Western Oberland 6 The Gizzifurrggu Pass

[past my sell by date]

The Gizzifurggu pass

I've not been over the Ferden pass, but by far the most exciting return to Leukerbad I've done is by the 2912m Gizzifurggu pass (various spellings). This is another route only made possible for walkers by the retreat of the glaciers.

Map of the Lotchen and Gizzifurggu passes and the descent to Fluealp

The hut and the pass

Early morning view South from near the hut -Weisshorn on the R
The ascent to the pass - marked by cairns - is on a mixture of snow and rock and at 8.00A.M. the snow is pretty hard. In 2015 I was on my own and, kept to the rock as far as possible as it was very hard work kicking steps . However when I got there I was rewarded by an amazing view of the Mont Blanc massif.

views from the pass

Mont Blanc

Zoomed - Grand Jorasses on the L - Plateau de Triente on the R

South ridge of the Balmhorn

Looking down to Leukerbad

By walking further R the Grand Combin appears just R of the Majinghorn ?

Right at the top Androsace helvetica - Swiss rock jasmine - a lime loving plant and the only place I've ever found it

Looking back down to the hut (circled). The 3293m Hockenhorn is on the L

Further L still the Petersgrat with the Blumisalp group behind
The South side of the pass was almost snow-free and a reasonable path could be followed down the slopes of black shale. The Flowers grew more prolific as I descended

Campanula cenisia - Mt Cenis bellflower

Cerastium latifolium - Broad-leaved mouse-ear

Aster alpinus - Alpine aster

Trifolium badium - Brown clover

Silene acaulis - Moss campion

A view up to the Ferden pass

The path now descended into lush meadows.

Gentiana purpurea - Purple gentian

Gentiana lutea - Giant yellow gentian

Looking back up to the pass
Eventually I reached a big track and came to the farm at Fluealp where there is also a cafe, but I didn't bother to stop

Looking back again from Fluealp
From here you can walk down a gravel road to the village - about an hour and a half - but it looked deadly dull and I took a path to the R which led through some woods and crossed the stream. It was a wide very easy angled grassy path, but the "authorities" had covered a section of it in sackcloth/canvas. The idea I suppose was to cover some slimy rocks, but the effect was simply to transfer the sliminess through. Suddenly my Right foot shot sideways and Left, and I toppled rightwards over it: there was a sharp pain of tearing ankle ligaments and finally an even sharper one . My first serious accident in 60 years and it happened on a path that could have been in a local park. Akin to climbing Everest then falling to one's death on Arthur's Seat
I managed to get into a sitting position and took stock. I could still wiggle my toes and move my foot up and down: my leg didn't appear to be broken. I took 400mg of Ibuprofen and using my poles managed to hobble back to the cafe where they called me a taxi . It turned out that as well as wrecking my ankle, I'd cracked the top of the fibula - so that was 6 weeks in a moonboot and a lot of easy track walking afterwards

View across the stream - the promised land but I never got there
Despite the unfortunate ending, however, I still regard this as one of the best alpine walks I have ever done

[ChrisW]

Wow, where to start with this stunner....I'll start by saying that Donna clearly gives you a run for your money in the photographic department I'm struck by how much a number of these shots look like they could be in Kananaskis, there are few places that look similar to here but some of these really do. I can easily see why this is your favourite place to hike, I'm sure I would feel the same given these shots covering such a large area (and every one a cracker) I almost laughed at the simplicity your accident, (though not at the injury ) isn't that always the way of it, as you say it's akin to clearing Everest and dying on Arthur's Seat

Really great write up again PMSD, you sure have done some wonderful hikes, I'm looking forward to round 2

[past my sell by date]

Wow, where to start with this stunner....I'll start by saying that Donna clearly gives you a run for your money in the photographic department I'm struck by how much a number of these shots look like they could be in Kananaskis, there are few places that look similar to here but some of these really do. I can easily see why this is your favourite place to hike, I'm sure I would feel the same given these shots covering such a large area (and every one a cracker) I almost laughed at the simplicity your accident, (though not at the injury ) isn't that always the way of it, as you say it's akin to clearing Everest and dying on Arthur's Seat

Really great write up again PMSD, you sure have done some wonderful hikes, I'm looking forward to round 2

Thanks Chris - glad you liked it and glad you made it to the end I suspect many readers fell by the wayside. It certainly is a fantastic area with a whole lot of walking - mostly on well marked paths. Also it's sufficiently low for altitude problems to be pretty well non-existent
I guess it will be quite a while before the Canadian rockies become so "domesticated" but I'm sure limestone scenery everywhere is broadly similar. I have all the photos prepared for part 2 but the maps are not as easy to take from the SAC website as they used to be. You can only see a small section at a time so a host of "printscreen" operations is necessary. On the other hand you have the option to include walking paths on the maps, which is a bonus - in part 2 we walked down a ski-route by mistake

[past my sell by date]

This report originally contained a whole series of walks in this area, but on account of problems with google photos it is now just the last of a series of 6