Le Gross Bigerhorn en deux jours

First day of the ascent of the Gross Bigerhorn to reach the Bordierhütte mountain refuge. This day is more physically demanding than you might think. Grade T3: a demanding mountain hike.

Grachen, an important village, dominates the Zermatt valley, which you will be flying over all day. After a gentle climb to Saint-Nicolas on its pedestal, you just need to pass from scree to scree to reach the welcome Refuge d'Europahutte after a long traverse.

And here is the last stage of this route, and what a stage it is! A pleasant climb to reach Hannigalp and find the famous balcony trail that overlooks the valley leading to Saas Fee.

A beautiful mountain stage with a pass bearing the sweet name of Augstbordpass.

This fourteenth and final stage is the longest, but does not present any difficulties. The route from Sankt Niklaus to Zermatt is obvious. It follows the Matter Vispa, the river that flows down from Zermatt, and the rack railway line, which terminates in Zermatt. All the ingredients for a picture-postcard Swiss scene are there: the Matterhorn, glaciers, the torrent, churches with bulbous steeples, the little rack railway and the magnificent car-free village of Zermatt.

The first of the three stages that make up the northern traverse of the massif from east to west.No particular difficulties: you just need to take care on the first section, which follows a narrow path along the cliff face. Fixed equipment (ropes) secures the most exposed sections.The route starts from the same cable car used on the previous stage to descend to St-Niklaus.

Jungu/Jungen (1,954 m) is a village situated above St-Niklaus. The journey is made by cable car. If the cable cars are not running, an intercom at the Jungu station allows you to contact the operator: payment is made at the bottom.The descent down the Wasulicke features several sections secured with fixed ropes and ladders, as the ground is quite unstable and sloping. The descent is currently not particularly exposed: a 45° slope, which allows for a fairly safe descent with the safety measures in place. There is currently no route across what remains of the glacier. This forms the second stage of the Tour du Cervin, passing through the western part of the Matter Vispa valley.

See the guide on route moderation. The classic hike from Randa is very often closed. This hike starts at Herbriggen (accessible by train from Randa).The route is much steeper than the one starting from Randa; furthermore, once you reach Tälli, the ‘normal’ route is also closed due to rockfalls, and a new route has been marked out joining the alpine path linking the Topali Hut (Topalihütte) to the Barrhorn, which adds 400 metres of elevation gain. The difficulty rating is ‘very difficult’, to reflect the total duration of the hike, which takes into account the significant elevation gain covered in two main sections, and the steep nature of the first ascent. There are no technical difficulties other than the elevation gain (2,000 m elevation gain over 9.5 km).