A Night in a Swiss Alpine Hut

Before we left for Switzerland I told Cindy that I would love to stay in a SAC (Swiss Alpine Club) hut.

I spent years in the Swiss Army and our “job and training” was to hike from one hut to another, crossing glaciers and climbing mountains secured with ice and climbing equipment.  I wanted to revisit Cabane d’Orny after so many years. The Orny glacier is on the backside of the Mont Blanc.

 And we did. But the night before we hiked up the mountain to the glacier, we stayed at a very nice B&B in Champex aux Lac. This is in the western part, french part of Switzerland. On the day of the hike, we had a delicious breakfast. Jean-Pierre and Graziella are the perfect hosts. By the way, Champex is on an altitude of 1470 müM (4822 ft).

When we started on the hike, it was still quite early. The sun didn’t reach the valley yet. Once we reached La Breya, the challenge started. For the first 30-45 minutes we hiked on a trail often only 2-3 feet wide. On the right side were rocks, boulders or some wild bushes. On the left side steep drop of several hundred feet.  At some of the more dangerous locations the Swiss installed a chain drilled into the rocks. Cindy was grateful to the Swiss for thinking of her.

 After crossing that part it opened up a little bit. And for less experienced hikers, it didn’t feel that dangerous anymore. We still had to cross several fields with loose rocks, though. I personally like that rattling sound it makes and wobbling feeling you get when crossing them. Just trust those boulders to stay put and you are fine.

After a break with a Salami sandwich, some Swiss chocolate, nuts and fruit we continued our hike. Now impressive mountains surrounded us, with a steep trail in front. High up “there” we should start to see our final destination but first we had to climb up “there”. Like a Swiss watch we hiked step by step, the same rhythm if you can for 45-60 minutes non-stop. This guarantees you don’t get tired.

Suddenly we heard the sound of water. It was the glacier-milk and high up on a cliff we saw our hut, Cabane d’Orny 2831 müM (9300ft)

We reached the final steps and Cindy was happy to sit down. I went inside and ordered a Gersten Soup and some beer. Nothing feels better than a cool beer after a long and tough hike, even Cindy as a “non beer drinker” enjoyed it.

 It was about 3:30 in the afternoon when we arrived. The sun was warm and other hikers relaxed. For a busy New Yorker there was nothing to do up here. No WiFi, no iPhone but plenty of absolute wonderful landscape. Look at the impressive glaciers which unfortunately shrink every year. (One glacier just brought the wreckage of the Dakota US-military plane to the surface. That plane crashed on a Swiss glacier in 1946). There is no sound except the rolling thunder of stone avalanches which happens on a regular base. It was so quiet. At 7pm the hikers who decided to stay over night were served a delicious hut-dinner. It was fun and we chat with Heidi from CO, USA, a Swiss couple, a German mountaineer with his two German hikers and a mother with her 2 daughters from the French part of Switzerland. Conversation switched from German to English to French and Swiss German. Cindy was happy to practice her German.

In Switzerland are 152 SAC huts in the alps with 9200 beds. In general they are located on higher altitude and all year around open. However between Mai and mid September somebody lives up here and cooks for the mountaineers. In the military service we always arrived when the huts were closed. We opened the hut, cooked and cleaned before we left again.

After dinner we looked out for the stars. Beautiful sky, no clouds. At 10pm is absolute silence in all of the SAC huts (It is a “rule”). In general the serious mountaineers get up at 4am and start their day latest by 5am. I set the alarm for 5:45 in order to experience the sunrise.

We both had a good good night sleep, with windows open and fresh air. At 5:45 I slid down quietly from the bed and looked outside. Grey on grey. Fog and rain. The night wind blows cold n’rainy (Bob Dylan). There was no sunrise. Worse, it rained heavily during breakfast. Just when we were ready to tackle the slippery trail down to Champex, it stopped. The sun even showed up for a few minutes. Cindy was great on the slippery stones. 10 minutes before we reached the base it started once again to rain heavily. Good thing we were well equipped. Our Swiss mountaineer Mammut jackets kept us dry.

Later that evening we had fun talking about our hike and the overnight in the hut. During dinner Cindy suggested we do the TMB (Tour de Mont-Blanc). This is a several day hike from hut to hut including crossing some glaciers.

Will you join us?

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