We felt like an easier day after our couple of days away to Gemmi Pass so had a slow start, did our stretching exercises and then got the bus round to Siviez, to hike the Upper Bisse back to Nendaz. Lovely warm morning, blue skies and no wind. