The pass in October
Late season on the old mule track: frost on the switchbacks, the hut already shuttered, and the whole valley to ourselves.
We left the car park before seven, when the valley was still in shadow and the grass along the track was white with frost. The old mule track climbs in long, patient switchbacks; whoever built it had more time than we did and it shows in every turn.
The hut at the saddle had closed for the season a week earlier. Its shutters were nailed down and someone had left a neat stack of split wood by the door, the way you leave a house you mean to come back to. We ate on the step, out of the wind, and watched the cloud come up from the south side in slow folds.
The last two hundred metres are loose scree. Poles help. Patience helps more.
From the saddle to the top is a short, steep hour. The cairn on the summit has grown since last year; we added a stone each. Going down we took the northern variant through the larch wood, which adds a kilometre but saves the knees, and we were back at the car as the first lights came on in the village.
Practical notes
- Water: the spring below the hut still ran, but only just. Carry two litres.
- The northern variant is waymarked in red and white until the forest road, then unmarked for 400 m. Keep the stream on your left.
- No phone signal between the second switchback and the saddle.