Haute Route Day 7 - Moiry hut to Zinal
Photos and details of day 7 of our Haute Route hike, traveling a high pass from the Moiry hut to the town of Zinal, where we hid from the rain in a comfortable hotel
Heading into our seventh day of "strenuous" hiking, we were starting to get tired. Fortunately, Brian's knees were mostly holding up. In addition to wearing the braces you can see in the photos, he was being very diligent and controlled on the downhills, a feat I found particularly impressive considering that neither Mark or I were.
Our hike this day would take us past the large dammed glacier reservoir at the end of the Moiry Valley and then - surprise! - up a mountain and over a pass then through a ski area above Zinal. We would end the day with a ride down in a gondola through the ski area to save about another 90 minutes of downhill wear and tear on our joints. There was a chance of rain coming in the later afternoon, so we were motivated to move quickly.
The hike along the lake was a flat roller with gorgeous views in the clean morning light.
... with the occasional steep drop-off to keep things interesting.
At the top of the pass, we caught up with our hiking buddies Tina and Tomo. We met them back at the Prafleuri hut and had been sharing meals and crossing paths with them ever since. They're surgeons from Slovenia and speak better English than we do.
The view from the gondola down into Zinal. We were all tired, and Brian's knees had taken a serious beating on the downhills in the last two days, so we were grateful for the quick and easy ride down two thousand feet.
True to form, we arrived in Zinal early in the afternoon before the other hikers on the route, and also before our hotel opened for check-in. We found a tea room to hang out in and to stay out of the rain while we waited for the hotel to open.
Tough life.
The top thing on our mind at this point was the weather. We'd known for several days that our Day 8 was likely to have significant rain, but the forecast had solidified into thunder storms with lightning likely in the peaks. There might be a few-hour gap in the storms late in the afternoon, but the hike itself was at least six hours long. There were no alternate ways to hike to our destination, nor was it simple to take trains and busses to get there. There were a few dozen Haute Route hikers arriving at our hotel during the afternoon who were all trying to sort out their strategy for the next day.
See Also
- Day 8 - Zinal to Gruben
- Haute Route overview
- Photos and stories from the other chapters of our 2025 Swiss trip
