Despite the warning that rain would fall after 1700 today we went up to explore the Via Ferrata De Lavanchy. it is a via ferrata that requires a 45 minute walk up hill. You walk up towards a cirque and then turn left and continue upwards through some trees. When you get close to the base of the cliff walk straight up to get to the base of the via ferrata. The via ferrata is simple and short.
If you are looking for a sport easy walk with a little scrambling, walk to the rock arches. Two holes have been eroded into the rock providing two natural arches.
You can walk up to both arches but it’s better to go on a quiet day. This place is not a good place for big groups. Children could enjoy the opportunity to see geography in action. Children should be supervised on this walk, especially along two sections of the path, and at the arch itself.
This is the type of vegetation you will see. Some orchards, some pine trees, vineyards and more.
When we drove there I noticed that the spider webs were backlit by the sun so I tried to capture at least one. This is a good time of day for a walk because spiders, or at least their webs, are more visible.
Despite the possibility of being trodden some flowers did manage to grow out of the path.
The best aspect of the Tour D’Aï via ferrata is the chimney where you go up at the entrance to a crack. There are hand holds on two rock faces and you can use just one side like I did yesterday or use both sides like I did on past climbs. It depends on your fitness level, comfort and size.
This via ferrata does have one or two overhangs which need to be negotiated. As the clipping and unclipping of carabiners occurs both before and after the overhanging bits they are easy to negotiate.
Once you are at the top of the mountain you can look at the views and have a snack before walking down.
Walking Down.
The first part of the walk down requires sure footedness as the path is narrow. You can hold on to a cable for some of the more exposed portions and then walk down one ladder and later scramble down some rocks. After that you follow the road and foot path down the mountain. When you arrive to the foot of the village you have the option of continuing down or turning left and walking up to Plan Praz. Be advised that Plan Praz is a physical VF where arm and hand strength are necessary.
In 2015, I was exploring on a mountain bike when I found a road above La Rippe that was closed to traffic, so I decided to explore it. I managed to cycle a certain distance before I met a rockfall blocking the road, so I had to turn back. I then tried again in 2018 and I got quite close to the top but decided to give up and turn around. Within the last three weeks or so I have attempted the ride again, and this time I have made it up not once, but twice.
The first time I attempted it this year, it was exploration. I used Komoot to set the destination point, and then I started cycling up. This ride is a challenge because it starts steep, and it stays steep almost the whole way up. I read a comment that once you get to 1200 meters it gets easier. That’s almost at the top of the climb.
It is easier to do this type of climb if you look at distance remaining, rather than altitude. It is the type of ride that you do one kilometre at a time. Every kilometre is earned. One nice aspect of this ride is that you have more wildlife. You hear rustling in the leaves, and you hear things scuttling around. I saw at least one Chamois, one snake and quite a few hikers. Hikers do not count as wildlife. You see some people walking upwards, and others walking downwards.
I like to find routes that either have very few cars, or no cars. Cars often drive too close and too far. The further we are from cars, the safer we are. It gives us the time to focus our attention on the effort and the challenge, rather than on safety. I wear normal shoes, rather than cycling shoes, for this climb. In a previous attempt I found that I wanted to stop but couldn’t, so I was stuck with continuing to climb until the gradient was gentler. That was not fun.
On this ride you have a good few of the Lac Léman as well as of the Alps and the Mont Blanc on the right day. When you get to what I consider the top there is nothing to do. I could go further and explore on the french side, but during a pandemic I prefer not to cross borders, especially on foot, with a bike on my back. I could go up on foot, and explore from the other side, and eventually link the two. In theory I can go up from La Rippe, over the top, across to the West of La Dole, rejoin La Cure, cycle to St Cergue and come down the fun road. We’ll see next summer.
FIFAD’s second day’s documentaries were introspective. They looked at mining in Bolivia, Jean Troillet’s life of adventure and the film Sherpa.
[caption id="attachment_3257" align="aligncenter" width="660"] The peaks we see from the Festival[/caption]
Tous Les Jours La Nuit
Tous Les Jours La Nuit is a documentary by Jean-Claude Wicky who passed away recently. The documentary looked at the lives of Bolivian miners who have to work for up to 20 hours a day in mines where the air temperature can reach up to 50°c, where the life expectancy is between 40-45 years and where they barely earn enough to live. In this documentary he looks at some of the pictures he took when down in the mines. He tells us stories about the people who are photographed and tells us about their culture. At the end of the film he comes back to the country once again and meets with some of the miners and their communities. He donates copies of the books to individual miners as well as their community. The aim is to document the hardships faced by these workers.
