Marcella is optimistic, ahead of a five-day expedition on which she will lead a small group of
like-minded hikers from Lausanne in Switzerland, southwards along old alpine paths and through steep passes, into Italy. The jaunt to Domodossola, on the Italian side of the border, will be on foot.
”Hannibal, the Romans, Napoleon and Goethe made it over without cars. Why can’t we manage it too?” she asks. The Alps today are crisscrossed by superb roads. By car this trip
would amount to almost 600 kilometres. Marcella is a member of the permanent secretariat of the Alpine Convention, which devotes itself to sustainable uses of the Alps. Their aim is to reconcile the economic and social interests of the resident population with the protection of the natural environment and conservation of the landscape. ”Six million cars travel through the Alps every year. Not even the most robust environment could cope with that,” the energetic Italian says. By contrast, her Alpine tour will make use of public transport, pushbikes and hiking boots. The trip begins from Lausanne, with each hiker carrying just a change of clothes in a rucksack, hiking sticks, a smart-phone and a credit card.
Visitors to the ancient university city are issued with a chip card in their hotels, allowing them free use of local public transport. The train takes them to Lake Geneva, where a ferry sails to Evian-les-Bains in France.
With the aim of making the first day relatively easy, Marcella has secured bus tickets to Châtel, and from there transport is by mountain bike to Lake Montriond.
The reason for her environmental concern is immediately apparent. The mountain bike trails have ploughed out furrows in the soil and the mountain ridges and slopes, damaging the grass cover. Erosion now threatens the thin top layer of soil.
The next stage on the trip is through Chamonix, where the tourists will travel free by rail. Although up to 50,000 people visit the valley every day in the ski season, the rail offer has helped to cut the number of cars on the road.
There are long queues at the cableway that will take the small party up to Aiguille du Midi, which offers superb views of the Alpine peaks – which remain capped with snow right through the summer.
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe, gleams white in the sun in the distance. Here the mountains still look pristine.
The trip by cableway to Courmayeur has to be called off because the cable car is under repair. Marcella’s smart-phone comes in handy. It has an app that proposes an alternative in the shape of a bus trip towards the Aosta Valley of Italy. They first settle for a meal at one of the
numerous restaurants set among the picturesque snow-capped peaks. The first long hiking trail begins after the bus trip to Cogne, Italy.
The snowscapes are soon reached, and serpentine paths along the Giroparco route lead over the 2,827-metres pass at Mont Avic, through a snow-bedecked mountain landscape, to Lake Misurina and then on to Dondena. Splashing streams and grazing goats lend an impression of ‘unpolluted Nature’ here. Only the high-voltage masts running through the Aosta Valley
disrupt that impression.
The next day takes the group on a six-hour hike over one of the most famous passages in the western Alps, the St Bernhard Pass. The route runs for part of the way along the Via Alpina, a route that starts at 1,600 metres above sea level and rises to 2,469 metres. Several short bus rides are then needed to complete the next stage to Ulrichen, Switzerland.
Swiss Rail, which runs the bus routes, has the departure and arrival times well coordinated, so that there are no long waits. Ulrichen in Valais Canton, like so many picture-postcard Alpine villages, seems sleepy, but is sparkling clean and well kept. The local cuisine and beer are excellent. The last day trip is by minibus, leading down to the start of an ancient mule track, used for centuries by merchants to cross the Alps with their wares. This goes to Lake Gries and on to the 2,479-metre Gries Pass, behind which lies the Italian frontier (once more). In summer the way is covered with snow and puddles. Unwary hikers often get wet boots as they gaze out over the magnificent panoramas in the Alpine mist lifting in the early morning. The bus takes the party down to the end point of the tour, Domodossola - an Italian town of 18,000 inhabitants, with many good restaurants at its historic centre. Five days by train, bus, bike and on foot have demonstrated that an Alpine tour is well possible without a car; and that, without personal transport, the expedition is more eventful, healthier and more relaxing.
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