Haute Route Day 8 Cabane de Moiry

A big shout out to our accomadation in La Sage.   It was called Cafe Restaurant L'Ecureuil.  They were so great. There was a hang out room. The showers were hot. Dinner was super. They made omelettes for us with potatoes and veggies and a nice dessert of vanilla ice cream with a berry sauce. It did have creaky floor boards.  Also they let us have breakfast whenever we were ready because it was self serve. 

We set out early and climbed 3800ft in 3.6 miles to Col Tsate. I had a very close encounter with a cow when it got very very close while I was seated on a rock waiting for Leah. We were a little confused at one point but saw someone walking towards us. Turns out he is a Californian working as a cattle shepard in the Alps despite being a Swiss physicist. One of his grandmother's lives near Napa and has a cattle range. His other lives in Tracy near where I live in Mountain House. It was an really random coincidence. We didn't see anyone else on the trail today until we got to the Moiry Glacier Parking lot. 

On the other side of the pass we carefully picked out way down. At one point I looked up from my feet to see this huge boulder wobbling. It was huge - at least five feet across. At first I thought it fell from somewhere but as I got closer I realized that it had dislodged from its place in the snow and had moved down the slope. 

At the bottoms of the slope was a collection point for water from the glacier.   The water had that blue green color. Silt was being removed from it before it became part of the water supply held in Lac Moiry. 

It was a big uphill from the lake. It was 1800 ft up from the lake in 2 miles. We walked for a time in the ridge of the lateral moraine.  We crossed a very narrow wet ledge with a sheer drop off. Luckily there was a chain to hold on to which gave me some comfort but Leah didn't feel comfortable but went anyway.  Then we crossed a steep snow field.  It kinda of worried me a little because a slip would put you in an icy lake with a iceberg in it. Luckily there was a rope to hold to. Leah was still apprehensive and has rope burn from hanging on to the rope to tightly. We also had to climb over a number of wet rocks and boulders which made her day. 

She was so focused on the way up that she didn't see a small dog on the trail and skewered him with her pole. I think that despite being vegetarian she was going to roast him on the fire because it was a wiener dog. Just kidding. She only hit it on the head (lightly).  It poor owner did not look very fit and this probably didn't need this to happen. 

We eventually made it to the hut which literally overlooks the glacier and it is incredible. 

Unfortunately there is no diet coke for me or sparkling water for Leah. Also the water is not potable. I plan to filter some instead of paying out the nose for water. I did have a yummy brownie. Leah had a hazelnut berry cake that wasn't as good.

We had dinner with lots of friends at the hut. It was super fun