Haute Route Highlights D6

Zinal to Gruben
22km, 1200m ascent, 1100m descent

After a fabulous night in the Besso Hotel in Zinal it was a cold early start and an immediately steep climb up towards the Barneuxa Alpage.
From here we take a wonderful balcony route for a few kilomètres, skirting round sharp cleft valleys with no walkers escape until we reach Tsahelet and the steep path to the Forcletta Pass (others go via the Meidpass, but this is much better and wilder) .
This marks the boundary from the French speaking Valais into the German speaking Wallis - but it also marks (as almost every pass on this fabulous walk does) a dramatic shift in landscape - in front of us are dramatic peaks, dominated by the Bishorn and Weisshorn, glaciers and rocky ridges draw the eye, the landscape at first stark and then fertile and vibrant.
The Turtmann is a wild lonely valley, Gruben a scenic oasis in summer, but lost to snow, the valley road blocked, in winter.
The high pastures of this wonderful place rang to the iconic sound of cowbells as we descended, I couldn't resist this blip... But nature lovers there is more..... In extras a wonderful Spurge Hawk Moth caterpillar and a lovely encounter with a beautiful European Viper (Asp *Thanks Mollyblobs) (if you happen to follow me on Instagram or Facebook there is a video)