Haute Route 6: Gruben to above St. Niklaus - a pass with a bit of everything, and waiting for a storm

I woke up because the sun hit my face. It rose exactly between two peaks and hit me right in the face. It was just so amazing.

And it was instantly warm, so I could pack all my stuff without freezing. Pretty nice.

I strolled the last 45 minutes down to Gruben and had a coffee in the only open hotel. And then I hiked all the way up to the Augstbordpass.

As they said, this pass has something of everything: the woods, the open lands, the scree. Nothing special, nothing unique, but just everything in one pass and a really, really nice hike up. I had a nice talk with a Swiss guy who was on the trail from St. Moritz to Geneva.

Then I made my way down to St. Niklaus, which was an 1.800m descent. A beautiful trail on rocky terrain and along steep cliffs. And man, it was steep. When I arrived in Jungen I was already done and I still had about 1.000m to go.

It was a beautiful hike coming into the Matter Valley. I couldn’t see the Matterhorn yet but it was just a perfect setting.

The weather forecast was still calling for rain, thunderstorms and even hail for the evening. I got down to St. Niklaus at probably 3 o’clock, did some shopping and then settled into a bar with some french fries, a burger, a coffee and a coke. I was hoping to wait out the bad weather and continue in the evening. But the forecast just shifted and shifted later into the night.

So I sat in the bar until about 6.30pm before I finally packed my stuff and went uphill out of St. Niklaus. I hiked up for probably an hour and did the first 500 to 600 meters. And I realized that my rain pants were broken, so I need to replace them.

Then I had to pitch my tent right on the trail, because I couldn’t find anything else. It was still raining, but better than nothing. So I snuggled up in my sleeping bag and went to bed. Good night.