Cabane des Dix - Pas de Chevres - Lac Bleu - Les Hauderes
- Distance: 19km
- Duration: (with breaks): 8h 30min
- Elevation gain/loss: 350m/1150m
As yesterday was a short day, we are skipping Arolla and heading straight to Les Hauderes. That way we’d hike almost full Stage 8 today with one extra hour of hiking tomorrow compared to the official itinerary in our guidebook. And we are crossing a glacier!
I’ve never been on a glacier, so I had no idea what to expect. The whole morning preparation I felt a small tingle in my stomach as if we are about to do something epic (and a tad dangerous?..). After a typical hut breakfast – bread, jam and muesli – we left the awesome hut and went down towards the glacier.
Funny thing is that while you think you’re walking on a rock, if you pay more attention, you start seeing that beneath the layer of rock there’s ice. That’s when I realised that I’ve been already walking on the glacier for a while without even noticing it. There was no moment of and now I’m stepping on a glacier.
Soon though the rocks became scarce and we inched forward while hopping on the few small rocks still left between the ice. Hiking sticks were of no use as they just couldn’t penetrate the ice and provide the support I was missing. It felt quite unstable and my faith was on those little rocks to get me through this.
Talking about instability, my anxiety levels skyrocketed when I saw the first ice river to be crossed. It’s basically a crack in the glacier where water is flowing through. The width of the river varies and the section we reached seemed to be doable by just hopping over it. I was soooo scared to slip. Not that it was super deep, but if you fall, you might slide down further down the river (it’s all pure ice) and obviously get soaking wet. I was the last one to commit to the jump 
and made it, thanks to my saviour Edo!
Later we came across another ice river, but that one had very friendly shores, so I could even enjoy crossing it. Overall it was a doable trip without any special equipment (e.g. crampons). I don’t know if I would go there alone because of the ice rivers, but it’s a personal preference. I saw quite a few people jumping over the crack without any support from others. Anyway, we made it through and I must say glaciers are no joke. I’m glad I got to experience crossing one.
After crossing the glacier we scrambled over huge boulders, where caution was again needed since not all boulders were stable. The staff of the hut also told us to wait if we see people on top of the slope as they might cause rocks to tumble down possibly injuring us. Good thing is that we started quite early and so hikers from Arolla or Cabane de Prafleuri were not there yet and we had the mountain for ourselves.
Once reunited with the original Haute route trail, we could observe Cabane de Dix in the distance, looking like a tiny speck surrounded by a spectacular landscape.
To reach the Pass de Chevres (2855m), one needs to take a few metal ladders, but it’s totally fine. Just focus on the steps and you’ll be up in a few minutes. Matterhorn, our final destination, could be spotted from the pass in the far distance. It won’t be visible to us almost till the end, so it was nice to get a teaser halfway through.
The descent towards Arolla was just awesome with different glaciers opening to us. It’s definitely a section to enjoy. Close to Arolla our path turned to a gravel road, which we followed for a while before descending to a narrow path alongside the valley. That’s when the roaring hills began. On maps.me the route looked fairly straight (we took the higher option), but boy it wasn’t! We kept on walking up and down for what felt like an eternity.
After more than 1 hour we were hoping to see Lac Bleu, our lunch break point, and I swear I could practically smell it, but all we saw after each turn was more hills. We finally reached the lake around 14:00 and just sat exhausted on a hill overlooking the lake.
I felt a bit out of place here as people around us were lazily enjoying a day at the lake either swimming (or trying to stay in the water more than 3min – it’s freezing) or having a picnic, while we came here literally from a glacier! This lake is a very popular day trip and it was a weekend, so I guess no wonder for the crowds.
After lunch in a local buvette, we descended to La Gouille and I must admit I was pretty slow due to my ankle. From La Gouille there was a bit more than 1h descent left to Les Hauderes, our day destination, pretty close right? I thought so too. So when Edo suggested taking a bus due to my ankle, I said that we can walk, it’s fine. Well, at the end it wasn’t fine.
After like 20 mins of walking down, I was really slow and had some serious pain. I think it took us more than 2 hours to get to the village. I was fighting the tears during the last 500m and kept on blaming myself for being foolish (and stubborn) to pass the bus option when I had it.
What if I have this tomorrow? I cannot seriously continue like this for another week. Thoughts like that went through my mind constantly when dragging myself to the village.
Once we arrived at the village, our plan was to camp in Camping Molignon, which also has laundry facilities. Our clothes needed some refreshing pretty badly. We did not book in advance and while walking to the reception we saw that it’s super busy here.
So when we asked if they had a place, we were told the camping is fully booked. I was about to cry. I could not imagine walking anywhere anymore given the condition I was in. Thank god the receptionist was understanding when we pleaded that we only need a corner for a small tent and we actually got a corner next to an empty chalet.
I cannot explain the emotions I went through when I took off my boots and just sat on the grass realising that this is it for today, I did it. I was proud of myself, I was sorry for myself, I felt exhausted, and relieved at the same time. After a long warm shower and a big dinner I felt that life is beautiful again. We went to sleep early to have an early start tomorrow as the forecast for tomorrow afternoon did not look great. Rain is coming!
P.S. this camping is super popular with Dutchies, everyone basically talks dutch to you, assuming you’re Dutch too.
Day 8 tips
- If you’re short of time and looking to cut the less spectacular parts of trail, the hike between Arolla and Les Hauderes is a good candidate. Most of the trail is in the forest with little views.