Solo Hiking The Haute Route ｜ Day Six - Cabane de Prafleuri to Arolla

The Haute Route, one of the most iconic high mountain trails in the world, stretching for over 200 kilometers, linking Chamonix, France, to Zermatt, Switzerland. Oh my goodness me, what am I looking at? Look at this! Wow! Over two weeks, hikers cross 11 major passes and climb over 1500 meters through boulder-strewn valleys, exposed ridges and peaceful alpine meadows, all framed by sweeping views of glaciers and towering peaks. Oh my goodness, look what we're rounding the corner to see. This just gets better and better. The weather here is unpredictable, but the focus and resilience demanded by the trail give you a rare feeling of being alive, suspended between earth and sky. Oh gosh, what am I doing? But the Haute Route is more than just a hike, it's an invitation to journey inwards and rediscover who you are when everything else falls away. On this trail, lessons come quietly and the mountains become your mirror. The Haute Route isn't conquered, it's experienced step by step, story by story. This is mine and I invite you to walk it with me. Good morning folks, it's day six. I'm feeling run down today, I'll be honest. My ankle has really given me quite a lot of jip, so I rolled it yesterday. When I hit the track, I just went and it clicked. I managed to obviously get down to the hut okay, I can wait there okay, but it kept me away. It was so painful and thankfully the people who slept above here, they are doctors in Canada and they sort of showed me how to compress it with a double layer of socks and I think that's helped. But basically, for some reason I don't have any ibuprofen or anything, so the hut people have just given me some. I'm not a big tablet taker, but I'm going to take one of those today. I also have a pounding headache for some reason. I think I just didn't drink enough in the day even though I feel like I caught up afterwards, so not feeling my sharpest as we set off. Six hours, clouds are coming in, but thankfully we should get a view from the car. Let's go! Does that sound enthusiastic enough? I don't know yet. You know that feeling where it's like, I'm sure I've forgotten something, I must have forgotten something. Guidebook, phone, charger, wallet, passport, food, water, camera. I think I've got everything, so I don't know why I feel like I've forgotten something. Well, I can tell you just a few steps in I'm going to really have to make sure this foot doesn't roll on anything because it's sore. It's nice to start the day with the blood pumping, feeling good. Reaching the top, 2,804 meters. Ah, what a race to start the morning. This is the view. Oh, wow. Look at that folks. Stunning. 30 minutes into today and we get this view and the track to the right of it. We get to walk that. That's as flat as it gets on the Oak Route. This was Lac des Dix with the epic Mont Blanc de Ceylon towering above. It was a mountain that would have looked very comfortable in a Lord of the Rings film. The immense turquoise lake is held back by the Grand Dixence Dam, which we would be able to see a little bit later. At 285 meters, it's one of the tallest gravity dams in the world. Built in the 1950s, it gathers meltwater from over 35 glaciers, turning the power of ice into energy. Yes, we made it to the track. That was a good milestone for us today. The sun is fighting the clouds. Come on, sunshine, you can do it. Couldn't be Switzerland without cows and cow's bells, would it? Hey. That's disgusting, but I kind of like it. Just going to... No offense, okay? Do that. Nice. Yeah, bye cow. I can't touch anything. Seems like the weather can't decide what it wants to do today. It's sort of spit raining and sunny all at once. But this is an important point. This is where we turn the corner of the lake, and we can walk the short side before beginning our ascent up to the col. And we have Glacier de Lendere. Maybe I said that right. It's up there. It would have come all the way down here. But there's some water, and I can wash the cow juice off my hand. Goodbye cow juice. There we go. One hour 50 to the col. Nice. Do you know what I've just realized, folks? Today is day six. That makes today halfway. How is that even possible? Six out of 12 days. That's just... That's a really neat feeling, actually. That's flown by. Feeling really strong, really, yeah, mentally positive. I've just got to look after this ankle. Otherwise, just keep plodding. It's going really well. Wow. Wind's picking up, and look at that ahead. I think that's Glacier de Chillon, which we have to walk right by. That is epic. This is an erratic, so it's a huge boulder left behind by the glacier. And then up there, right on that peak, there's an ibex just looking down on us. Very far away, but commanding full attention. And this ridge here on the left, this is once again a glacier moraine, so the glacier has dumped all of this sediment that we're now walking on the top of. Like an escarpment, almost. I was utterly dumbfounded by the stretch of walking and the wilderness all around. Mont Blanc de Chillon dominated the view, though its glacier was a cringe-worthy sight. Overlooking the glacier was Cavan des Dix, one of the busiest refuges in the Alps, used by walkers, skiers, and climbers alike. Every twist and turn in the trail sort of reveals a little bit more of what's left of the glacier, but we are making good progress towards our col. Clouds are still quite high, but definitely looking a little bit thundery, so it'd be nice to sort of gap up and over that high point so we can just kick into that descent down to Arola. This here then is a path split, so you can continue that way and loop around another path, but it's actually closed due to rockfall. The ladders have been damaged, and so we're taking this one up Riedmaten. It looks intense, doesn't it? I think it's best if we keep our distance because of slippery sliding rock. These two are bombing it up there. Oh, looking up is a bit dizzying. Looking down is fine. Oh, and there's the rain. Okay, let's go. The path was so steep, it was only natural that I used my hands, leaning into the slope and hauling myself upwards until I reached a chain embedded in the rock. I'm finding this weirdly arid today. It's quite unusual for me, but I'm just in time for the rain. Good stuff. Team well done. That was a really, really epic ascent. Wouldn't like to do that in the snow. Really steep, but so stunning. Very, very good fun, and now we have this whole new valley to walk into. First, have a little drink of water. All right, goodbye to the col, hello little switchbacking path. It really feels like we've dropped into Mordor here on the other side. Glaciers, snow-capped mountains, more rain. I'm hoping this descent is efficient, shall we say, able to move fast. The descent was indeed very quick, and the transition from barren boulders to lush Alps was tangible. The passing of distance reminded me of the passing of time, and it was here in this valley that I was hit by an immense wave of grief. Today is three weeks ago that Bobby died. It's really nice to be in a landscape like this, where I've got the hard work behind me, and I can just sit and be, and feel, and grieve. I suddenly feel very tired. Rounding the corner, I was rewarded with views a dominant feature of the Ahula Valley, at 3,637 meters. We've dropped down to the forest, as you can see, and it's not far now until we hit our accommodation tonight. I'm staying actually at a hotel. I've got my own room again, and it seems like pretty much everyone else is staying at this hotel, so it could be quite fun vibes. Is this where we're staying? That is massive. Day six done, people. This looks old, doesn't it? Wow. This was the Grand Hotel, a shocking injection of luxury into my hike. I was so worn out by the time I got there that I didn't film very much, but take it from me, it was well worth the stay. Wow, that's different. Let's have a look over here. We're over halfway on our Odruid journey. Day six is done. Very happy to be here. Tomorrow is a nice short day, so we've got some really good R&R ahead of us, and yeah, feeling really, really, really happy. Look at this. I can literally sit here and look at this view. Wow.