Geo: 46.0193, 7.74603From the window of our youth hostel this morning, the sunlight on the cloudless Matterhorn literally took my breath away. A blazing white sabertooth cut against the blue sky, freestanding, seemingly disconnected from the earth. The flawless weather (after so many cloudy mornings along the Haute route) made it that much more difficult to part ways with Aaron and Mary who headed on to Germany with Aaron's sister. We so wished they could hike with us today. Before saying goodbye to them, however, Aaron left us his lucky hiking pole, which he had found near the beginning of our trek in Grimentz. "Take lots of pictures for us," he said. Sean and I opted for the hike to the Hornli Hut (10,700 feet) on the Matterhorn itself, located above base camp for those planning ... read more

Geo: 46.0193, 7.74603Sean checking in here. As the weather continued to improve, Aaron and I became more committed to finishing the Haute Route per Kev Reynold's guide by walking all the way to Zermatt. The last stretch from St Nicklaus is described as a long 18km along the valley floor using a combination of old roads, service roads, and trails to cover the distance. Altogether, it was supposed to be 5+ hours of walking and we (including the girls somewhat reluctantly) set out from the hotel at about 9:30.As promised in the guidebook, we quickly learned this would be a bit more urban than our previous hikes as we stayed within a stones throw of the railroad track from the beginning. We took in some of the sights in the small towns we passed (such as ... read more

Geo: 46.2098, 7.7043(Erin this time.) Waking up in the Hotel Weisshorn is exactly like waking up in a cloud: whole villages and even birds were below us. Just as with dinner, we breakfasted in the dining room in the sky (sliced meats and assorted cheeses, yogurt and museli, breads with jam or Nutella). Although we could see no Alps for the rain clouds, still the view was all green hillside and rocky cliff, lovely and green the way Idaho is for maybe 6 weeks out of the year. We set out on our 8-mile hike toward Gruben today, descending sharply from the isloated hotel. We crossed and recrossed a stream, the trail spongy with moss and mud. Even in the sheets of mist and drizzle, filtered sunlight brightened the bloom of bluebells and buttercups all around ... read more

Geo: 46.1351, 7.62589Sean checking in as we continue our writer rotation.This morning we continued our route adjustment due to the less than ideal weather situation with the plan of leaving our previous Val locations and moving on to the Val de Anniviers. We awoke in Martigny to more pleasant weather with broken sunshine and no rain. First, we settled up at the Midi Guesthouse, stopped by the Coop to grab a simple breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and hard eggs, and then worked our way to the train station for the next leg of our journey to Grimentz and Zinal.We boarded the train at 9:15 and headed east to Sierre/Siders to catch a bus. The countryside flashing by the window showed vineyards rising to unimaginable heights on the rock faces of the surrounding mountains. It was a ... read more

Geo: 46.0801, 7.21137Hi everyone, Sean checking in here again so Erin can have a day off of writing.Before talking about our amazing day, I would like to fill you in on some of our challenges in getting you the quality blog updates you have come to expect from us from our previous travels. Primarily, in an effort to trim the weight in our packs since we are carrying everything on our backs each day, we tried to keep non essential items to a minimum. Unfortunately this meant we did not bring some things that would be helpful in getting some of Erin's photography loaded onto the website including some necessary cables (honestly, more of an oversight than a purposeful leave behind). Also, instead of a laptop, we have my tablet which has proved useful, but not ... read more