Haute Route 3: Le Hattay to Lac des Dix - rain, clouds and the closest ibex encounter of my life

When I got up this morning the entire place was covered in mist and I couldn’t see anything at all. So it was not really inviting to get up and started, and I snoozed the alarm several times. At 7am I finally got up, packed my stuff and started the day. I was so glad that I found this spot yesterday night. I was completely dry, my tent was dry and I was able to pack all my stuff without being worried to get wet before the start.

I made my way up the last stretch of the climb. My legs were really tired but I guess they are used to the feeling by now and just lived with it. The only disappointing part was that I was hiking in the clouds for most of the day. They lifted a bit, pushed in and out, but I never saw the sun today.

From minute one today it was raining and it didn’t stop the entire day. Sometimes it was a light drizzle and sometimes it just kept on pouring down on me. That was a bummer.

When I reached the first high point today at the Cabane du Mont Fort I saw that the trail actually passed the hut, and since I just had my own breakfast I walked straight on. It was a beautiful trail. It might have been the prettiest part of the entire hike so far. But unfortunately I did not get to see much of it, as you can see in the pictures.

The clouds had a bit of their own beauty but of course I never got to see the mountains around me. Definitely a stretch I would like to see again in good weather. After the first 1.000m climb to the hut I continued up to the Col Termin, from where I traversed over a beautiful valley with a small lake nestled between the steep walls.

The last stretch up to the Col de Louvie was rather easy and short. But after the col the scenery changed completely and it looked more like a scenery from the moon. The green was completely gone, it was just a big stone desert. Clearly a former glacial basin from which the glacier has only withdrawn recently.

The next pass, the Col de Prafleuri, was hidden behind the clouds. But then came the first highlight of the day: the backside of the pass was a fairly steep slope which was still covered in snow. So I did get my first glissade in today 🙌. Since my pants were wet anyways it didn’t make a big difference anymore. So I didn’t even care to put on my rain gear but just slid down on my shorts. Great to be back!

There were still thunderstorms announced from 5pm when I checked the weather forecast this morning. Since then I did not have any reception anymore. So I was a little bit worried to continue, especially because I had to go over the next pass before I could drop down to the Lac des Dix. So I stopped at the Cabane de Prafleuri and talked to the warden. But he was only going to get the next forecast at 6pm with the weather for tomorrow and an update for tonight. Since it was only 4pm that was a long time to just sit and wait. I went outside, watched the clouds and looked for signs of an upcoming storm. But it really didn’t look as if there was anything building up. So I packed my stuff again and continued up to the next pass.

And that turned out to be the best decision ever. It actually stopped raining when I got out of the door. And I had the closest encounter with a massive male ibex in my entire life. But first I literally bumped into a group of juvenile ibex right after I made it over the pass. At the beginning I was not really sure they were ibex since their horns were so small. But from the form they also couldn’t be chamois. So I figured they must be ibex.

And while I was still super happy about spotting the juveniles I came around a massive rock – and there he stood: a massive male ibex, only 15 meters away from me. He stood slightly off the trail, was just grazing and didn’t give a s*** at all. He was completely chilled, as if he knew that I was not any danger to him at all. I took a few pictures and enjoyed watching him. Ibex are such majestic animals and to see them roaming wild in the mountains is really a special sight.

Eventually I dropped down a little bit to give him some space and circled around him. I continued a little while and asked about the conditions at a small hut along the trail. There was another hut right at the shore of the Lac des Dix. But of course I didn’t feel like staying in a hut at all, even though everything was completely wet and I was still in the middle of the clouds.

Shortly after I left the hut behind I couldn’t believe my eyes. Out of the mist a group of probably 20-30 ibex just stood right in front of me. They were jumping from rock to rock and also didn’t really seem to care at all. They seem to know that no one is shooting at them here, so they have lost their fear of humans. Pretty amazing encounter.

It still didn’t rain, but I also didn’t want to push it too far. So I pitched my tent next to a little hut, sat down and started cooking. And then the sky opened. Now it’s raining like crazy, I already had to move my tent once and I just hope I don’t get flooded tonight. Over and out.