I’m afraid I’ve been falling behind with my blogging – partly due to the World Cup and partly due to a long weekend back in the UK.  So now is the time to catch up…

Just over 2 weeks ago, on the 20th June to be precise, I decided that the weather had been warm enough to try a slightly higher level walk from Arolla (at around 2,000m / 6,500 ft) up to the Aiguilles Rouges mountain hut, (at around 2,800m / 9,200 ft).  My plan was to drive to La Gouille, take the Postbus up to Arolla, walk to the hut and then back down to La Gouille.  I expected to encounter some snow, but certainly not as much as there was.

I had no real problems getting to the hut, as you will see below, but when I looked at the  amount of snow on the first part of the descent, I simply had to return the way I’d come due to the danger of creating an avalanche.  It had been a warm day and the snow can ‘sweat’ underneath, causing it to slide.   As I’d left my car at La Gouille, I took the path back from Arolla towards Satarma and encountered a rather unusual creature which I didn’t think existed…  (See pic 27).