Graubündin Traverse

Published on 2019-7-30 by Michael Stanton

We drove down to Susch and stayed in a little hotel where we each had a bed. We ate dinner in the hotel to keep it easy. The next morning, I moved the car to the train station to be picked up a few days later, and we took a bus to the Schwarzhorn parking lot just below the Flüela Pass. The weather was great!

Toyana parked at the Susch train station

Here we go boys!

We hiked into a beautiful green valley with snowy peaks at the head. Above about 2600 meters we started to notice we weren't acclimatized to the altitude, and slowed down a bit. No matter! We left our packs and hiked up the long South Ridge of the Schwarzhorn. There was a serious woman here, but then a young woman came up, made some selfies and struck up a conversation. She smiled a lot and took a picture of me and the boys. It's cool when people are less taciturn sometimes.

Beautiful country below the Schwarzhorn

On the way up to the Schwarzhorn

Elijah climbing to 3000 meters

Rowan at rest

Again on the Schwarzhorn

On the South Ridge of the Schwarzhorn

Proud fools, all.

Davos: village of the Cognescienti

Looking north from the summit

Looking south to our next day

Now we wandered down and stopped for a rest at a gorgeous lake underneath Piz Radönt. I made Elijah laugh when I suggested he could take pictures of his backpack at the lake and put them on Instagram, perhaps receiving a bonus from friends who gave him a job for a week at the factory that sells the backpacks. He did take a picture! Generally, if I find a thing interesting, my fellas don't. But for this brief moment, we agreed: the lake is a beautiful thing. Hell yeah!

Our way to the Fuorcla Radönt

Such a beautiful little lake

We hiked rather tiredly to the Fuorcla Radönt then made the long winding trip south along the mountainside to the Fuorcla da Grialetsch for a rude surprise. I'd made a mistake in my planning, and had called the wrong hut to reserve a place for the night: the Chamanna da Grialetsch was completely full! We were told we'd need to hike down to Dürrboden for a bed. I was initially exasperated, and knew the boys had worked hard. As it began to rain, we made our descent. But Dürrboden was friendly, and they had bunks. We ate a very expensive dinner (alone, more than 100 euros), but it was delicious. "We should have just ordered french fries," quipped Elijah. He saw that a small piece of meat wasn't really worth 40 euros! Having worked for a few weeks, he knows the value of a dollar and I'm glad of that!

The Scalettahorn from the Dürrenboden

In the morning we hiked south to the Scalettapass (2605 meters). It was a gorgeous valley, with brown stone, green fields and white waterfalls. From here, a long trail continues south traversing high above the Funtauna valley. I love trails like this -- not hard work, and you can look up and down and everywhere for visual beauty.

Climbing up from the Dürrenboden

Rowan marches up

Going up to the Scalettapass

Val Funtauna

Interesting cliffs along the trail above Val Funtauna

I went ahead of the boys and took a side trail up into Val Sartiv making for the Ravais-ch Sur lake. But I decided to stop and sit instead. Later, I went back down and followed the Funtauna further to reach our hut for the night. The boys were already there, and were relieved to see me. The feeling was mutual! I was afraid that maybe they'd taken a wrong turn. "You underestimated us," said Rowan, and he was right -- they hiked faster than I thought! Good. They'll be safe when the zombies come, then!

The Kesch-Hütte

More Kesch-Hütte countryside

At dinner we played a great game of "Dungeon." One of the features of the Dungeon this time, was that there was an ALDI store in an underground grotto. A few dice rolls led to Elijah getting a part time job there, but then asking an impertanent question that meant the (monster) staff started to attack him. Meanwhile, Rowan was engaged with a battle elsewhere for having failed to bow properly before a (rather petty) local God. If I remember correctly, he was killed, but brought back to life. Elijah ended up with a peg-leg but able to continue the dungeon exploration.