Sherpa
Sherpa is a beautiful and powerful film because it teaches us about the Sherpa people, the Everest climbing industry and explores the social challenges posed by professions that can lead to accidental death. The documentary looks at the subject from the perspective of tour operators who are responsible for their clients as well as Sherpa. We also see how Sherpa families see the opportunities but also dangers that come from the industry around summiting everest.
The strength of this film lies in that it provides us with the discussions, sights and concerns of people on site at the time of the tragedy. In the documentary they say that as tourists want an increasing level of comfort when climbing Everest the Sherpas have to climb through the Khumbu ice fall from 20-30 times per season to take up supplies and equipment. The clients, tourists or adventurers, whichever name you prefer face the crossing just twice.
The Khumbu ice fall is a snow waterfall “cascade de glace”. On the day of the tragedy a 14,000 ton bloc of ice came lose causing an avalanche that crossed the entirety of the ice fall.
This film highlights the need for adequate social cover for the Sherpa and their families so that, because they do a dangerous job, that their families are cared for. One of the Sherpa, the leader had been approaching 22 climbs of Everest. I will write no more. Enjoy the film when you get the opportunity.
Jean Troillet
Jean Troillet is a Swiss explorer with 50 years of experience of the mountains and fourty of those on expeditions. He holds the record for the fastest climb of Everest and has climbed ten summits over 8000 metres. In the main film projected at FIFAD we see him spend a week in a tent and receiving guests to speak about previous adventures and experiences. Some time was also devoted to him providing his home crowd, people from this region of Switzerland with the opportunity to listen to personal accounts and more.
Sometimes you go for a daily walk and all the roses are starting to emerge, and these are not tiny ones. These are saucer sized roses. They are mainly growing at the side of orchards. These are Red and pink, but there are other colours, so if I walk in the right places I should find them too.
I could have posted these images to Instagram or Facebook, but I’d rather post them on my own website, for the world to see, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, three to six years from now. 😉
St Hilaire du Touvet is a place I have always thought of as one where in Septembre there is an adventure film festival. What I found out on Saturday is that it has two interesting via ferrata. There is an easier one which you can explore as a novice and a more challenging one you can try if you like to overcome your fear of heights and fragile looking rock ascent.
I tried the latter and enjoyed the challenge. At first you park your car at the summit before walking down for half an hour. You meet a fork and start heading back up towards the start of the via ferrata. The path is not as clearly marked as it could be so we ended up scrambling up what is a river when the rain is falling. It was dry on Saturday.
The first part of the via ferrata is easy. You have a vertical climb with some contact with the rocks. There is some loose material so wearing a helmet is useful. There is a split where you can choose whether to do the hard or very hard via ferrata. For the easy one you go down to where the waterfall has dug itself a small pool. Beware the slippery rocks. After that I don’t know what the via ferrata is like as I did not explore this option. As you go to the left so you start a more challenging bit of the via ferrata. You climb for a few minutes before getting to a beautiful crack in the rock at the base of which is an overhang. The overhang is a physically challenge. It’s also a nice way to overcome your fear of heights.
I passed the obstacle suspending myself from my arms. I might as well have a little fun right? My feet were floating in mid air. The next part is hard (extremelly difficult by Via ferrata norms). You’re at least 20 meters off the ground and you’re heading straight up. The rocks do not look that solid although there are a lot of hand holds and foot rests should you prefer to use these than the metal path. The ascent is hard and there are few places to rest. You go from one side of the crack to the next and back.
There is a nice resting platform at one point, to the side from the via ferrata. Here you can rest for a bit, gather some strenght before the last 30-40 meters of ascent. From here you traverse to the left and reach a ladder. It faces outwards so you’re looking at the landscape. As if this ladder wasn’t enough of a mental challenge you have the reveral to get back on to the rock. This is not a natural thing to do. From this point on the via ferrata is normal as you make your way up to the parapente take off point.
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