Stage 2: Above Verbier, Wednesday July 25
Today’s stage on the Haute Route consisted of walking from Le Châble or Verbier up to the Cabane du Mont Fort – a walk that goes straight up the whole way, and that lies entirely under an operational cablecar. Die-hard hikers love this stuff, but to us it seemed like an exercise in perversity.
We didn’t need to do a pointless climb to “up there.” We were spending another night in Le Châble, so we didn’t need to reach any destination. The hotel gave us free passes to the téléphérique, so we took the cablecar up to the ski slopes and spent the day doing the high bits of that day’s walk.
Verbier is the real tourist destination here. Le Châble lies below it; I think we were staying there because it’s much cheaper. (Verbier is fancy.)
We took the cablecar back down to Verbier, where chanterelles and abricots were in season.
It was a magical day. But when Chris took off his shirt that afternoon, his right arm was red and swollen from short-sleeve-tan-line to fingertips. Clearly something had to be done.
We agreed that we’d head to Martigny first thing in the morning to consult more medical professionals before taking the train on to Arolla, where we were set to spend the next two nights.
Neither one of us slept well. We both hoped we hadn’t left this til too late.
