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Haute Route - Day 7

Our stay included a free 'breakfast', which consisted of a single plain croissant. I guess when you don't carry any gear and only walk from hut to hut, that could be sufficient. Glad to be outside again, we journeyed in a large loop around the mountaintop. While we continued to climb, the views over the valley and glaciers were beautiful. We passed a large group of mountain goats and took some photos.

Later, we went deeper into the mountains and had to cross many boulder fields. This was a much more remote and rugged area than we had been hiking the prior days. At some point, our water supply got low, but fortunately, we found a stream where we could filter some more. After another steep climb we reached a mountain ridge with a great view into the next valley. It looked really barren, full of rocks, rivers, and glaciers.

We descended over loose rocks and ended up on the mountain plateau. This was one of the most beautiful parts of the hike. Crossing the undulating plain of barren rocks in the right direction was a bit challenging, as most of the lakes on the map had changed or disappeared. Using our compass, we found the right way. The next part would involve much scrambling up and down loose rocks and one of the highest parts of the entire Haute Route. We knew it would start to rain hard soon and that the next mountain hut was still several hours away, so we decided to camp on the mountain plateau. 

Next to a small lake was a small area where people had put up a circle of rocks to protect a tent against the wind. However, the rocks were only about 30 cm high, and the area was otherwise completely exposed to the increasingly hard wind. Therefore, we decided to find a slightly more sheltered area. A few minutes' walk away, I found a sandy area that was better sheltered. There had clearly been a snow patch or small pond at some point in the past, but the area was now completely dry, and the surrounding slopes were small, so I didn't expect an issue with the rain that was to come. I quickly pitched our tent and weighed it down with rocks. Then the rain started. We were now on the highest and by far the most remote part of our hike and in the worst weather. Still, our tent held up well, and we were warm.

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