Day 1 - Saas Fee to Grächen

Stage 1: Saas Fee to Grächen​​

• Distance: About 16km if we take the lift down from Hannigalp to Grächen at the end of the day. About 20km if we walk all the way.

• Ascent: 700m

• Descent: 900m

• Highest point: 2360m

• Estimated Time: 8 hours

Our detailed description of the stage is further down the page, but here are each of our impressions so far.

How was it for us

Felix (19):

I can't remember the last time I've been so physically exhausted, that when I arrived at a destination, I collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. Surprisingly, it was only the last two hours or so that really drained me. We came across areas where rock slides had covered the path (which sucked), but we also saw some of the most amazing views of Switzerland I have seen.

It's only the first day, but I can confidently say that this will certainly be the second hardest thing I've ever undertaken.

Matthew (52):

This Tour Monte Rosa hike is a bit like life: it is not about the destination, it is about the journey. Since the hike is a loop, the destination is the starting point, so we decided just to enjoy the journey as we are not really going anywhere.

I was expecting this to be quite gruelling day given how heavy our bags were and how long the stage was. I was also nervous that the boys would lose interest in the whole thing after a few hours. After 6 hours Felix said: "I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be." We were all feeling great and the hike was spectacular. Towards the end of the day it was getting a bit too much for us novices and we were pleased to get finished. However, we all kept in good spirits and the boys were amazing. We were well prepared with anti blister patches, plenty of water and chocolate. It was a brilliant day with the boys.

I am feeling quite good now and pleased that I did quite a bit of strength training before coming for this trip.

Archie (14):

Well, this hike was way too long, 8 and a half hours. I don't really know what I expected but I was not expecting it to be this hard. For 5 of the 8 hours I was perfectly fine, it was only after a long lunch break we had. Suddenly after the lunch break all the pains came at once. My shoulders were hurting, my hips were hurting but I didn't blister anywhere which is amazing.

The sights we saw today were amazing, views of the peaks and glaciers were breath taking. Every once in a while we would take photos of the landscapes, the treacherous trails and the cliff faces. This gave us time to recover and lower our heart rates. I definitely could have trained harder for this but in the position I am now with a bruised knee and painful shoulders I don't really see how training could help.

Summary of this stage

Day one was always going to be a bit tough - it is a long way and it is our first proper hike, ever. The guide books told us to expect it to take 8-9 hours, the local sign posts are somewhat more optimistic. As we were leaving Saas Fee we were greeted with this sign.

The sign optimistically set us a 6 hour 30 minute target to get to Hannigalp from where we planned to take the cable car down to Grächen. Since it is 16km to Hannigalp that seemed enough of a target. About 10 minutes later we were presented with another similar sign which indicated a journey time 1 hour and 45 minutes shorter. Either we were going very fast or there is something going on with the signs.

Learning number 1: There is something going on with the signs. The signs are brilliant - there is no way that you could lose the trail or get lost on this leg of the hike, but don't believe the times to destination. For us, stopping about every 30 - 45 minutes for a quick break and generally walking at what we thought was a respectable pace, you need to multiply the times on the signs by up to 1.5x, which at the end of the day was a bit demoralising because the last "1 Hr" took us 90 minutes.

We set off at 6.20am and it took us 8 hours and 30 minutes to get to Hannigalp. By which time the CHF14.60 per person one way fare down seemed like a bargain.

So what about the hike?

From Saas Fee there is a pretty and steady climb for the for the first couple of hours, mostly on quite comfortable paths like these:

Our packs felt a bit heavy - somewhere between 12-15kg with food, water and unnecessary items - but after a while we got into a rhythm. We had been told that there is nowhere to get food or water on this leg, so packed quite a bit. Quite a bit too much actually. In fact there are multiple waterfalls and streams along the way starting from about 1 hr 20mins into the hike up to about 5 hours, so we were able to fill our bottles quite a few times and didn't need to carry quite as much as we did. We all drank at least 3 litres each during the day. Whether the mountain water is safe to drink or not...dunno, if we post tomorrow I guess it is safe.

After a couple of hours we reached a stunning point:

This is Lammugrabe at 2296m and is definitely not a place to visit if you suffer from vertigo. Here is the view over the edge

Don't look down!

In fact, after this point there are not very many places which someone with vertigo would enjoy as the path traverses the side of what is an extremely steep valley. If you fall almost anywhere, you will die. But having said that, the path is such that you don't really feel as though you are likely to slip and fall. Here are few examples:

For about 2/3 of the route the path is quite good, for the rest we scrambled over rocks, clambered up and down steep bits. This was the tiring part.

We managed to stumble the final leg of the journey to Hannigalp and decided after almost 9 hours of hiking, for the sake of our sanity, and Felix and Archie's shoulders, we would take the lift down. The lift was still running at 2:45pm when we arrived, and was open until 5pm. Note that this may vary depending on the time of year and prevailing weather conditions.