Haute Route Day 6: Vignettes - Zermatt

First day of non-perfect weather. In fact quite foggy. Started with climb to Col d'Eveque (3395m). Descent passing through a few hundred metres of Italy before turning right onto the upper reaches of the Arolla glacier to start second climb of the day to the Col du Mont Brulé (3213m)... the final 150m vertical were with skis on backpacks but thankfully no crampons needed. This was followed by a very short descent onto the middle of the Tsa de Tsan glacier (Italy once again) before starting the final climb of the tour to the highest col, Col de Valpelline (3557m). At 3557m, it was by no means over: we now had to negociate very carefully down the Stockji glacier with large crevasses literally just to the side of the skiied trail and the visibility still poor. The visibility improved as we descended toward the Zmutt glacier, giving way to some very impressive scenery under the Matterhorn's north face. The snow ran out rather quicker than we had hoped and the tour ended with a 2 hour walk with skis on packs, down into Zermatt.