caring for travellers and pilgrims in trouble after crossing the alpine pass named after him…
Bernard died in the 1080s and was beatified shortly after. In 1923 Pope Pius XI conifrmed St Bernard as patron saint of the alps. …
I could just see the top of the Matterhorn in the distance.
The goats were my only companions up there.
My best tent site of the trip.
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 5 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
From my ideal tent site it was a pleasant wander down into the valley of Lac de Moiry.
At the same time, an American couple hiking the Haute Route were descending from their night at this interesting farm refuge.
We crossed the Lac de Moiry dam at about the same time.
And met up at the bus stop on the other side.
We decided to cheat (again) by skipping the next pass, and bus instead to Zinal. It was an “easy” pass but I was turned off when I saw a car joy riding the switchbacks up that slope. I’ve no desire to hike where there are roads.
If you ask hikers what impressions they remember of the Alps, early in the conversation they’ll mention the cows and their loud cowbells.
Everybody loves them. I never got tired of them.
Famed Hotel Weisshorn disappointed.
The area around the hotel was under some serious construction. I’m happy I didn’t stay there. The American couple walked on to Bella Tolla cabin.
I walked from the Hotel to the next high pass. It was easy and interesting, though the typical afternoon rain began again.
Another superb hiking day.
I had supper on the other side sitting out of the rain near a giant teepee. (Europeans love North American Indian culture.) Then chased some deer away from a spot they liked to sleep upon in the trees and set up my tent.
About 4AM one of the deer was barking up a storm. Perhaps barking at my tent.
I have a friend with Crohn’s. It’s a bad disease.
From Jeremy Twigg via email:
… This September, 16-year-old Clinton Shard of Squamish, B.C. is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as a part of a team of six people led by Crohn’s patient Rob Hill, who is the founder of the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society, or I.D.E.A.S. Both of these adventurers have Crohn’s disease, and have overcome tremendous obstacles in order to be able to take on this challenge.
While they are on their journey, they will be posting updates on Twitter (#roberthillclimb, #weneedideas); blogging, posting photos and videos (IBDAdventures.com); and even answering questions via video from their fans on the web while they are climbing! …
Check out their IBD Adventures website.
I’ve subscribed to the blog.
Good luck to all.
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles: Chamonix to Zermatt: The Walker’s Haute Route. Day 4 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
After the rain storms of the previous day, the dawn at Cabine Dix was clear.
This hut is famous with climbers as it’s a perfect jumping off point for crossing the glacier early morning while the snow is still cold and stable.
I watched the Yellow-billed Choughs, entertaining mountain birds that are found anywhere hikers might picnic.
I love ladders and had long been looking forward to those at the Pas de Chevre.
I dashed across the glacier below the hut. And rushed up to be first over the ladders.
I finished the 3rd ladder much more frightened than when I started at the bottom. These are long and scarifying.
Thank Gods I didn’t try to cross the previous night in the cold and dark.
There’s my goal. The Matterhorn, still many days away.
I was pretty happy making the descent to pretty Arolla, one of those picture postcard swiss villages.
I relaxed by the river for a couple of hours. Then caught a bus across the valley, climbing quickly to Le Sage.
Near a typical high elevation farm I saw an interesting scene. It looked to me like the Swiss helicopter rescue service was doing some training.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Compared with the previous day, my climb over Col du Tsatse 2868m seemed easy.
What a great hiking day!
See the rest of my photos from day 4.
Or start reading from the beginning of this 7-day journey, a valuable resource if you MIGHT want to do the Haute Route yourself.
… on to day 5
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 3 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
This turned out to be the most memorable day of many amazing days.
The weather was terrible. All day. Terrible.
The most remote and wild terrain of the entire route.
I was quite happy to finally arrive at Cabane de Prafleuri.
These refuges offer accommodation as well as food. Nice.
I got a chance to dry out. And warm up. Then walked on when the rain slowed.
Very impressive this day was Lac Dix, man made, created by one of the highest dams in the world.
The wildflowers and wildlife this day, were the best of the entire Haute Route. It’s an animal reserve.
In the early evening the weather worsened. Again.
I decided to stay at an alpine hut rather than try to climb out of the valley.
A long, impressive ridge would take me up to Cabine Dix.
That photo I shot the following morning. The night before, in the rain and dark. I thought I’d never get there. It’s very high. Nearly 3000m. Higher than the pass I would cross next day.
Cost for dinner, bunk bed and breakfast was US$65.
The dinner was excellent. The bed very comfortable. The breakfast the worst I had in Europe.
I was the only Anglophone that night. Ordered about like a German soldier.
Overall, I’d rather sleep in my tent and cook my own food.
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 2 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
Morning dawned clear yet again.
I quickly descended from snow, rock and ice to lush alpine meadows.
When hiking I like to rise early. Put in a full hiking day of 4-6hrs. Relax for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. Then put in another 4-5hrs of hiking. Setting up the tent at around 7-8PM.
Here I am airing out the bunions at Champex-Lac.
Waiting for the bus, I stopped by the finest alpine flower garden in the Alps, Champex-Lac Alpine Garden.
Sadly in early August most of the species were already done. The bees seemed only interested in thistles.
Up high in the mountains wild flowers were still going strong. But Champex is too low, too hot.
Soon I found myself up above one of the most famous ski resorts in the world, Verbier. I skipped over 15km of valley walking by taking bus, train, train and cable car. This cheat was well worth doing.
In Summer the sprawling ski town seemed to be more fixed on mountain biking than hiking, however.
I departed as quickly as possible for the wonderful Sentier des Chamois, a traverse high above the valley. Some exposure. But good opportunities to see Ibex and Chamois.
Late in the day I spotted another Chamois on a very attractive chunk of snow.
Normally very shy, this Chamois hung out with me for many hours … once I set up my tent on his snow supply.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
It was a beautiful sunny day in Chamonix. I had my perfect gear set. And far more quality food than I needed to start a week long hike. (Note the British Old Cheddar. Buying that imported merde is not chic in France.)
Effortlessly, I found myself atop the first high pass of many.
Effortlessly because I took a bus and cable car to get up to altitude.
My guidebook author Kev Reynolds would not approve. The best way to do the Haute Route is walking every step from Chamonix to Zermatt, 180kms or so.
Another guidebook editor, Hilary Sharp, advises not to walk underneath any working cable car.
Everyone I met doing the Haute Route cheated at one point or another.
My plan was to cheat on the lower valley sections, and opt to take every higher, longer, more scenic option. There are many trail alternatives on the Haute Route.
The main goal for the day was Fenetre d’Arpette, 2665m. It didn’t look so tough.
There is a lower trail alternative … but it was called the Alp Bovine route. (I translated that as COW PATH. Wanted nothing to do with it.)
Instead of sticking to the BORING regular trail, I over enthusiastically decided to climb the edge of the Trient glacier moraine.
That turned out to be a HUGE mistake. I ended up scrambling a cliff – for HOURS – to regain the trail. By the time I finally reached the pass it was close to sunset.
A gorgeous night, I pitched the tent right on the pass.
Fantastic.
… weather permitting.
Got pounded with rain today. Typical walking weather in Scotland.
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