La Dent D'Oche

The summer was rapidly drawing to an end, so it was necessary to fit in some hiking before the snow started piling up. An excursion to climb Les Dents du Midi in Switzerland was planned, but aborted due to bad weather. With some early snowfalls at altitude, a more modest target was chosen: La Dent D’Oche. (Une dent is a tooth, quite a descriptive (and apparently popular) name for a mountain.) Located in the Chablais massif, it is the northernmost summit above 2000 metres in France and is situated more-or-less on the French/Swiss border. Easily accessible from Geneva, an overnight hike camping on one of les balcons du lac Léman seemed like a good choice.

Up, up and away

An early morning train from Geneva started us in the right direction. Typically when one climbs La Dent D’Oche, one departs from Bernex, a small town behind Évian-les-Bains. However, finding little information about getting from Évian to Bernex via public transport other than “there is perhaps a bus on Mondays” made it not such a desirable option. Instead, we were to leave from Saint-Gingolph, which is nestled half in France and half in Switzerland on Lake Geneva. It can be reached by train and additionally by bus, which is how we made our way there. The town of Aigle is 1 hour from Geneva, and then 40 minutes on a bus puts you at the train station in Saint-Gingolph. It seemed a little crazy to go clockwise around the lake to get where we were going, but it was the fastest route. During our bus trip, we stopped in Bouveret, which is home to the Aquaparc, which looked ace. Everyone on the bus descended there; the most notable attraction was a waterslide in which one comes close to doing a loop, and you are launched standing up via a “trap-door”. Definitely something which warrants an investigation next summer.

We arrived in Saint-Gingolph, on the Swiss side, but had to cross into France, as the track follows the torrent which defines the border, but on the French side. There was nobody at the checkpoint, so we just walked over and made a quick stop at a bakery to pick up some lunch. The only reason this was notable was that when we were told the price, the lady said that will be 7.50, and we both thought “what a bargain!” and prepared 7 francs, having forgotten that we had crossed back into France, and the cashier just gave us a strange look. On our way out, we had a chat with a local who was inquisitive to our plans, due to our hiking packs and proceeded to tell us that the nearby mountains were very nice, and for us to have a good time. Armed with sandwiches, well wishes and a map (IGN 3528 ET) we set off.

Mont Gardy, Mont Valeur and Les Jumelles

Saint-Gingolph is at 390 metres altitude, whereas our destination, Le refuge de la Dent D’Oche is at 2100 metres, meaning there was to be a lot of up. From the station the walk is only about 17 kilometres, meaning only a (long) half day is needed. But do not let that fool you into thinking that it is a simple walk. The terrain is quite hard in parts and the climb is relentless, particularly the latter half.

Setting out from Saint-Gingolph, one follows Le Morge – the previously mentioned torrent defining the border – which winds up into the foothills and is quite a nice walk. It doesn’t take long until you are in the forest, following a snaking path toward the alpine village of Novel. After an hour or so, we arrived in Novel, which was quite pretty, but one could not help but feel that this walk, which forms part of the GR5 and is the primary reason people visit the town, is shaped through the town to take you to “the sights”, or more accurately, "the sight": the town hall, complete with clock tower. It was pretty, but after filling up our water bottles at a tap, we took off in the direction of La Planche.

An ibex near the summit of the Dent D'Oche

We were mainly following the road here, which is quite steep, and the path often takes shortcuts to cut off corners, which results in some extremely steep sections. But this is quite short-lived, only 2 kilometres or so. Upon arrival in La Planche, which is basically a carpark with some farms surrounding it, we lathered on some sun screen and prepared ourselves for the real uphill. Less than four kilometres remained, but we had over a kilometre to climb. As we set off, a local asked if we were going to the summit, and after we replied yes, he said “Well you’d better get moving!”, which was somewhat concerning, but once I mentioned we were only climbing up, he was much more content, and wished us all the best. So one thing I can say for the region is that locals are really nice!

 Following an old farm track, one really starts to gain altitude. But it is here that the trees start to thin out and one can see the surrounding mountains, which are just magnificent. Looking to the east, Mont Gardy, Mont Valeur and Les Jumelles tower over the valley and the cliff structures are just incredible. I often use the word violent when describing the Alps, and these are a perfect example – even though they are only 2200 metres, they are formidable peaks. During the climb, we found an open plain which had a water trough which was simultaneously being filled and syphoned and in the process was making an incredibly loud (and annoying) noise, which did its best to keep you in the moment.

Sunset, and a red Mont Blanc

Pressing on and climbing through the heat, we arrived at some paddocks filled with cattle, and it was here that the walking conditions rapidly degraded. The terrain was quite steep, and thanks to a small creek running down the hill and all the cattle, we were just walking in deep mud. And unfortunately, these were the conditions for the rest of the climb, which really slowed us down. I had imagined that once we reached Col de Neuva that it would clear up, but this was not the case. The Col was very flat, meaning that the ground was just soaked. Even as we continued to ascend toward the cliffs, it took quite a while to dry up.

The section between Col de Neuva and Col de Rebollion is really nice, as the path is perched on the side of the Dent D’Oche, overlooking Lake Geneva and is not particularly steep. It makes for some relaxing walking. Arriving at Col de Rebollion, you are treated to a spectacular view: for the first time you get a full view of the Alps. The first thing you see in the distance is Mont Blanc and as you reach the peak of the Col, the entire Massif comes into view, which is quite a sight!

