To set the scene… The plan for our 4 day walk was as follows:
- Day 1: Gspon to the Weissmies hut
- Day 2: Weissmies hut to the Berghotel at Almagelleralp, with an extension up to and back from the Almageller hut
- Day 3: Almagelleralp to the Britannia hut
- Day 4: Britannia hut to Saas Grund
After driving for just over an hour from our chalet to Stalden, which sits at the ‘confluence’ of the Saas and Matter valleys, (the latter being most famous for the Matterhorn), Pete and I bade farewell to my wife, Jude, and took the gondola lift up to Gspon. As an aside, we were squeezed in with about 7 other walkers and another 8 cyclists with their mountain bikes. So much for social distancing! But, thankfully, masks were compulsory (and a week later, I’m still feeling OK. 😊)
I’d read that Gspon was ‘famous’ for having the highest football pitch in Europe. It often hosts the European mountain village championships so, as keen football fans, Pete and I had to take a look. (For more info. please read here).
From Gspon the path undulated along the east side of the Saas valley, passing some tiny hamlets and a beautiful church at Finilu. Several rocks and boulder fields were safely negotiated before the final climb up to the mountain hut, where we had a room (normally sleeping up to 8 people) all to ourselves.
As you will see the weather was a little grey, but the sun did eventually come out and the small amount of rain, which was forecast for late afternoon, didn’t materialised until the evening. 👍
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
Those sweet wooly animals in the doorframe are adorable! What beautiful images you captured Mike. How fortunate to share this adventure with an old friend too. Looking forward to your next post!
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Yes, the Valaisan Blacknose breed are possibly the cutest sheep in the world and they have become quite sought after (certainly in Europe). I’m not sure, but I think you can pay over 3,000 dollars for a ‘good’ one. (You could make a killing on this info if you import a few… 😉)
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They are absolutely adorable! So glad you snapped a shot. I don’t know that I would have otherwise ever seen one.
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I’d never seen one until a few years ago when we went to watch the sheep coming down from the mountains at the Gemmi Pass near Leukerbad. They drop around 900m or over 3,000 ft on quite a narrow of path. See here: https://alittlebitoutoffocus.com/2016/08/14/the-gemmipass-and-sheep-descent/
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P.S. The Valais is the canton (or state/county equivalent) that we live in. So you can imagine the locals are very proud of their sheep – as well as their Val d’Hérens cows, which come from our valley (which is within the canton).
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Your photos brought back some good memories as my wife and I walked the Gspon Hohenweg a number of years ago. I remember the gondola from Gspon being quite crowded but of course there wasn’t any need for social distancing at that time. From Kreuzboden we walked down to Saas Grund which is where we were staying. I particularly like the photo of the Valais Blacknose sheep!
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Thanks for your comment Rob. My wife and I also spent some time there a few years ago. E.g. here’s one post: https://alittlebitoutoffocus.com/2017/08/06/hohsaas-walk-saas-valley/ We also did the same ‘flower walk’ around to Almagelleralp that Pete and I did (post tomorrow). Those sheep are always popular – they’re far too cute!
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