We sat next to a quite ambitious young mother who'd brought her very young children up alone. Her son was entraced with my boys. If they said hello, or I smiled at him, he'd light up like a birthday cake and go silent. Anyway, she'd done 100 kilometer races through the mountains on foot -- quite amazing!

We invented a new Dungeons & Dragons game

The next day, we hiked quickly down to the Alp digl Chants (1996 meters). It started to rain, and we began the long march up to the Fuorcla Pischa (2867 meters). As we turned to switchback up steep slopes to the east the rain intensified. I was glad for our umbrellas. About halfway up, Elijah needed to change his socks because of blisters. We all worked to keep umbrellas over him while he worked to extract dry socks, to somehow get his feet dry (the inside of my jacket was dry and useful), and stand up again as torrents fell all around us.

Just below Fuorcla Pischa

Day of Rain

Umbrellas are awesome

Soon enough we were in black rocks above the trees and the rain had occasional chunks of ice. But then it let up and we could see surrounding mountains, stony and unforgiving. I smoked a couple cigarillos in this region, called the Murtel d'As-cha. I joked about climbing the Piz Blaisun above the pass while the boys waited for me, shivering in the cold. Ha! Naw, I wouldn't do that. I'll shiver with them and hurry down!

A hard life in the Murtel d'As-cha

Through the Fuorcla Pischa in stinging rain and hail

Indeed, as we descended from Pischa the rain quit, views opened up of eastern Switzerland and I was glad we were here. But the truth was, I was pretty much out of cash and wondering how to pay for another night. I also didn't know if the Chamanna d'Es-cha just below us would have beds for us. The boys and I talked about detouring through the Fuorcla Gualdauna to reach the road just below the Albulapass, then getting a ride down for a night in town somehow. "Yes!" they said. They were willing to do another half-day of hiking after a hard day if it meant a return to civilization, poor things. "Alright, let's do it."

Things are looking better as we approach Val Müra

Hiking below the Piz Cotschen

We had to herd a flock of cows ahead of us for a while on the steep single-file trail. Finally we could pass them, much to our mutual relief. Soon we were at the sunny Gualdauna pass, then moving quickly down slippery, muddy paths to the road in the broad Albula valley.

These cows had no choice but to herd before us!

Val d'Alvra from the Fuorcla Gualdauna

We got to the parking lot and found that a bus wouldn't arrive for another 3 hours. I stuck out my thumb, but no cars would stop for us three muddy men. I had a phone number for a taxi company, and tried to call it, but it was out of service. There was no internet access so I couldn't figure out any other number. So, we decided to walk down for a while and hope.

Elijah then noticed a camper van just ahead of us pulling out. "Ask them!" he said. I ran up and did so. The driver said "yes, we try it," and allowed us to climb in and take off our muddy shoes. He and his wife were from Germany, and had just climbed the Piz Kesch that we slept below the night before. Unfortunately for them, the heavy rain that affected us meant they saw only the inside of a cloud on the summit. We had a great talk over many shared mountain experiences while they drove us down to the train station in La Punt. It was just wonderful to have had the ride and the chat. "See boys, the mountains are good!" I said.

Selfies were the only way to capture young hip types

Okay, by now I'm trolling

A 45 minute train ride got us back to Susch and the car. I wanted to escape the high prices of Switzerland, so we drove to Lermoos in Austria to sleep. The kids had a wonderful "submarine" room where they could play games on their phones to the hearts content. Look at 'em, so happy:

| Day | Elevation Up | Elevation Down | Kilometers | | --- | ------------ | -------------- | ---------- | | Flüela to Dürrboden | 1100 meters | 1450 meters | 13.5 kilometers | | Dürrboden to Keschhütte | 1000 meters | 350 meters | 12 kilometers | | Keschhütte to Albula | 1100 meters | 1450 meters | 17 kilometers | | | 3200 meters | 3250 meters | 42.5 kilometers |

On the train back to Susch

Dinner in Lermoos

Happy teenagers in a bunker