Overlooking Évian and lake Geneva

From the Col, it is only some hundreds of metres to the refuge; but the best is definitely saved until last. Marked as a passage délicat (which are returning from my time in the Pyrénées) it is a pretty rough climb to the top, primarily a mixture of light climbing and scrambling on loose rocks. But the section is not very long, and soon we had arrived at the very precariously placed refuge. The refuge is certainly in one of the more impressive locations that I have seen, as it is perched atop cliffs – there is no plateau, so why someone thought to build a hut there is very strange. But upon viewing this, we were somewhat concerned, as we had anticipated camping, not staying in the hut. Once we spoke to the host, we found there was a singular camping spot; that is, a highly exposed slight clearing where one can set up a tent just 20 metres away. One thing that we had not anticipated however, was the fact that there was no water at the hut. They had bottled water, but no other source, which we were unfortunately relying on.

Whilst setting up the tent, a family of ibices came to inspect us, which is always welcome – particularly with some very young (and hence cute) kids. We were starving, so prepared our dinners, however during the course of rehydration, one of the packets was not sealed, meaning the meal did not hydrate properly. And as we had very finite water supplies, it was a case of just sucking it up, so I enjoyed a half hydrated meal, which was not great. (Quit your bitching! - Ed.) After dinner, the sunset really started to go into overdrive; the sky was a brilliant red and a bright pink, snowcapped Mont Blanc was quite a spectacle. So we watched the sunset, but not long after, we retired into the refuge as the temperature was dropping quickly. We ordered a beer – mainly because we could – and were given some free soup as they had made too much, so that was a bonus. But as we were pretty pooped, we didn’t hang around for any shenanigans. Upon leaving the hut and heading back to our tent, we were again treated to a magnificent light show, with the horizon over Lake Geneva still being illuminated bright red, but all the lights of Évian in the foreground. Whilst it reminded us we were not so far from civilisation, it was a very pretty sight none the less. We hit the hay, and with extremely windy conditions, drifted off to sleep with only moderate concerns of being blown away.

Lake Geneva, Évian and Geneva in the distance

Down, down, down, down

Le massif de Jungfrau

We awoke at 0600 after a somewhat restless night due to the strong winds, which had begun to calm themselves with the imminent sunrise. We had initially planned to be packed and climb to the summit to watch the sunrise and then continue on our way – as the summit was on the path – but this did not happen. So an ascent was made in the dark to see the sunrise, but would have to be repeated when we were leaving, but it was definitely worth it. The climb is a little rough and unlike the climb the previous day, there were no support chains. From the summit, one has a 360 degree view, looking over the Massif de Mont Blanc, over the Massif de Jungfrau in the distance and a view over Lake Geneva and the Jura to the north. It was really nice to just relax and watch then sun come up over such spectacular scenery – something I will never tire of.

Mont Blanc before the sunrise

Once the show was all said and done, we descended and had some breakfast and packed up the tent. We had finished all our water by this point, but were able to buy 1.5 litres from the refuge, enough to get us over the mountain and to a water source. By the time we left, it was 0800, meaning that we would have to walk at a bit of a pace to catch our train at 1340 from Saint-Gingolph.

The sunrise from the Dent D'Oche

We reascended the summit, although with packs this time and immediately continued down the other side. The path was still marked as a passage délicat, and with good reason. The path involved less scrambling/climbing, but was very steep and all on loose rock. The whole time you can see the path that one uses to descend from Col de Planchamp, which straddles the ridge between La Dent D’Oche and her sister peak Le Chateau D’Oche, and one cannot help but think – ergh, I have to go down all of that! We had initially planned on climbing over Le Chateau D’Oche, but due to time constraints we decided against it and headed down toward le lac de la Case. Due to the roughness of the path over the summit, our knees were a little ginger, so the path down to the lake was a bit slower-going.

Can you guess where Lake Geneva is?

Arriving at the lake, we saw that the Col that we had to head toward (which had been previously hidden) was at 1940 metres, and we had just descended the 1750 metres, so that was a bit a kick in the guts. Luckily, the trail was short and sweet, meaning it was really quite steep, but it was over and done within 15 minutes. From Les Portes D’Oche, we saw le Lac de Darbon, which was picturesque, and as we were toasty after our climb, it looked rather appealing. But time was always pressed, so we simply pushed on toward the Col de Pavis. From that point, it was all downhill – 1950 metres to roughly 400 metres. Initially the path gently winds its way down the mountain until the Chalets de Neuteu. This is where we found some water, so after drinking a few litres each and stocking up, we continued our way down. The section that immediately followed was again brutally steep, losing over 400 metres in less than a kilometre, and as we were really pushing it, the legs were really feeling sore. The scenery is really quite nice though, as in a very short distance, one travels from above the tree line and then down into a valley floor forest very quickly, and always retaining a view of Pic Boré, situated due north.

The way up

After an hour or so, we arrived back in La Planche, and from here it was simply a matter of retracing our steps, albeit at pace and with no breaks for food. The last stretch was probably the worst, as the slope is not steep, but it is there and it is constant, for about 7 kilometres. At least we were in the shade of the forest and next to the torrent, rather than in the open, completely exposed to the sun and wind. Additionally, retracing your steps is never as fun as making your way for the first time. But we knocked it off it less than one and a half hours, meaning that we arrived at the train 20 minutes early. Crossing the border back into Switzerland, we were questioned “where are you from” and when we said Australia, the officer lost all interest and let us go though. So we climbed aboard the air-conditioned luxury of the train, got changed and then cracked out our mountain bread and had some lunch. 30 minutes later we were in Saint-Maurice, changing for the train for Geneva and going back to the everyday.

Les Cornettes de Bise and Les Dents du Midi