CABANE BERTOL

from Arolla

DISTANCE

13,5 km

out and back

TIME

ELEVATION

1465m

Min 2004m

Max 3197m

ESSENTIALS

SEASON

(of the report)

YOU'LL NEED

Crampons
A head for heights
Good sense of orientation

Ok guys, so this is my first hike publication and I chose this one because it's still clear in my head as it's the last one I did. Also it's a good exemple that will allow me to explain how I want to share experiences with you all.

First of all, you need to know that I'm afraid of heights! When hiking I'm always trying to challenge myself and thanks to mountains and their steep slopes, it is pretty easy. However, this website is not about performances or summits, I'm not a pro hiker, least of all an alpinist. I just love to be outside and discover new beautiful places at the same time as exercising (which is really recommended at my age).

Let's start now!

FIRST PART - AROLLA to PLAN de BERTOL

The hike starts just a little bit after Arolla near "Usine de la Grande Dixence", you shouldn't park your car after this point as there's a chance you'll get a fine. I mean, if you're planning on taking this hike you will walk around 8 hours or so, an extra 15 minutes is nothing right?

The first 20 minutes are on a dirt road, the view is already breathtaking as you can spot some majestic glaciers that you'll spend the day watching.

Then the trail starts with moderately steep laces during approximately 1 hour. In this section, you can find signs explaining that a village was once built on these cliffs. After the water station, the trail gets steeper and it takes another half an hour to reach "Plan de Bertol". I suggest to take a small break here and enjoy the view on the glaciers that are becoming more and more impressive as you climb up ("Haut Glacier d'Arolla" on your left and "Glacier du Mont Collon" in front of you). At this point, way up ahead of you, you can already spot your goal of the day: "Cabane Bertol".

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SECOND PART - PLAN de BERTOL to CABANE BERTOL

The next 20 minutes will feel like a break for your muscles and heart as it's almost flat, but don't be fooled by this, if you spotted where you’re headed, you know that there's a lot more elevation to gain...and that will come with pain (just trying to be honest).

From now on I'll speak about my own experience as this section of the hike can change a lot from person to person.

Everything went well until we started climbing up the moraine. The elevation gain wasn't even that big but we were already at an altitude of 2800 meters. So we got slower which is totally fine (think about it when planning, manage to have plenty of time and water) but then the trail switched categories from "Mountain Hike" (red and white) to "Alpine Hike" (blue and white). You can find informations on categories here : https://www.randonner.ch/fr/signalisation

Blue and white means that you need to have a good sense of orientation and be an experimented hiker, also there can be aerial parts and so a head for heights is recommended. As we already did some others alpine hikes I can tell you this trail is really difficult to follow. Sometimes we were walking half an hour without any blue signs on rocks nor any cairns and thus had no idea if we were at the right place. However, having in sight your goal helps to find your way. I would just recommend to be careful when choosing a path that's not marked, you have to keep in mind that you're walking on a glacier even if it doesn't look like one because its covered by rocks. Also, rocks are falling, especially if it's a warm sunny day like it was for us, so stay focused.

Are you still there? I'm sure I've lost some of you by now...

Alright, after trying to avoid some ice patterns that looked a lot like crevasses and walking like we were 80 years old, we finally reached the first ladder...in the snow. Just to explain: when hiking this trail during summer or fall months (when there's less snow basically) you can use a serie of 6-7 ladders to avoid going around the big rock formation that's just before the hut.

And now you're asking yourself why I can't tell exactly how much ladders there was, right? Well, that was my tipping point, my fear of heights didn't allow me to go further. Of course, I was frustrated but also exhausted, so I think it was smart to just turn back, eat a sandwich and enjoy the view.

It's totally ok not to finish. For those who will make it to the top, you are almost there, just 150m of elevation to gain. You need to climb the ladders, cross a final snowfield, climb up the two longer ladders and you will finally be at the hut where the views are (I hear) stunning. It can be useful to bring a harness and carabiners for this section as there is a Via Ferrata type cable next to the ladders.

And remember...

Respect nature and don't litter!