Haute Route 2013-Day 7-Arolla to La Sage

The valley towards Arolla

Haute Route Hiking Stats-Day 7

We enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast on the second floor of the Hotel du Pigne after a good nights sleep. We watched out the windows as they were setting up the finish line for a local ultra trail run on the main street, just outside the hotel. It was a misty rain out and looked as though it had rained most of the night. Paul and Clare eventually came down to the dining room and joined us for breakfast. Today was supposed to be an easier day on the route and not very remote. The plan was to hike down the valley, paralleling the road, and then head up from the other side of the valley floor to the town of La Sage. Paul and Clare were planning on staying in Arolla another day and camping at a campground just below the hotel. We said our goodbyes after breakfast with hopes of seeing them again, which I am sure we will. If not, were now Facebook friends so we would at least be able to stay in touch with them.

We had not planned any rest days on our entire trip except for one day on each of the trip in Chamonix and Zermatt. Others we had spoken to had planned to take a rest day along the way, which started us thinking we should have done the same. With the rainy weather, the less-than exciting route and weary hiking legs, we decided that we would take the local bus from Arolla up to La Sage and make today a rest day. I checked with the front desk and found that the bus would arrive at a parking lot just below town around 12:15pm. This would allow us to take our time this morning and finish up our laundry and repack our bags.

We enjoyed our room for every possible second until checkout, which was 12pm, and then made our way down the road to the parking lot where the bus arrived. There were less buses today due to it being a Sunday and the ultra trail race also forced the bus stop to be farther away than normal. The runners from the race had began to funnel into the finish line at this point and a crowd had gathered cheering them on. It was mostly younger kids finishing, which were probably the faster competitors of the race. We cheered them on as we walked down the very steep road finally reaching the bus stop.

The bus had arrived immediately as we reached the parking lot and we hopped on and paid our fare. The driver indicated that we would need to change buses at the depot in Les Hauderes which was at the bottom of valley floor. From there we would change buses to the one going up to La Sage. The bus filled up pretty quickly and then we started our way down the valley. We had passed a pizza restaurant not too far away which was a bit disappointing since we were really looking forward to a pizza the night before. Right next to the pizza place was a campground which is probably where Paul and Clare would be staying that night. The drive was pretty scenic and we had gone through some cantilever-type tunnels along the way. We had passed the trailhead to Lac Bleu, which was a crystal blue mountain lake along the way. It was the only real scenic thing on the hike for that day, but we would have to forgo that for some much needed rest.

We arrived at the bus station in Les Hauderes and quickly hopped onto the bus to La Sage. Our bus driver gestured to us which bus we were to take since he did not speak much English. The La Sage bus started up the long, steep hill towards La Sage dropping people off along the way. We initially passed our hotel since we were not sure where it was. I told the driver and he stopped right near it on the way back down the mountain. It was dead end road going up the mountain fortunately. We got off the bus and made our way down the narrow alleys to the Hotel de La Sage.

Hotel La Sage-Excellent Place!!

The Hotel de La Sage was well maintained old stone building with nice little decks outside each room and beautiful flowers landscaping the building. We were met by the owner, a lady of Indian descent who spoke very good English. She indicated that our room was not quite ready yet and that we could relax outside on the nearby covered patio and furniture. The little patio was arranged perfectly on the edge of the hill overlooking the mountains and the valley below from where we had just came from. It was a perfect setting to just chill. It further reinforced our decision to take it easy today.

Before we could get too relaxed, they were calling us to let us know our room was ready. We grabbed our packs and headed up to the room. It was a fabulous room and undoubtedly the best room on the trip so far. It was very clean and still preserved the old-world charm. It was comprised of three separate rooms within the room: a sitting area, a bedroom and a bathroom. The bedroom had the opening that led out to the deck with a table and chairs. It was the perfect place to dry our our clothes that hadn’t finished drying from the night before. The sun had actually popped out a bit to assist as well.

Denise enjoying a well-deserved rest day in La Sage

Denise headed back out to the little veranda to do some reading and I took a nap after we got situated in the room. I was later awoken by the smell of something tasty emanating from the kitchen below. I sat out on the deck and enjoyed the smells from the kitchen below for a bit while Denise was chatting below with Rich, one of our fellow trekkers who had recently arrived. I eventually headed down to chat and find out how the hike had been. Lac Bleu sounded cool, but not cool enough that I wished I would have hiked today.

Denise and I then headed up the road to find something to eat. We had spotted a little outdoor cafe up the street while on the bus that we decided to check out. It was between meal times so they were only serving crepes and drinks at the time. I ordered a crepe fromage(more cheese!) and a wine and Denise got a crepe with egg(yuk!). The cafe offered the same great view as our hotel and we situated ourselves at a table that took full advantage of it. Another couple had sat down at another table not far from us who looked to also be trekkers. They had a Canon 5D Mark III camera which caught my eye. The husband didn’t seem to be too into the food they had, and the woman ate the stuff he didn’t.

We headed back to the hotel and the other hikers started funneling in. We saw Nate and Ann coming up the hill and they indicated that it wasn’t as easy as what the guide book would lead you to believe. They looked a bit weary coming up the hill. I sat out under the veranda a bit more chatting with some of the others before dinner.

There was not many places to eat in La Sage so our meals were arranged at the hotel. Good thing too…it was truly amazing. We sat at a group table with Bob & Matthew(uncle and nephew from Ohio) and Karen & Don (the couple we had seen at the cafe earlier in the day). Don & Karen had not started the Haute Route yet, which was obvious since they seemed very fresh. This was there starting point and they would be only doing a few legs before heading down to Italy for some R&R. The dinner consisted of Salmon Tartar for appetizer, Duck for main entree and caramel cheesecake for dessert(what I smelled earler). A meal worthy of a five-star restaurant. Bob, not being a “foodie” was not quite as impressed with the meal as we were but he did eat it all. The hotel was a pretty reasonably priced hotel from what the others were saying. So it is definitely worthy of a higher price I think. The dining room was all glass walls so you could look out on the surrounding valleys. A must stop place if you are through here.

We settled in for the night in preparation for another day on the trail tomorrow. It was a much-needed rest day and it will rejuvenate us for the remaining 7 days of hiking yet to come. Hard to believe we are only half-way through this trek. Tomorrow we will be hiking over to the Cabane de Moiry hut which is perched on a hill side overlooking the Moiry Glacier. It will be another long day, but the view from the hut is supposed to be well worth the effort.