Les Hauderes to Cabane de Moiry (Wednesday, August 28th)

We woke at 6:30am since we wanted to catch the 7:50am bus to La Sage where the Haute Route continues (we couldn't get a reservation at the one hotel in La Sage). As breakfast was served starting at 8am, we asked for an early breakfast which they provided in a small sitting room - it worked out well and was the usual tea/coffee, fruit, rolls, cheese, yogurt, etc...

We walked to the Les Hauderes bus stop and took the five minute bus ride to La Sage to begin hiking again. While on the bus we met a group of four college students from Zurich whom we would reconnect with all day as we all were hiking to the Cabane - they were super nice and a lot of fun. 

We started hiking at 8:10am and it started steep (as Swiss hikes tend to do!) as we hiked in the forest.....

As soon as we were out of the forest, we had great views..... this is the Ferpecle Glacier.........

We passed the small hamlet of Mayens de Montau......

And yet another water bisse.........

Then we arrived at Le Tsate at 9:30am (elevation 2,175 meters; 7,136 feet).

Enjoying views........

We then arrived at Remointse du Tsate at 10:30am, (elevation 2,480 meters; 8,136 feet) where we enjoyed more great views............

The climb continued to be very steep as we passed a cowshed.....

Oh, and along with the yellow signs, there were marks to follow the trail, such as this one..........

We continued working our way to Col du Tsate.............

Finally arriving at 11:40am (elevation 2,868 meters; 9,409 feet). We enjoyed our typical lunch of baguette, cheese, and sausage and started working our way towards Parking du Glacier at 12pm.........

Amazing views continued.........

With our first look at Moiry Glacier - pretty much where we were headed for the day........

While Brad checked GPS (there were tons of trail options here), Suzanne once again played with the zoom........

Moiry Glacier - much farther than it looks........

Cabane de Moiry - also much farther away than it looks. 

We eventually made it down to the Parking du Glacier at 1:40pm (yes, we could have taken a bus here and began our hike here....). We took advantage of the restrooms

 

We also saw this sign. So, okay, there are cows in the area............more on that later! 

And began hiking up to the cabane at 1:50pm. It was amazingly steep and slow-going........

This is a photo without the zoom - the cabane is the little bump on the left on the fourth "hill" from the top.

We were definitely not getting much closer - still using the zoom.......but this shows how beautiful the scenery was and how close the cabane is to the glacier.

Okay, so this is the cow we were supposed to be afraid of - they're all just napping along the road...... Again, more on this later.....😏

Brad pointing to the Cabane - you can see it a bit right of center...........

Did I mention it was steep? Oh, and rocks - big, big rocks............

Perspective of the trail and steepness........

Finally at 3:30pm we arrived to the cabane! It really is an impressive building on the outside.........

Side view.........

Boot room.  We ran into the Zermatt Four who got there a few minutes before us - they chose to walk over the glacier to get to the cabane.

The dining area.......

Views of the glacier from the dining area...

So, the cabane.  We made reservations online a few months ago and paid an extra 10 CHF (about $10) per person to get a 4-person room, rather than a multi-person room. It was two bunk beds above one another and people slept foot-to-foot. Our beds........

The room......

We were really cold (it was getting cooler as the days progressed and our perspiration was drying), so we cleaned up as much as possible in the communal bathroom, put on warm and dry clothes, then went to the dining area for complimentary tea and we also purchased a couple pieces of pie. We wandered around the cabane a bit - this is the dining area from the outside...........

This is Moiry Glacier without the zoom lens - this is how close we were...........

And we also checked-out the non 4-person room - do you see how close people are sleeping to one another?! That was not gonna happen!

So we played some silly card games while waiting for dinner, then finally dinner was served (it's half-board at the cabane). There were long tables in the dining area, but seating assigned (Why?), so we ended up sitting with a couple (father/daughter? husband/wife? we were never sure - think we decided on the latter) from Virginia, a mother/son from Maine who ended up being our roommates, and a guy, Peter, from Australia who is a miner in Perth and mines by blowing up things - Brad was fascinated by that fact! Except for Peter, our table were duds and people barely talked, which was too bad - especially as we heard laughter and fun from all the tables around us. 

When we made the reservation for the room, we chose the vegetarian option as Suzanne's not a big meat eater and it is usually the safer bet.  There was a split pea soup with very little flavor, one piece of bread per person, then some roast meat thing (quite rare) for others and we had these little vegetarian egg roll things, a huge pile of vegetables, and a lemon tart for dessert. So.....here are some of the strange things about the cabane - specifically the food/eating:

1. The staff was not very friendly. (Okay, this is not about the food, but needed to be said.)
2. We were given a bowl for the soup and that was the only thing we were given - so we had to eat the rest of the meal in the soup bowl, which was taken away before dessert, so that we had to eat with our hands.
3. No napkins. Oh, they do not have drinking water, so we had to buy a liter bottle for 8 CHF. 
4. However....they boil water for tea and coffee, as well as a sweet-tea thing that you can take with you in the morning, so this begs the question why can't they simply boil water just for drinking water?
5. Breakfast was served from 6:30am - 8am and served buffet style, yet the night before we had to commit to a time to eat breakfast - but then no one checked who we were the next morning or that we went earlier than our selected time......

By 8pm we were getting ready for bed and it was cold, so we basically slept in our clothes in our sleeping bag liner (which we brought just for the cabane) under the down comforter. 

Today’s numbers:

	Miles	Elevation change
La Sage to Remointse du Tsate	2.3	2,726
Remointse du Tsate to Col du Tsate	1.0	1,302
Col du Tsate to Parking du Glacier	2.4	1,735
Parking du Glacier to Cabane de Moiry	1.8	1,536
	7.2	7,299

Today's Word

Today's Word: Work.