Haute Route 5: Col de Torrent to above Gruben - a frozen tent, too many people and a second wind

I woke up at 4.30am this morning because I was cold. So I snuggled even deeper into my sleeping bag and only left a small breathing hole. When I got up at 6.15am I also knew why – my entire tent was frozen from the inside and the outside, my shoes were frozen and so was everything else which was damp or wet from the day before. It was cold! But the view was amazing. The clouds had disappeared and I woke up to a beautiful sunrise with the surrounding peaks glowing in orange.

Since I had a long day ahead of me I started moving early, even though it was still bitter cold. The way up was on the shaded side of the mountain, so all I could do was “Törn up the bauer!” to get warm. I saw that the pass was already in the sun, so at least the reward of making it up was worth it.

When I reached the Col de Torrent the sun hit me with its first rays and instantly I was warming up again. I love this game of warm and cold. You do get a different perspective on these things when you spend a lot of time outdoors. I really appreciate being cold in the morning since I know I will be warm at some point. And most probably I will be too warm and sweating. So I appreciate the cold in the morning and also being too warm in the afternoon, knowing that in the morning I will be wishing for some warming sunlight. It’s hard to explain, but being dependent on the elements makes me enjoy them even more.

After I warmed up on the col I dropped down into the next valley and passed the massive ice fall of the Moiry Glacier. I skipped the hut, since that would have been another 1.5 hours up and down, and circled around the lake, which was okay-ish, nice-ish, but nothing special.

And suddenly it got really crowded. A few people had also camped below the pass, but the solution was easy: the dammed Lac de Moiry is accessible by car. And guess what – there were 5 camper vans standing right at the lake shore. So I know where my next van trip will be going!

Because of the parking lot there was a massive amount of people everywhere. Also on my way up the next pass, the Col de Sorebois, which was steep as f***. And of course that’s where I ran out of water. On the other side there is a ski area and the gondolas were running, so it was just full of people. Way too much for me.

I went down to one of the gondola stations, had a coffee, a coke and a Rivella, charged my phone and dried my tent. But there were just too many people, so I started moving down again. I was also still so tired from the day before. So I found a rock, lay down and took a little nap, which is what I usually do for lunch anyways. It was just so good.

After my nap I dropped down to Zinal, where a trail running race had just taken place. It was already finished but the entire town was crazy about it. So I just did some shopping and headed out again. It was around 4 o’clock and there was another climb of about 1.200m ahead of me, up to the Forcletta.

But same as yesterday I somehow got a second wind. I had planned to maybe stay somewhere in front of the col and pitch my tent, but it was running so well that I just made it over. On the other side I walked past pretty much perfect camping spots because I thought they were still too high. I dropped further down, reached the end of that first valley and then there was nothing to camp on anymore. I could have dropped down all the way to Gruben, but I wanted to stay out of town.

So I found a pretty shitty place for my tent tonight. Let’s see how this will work out. But I’m totally exhausted, over 30 kilometers today, and I have to go to bed. Good night.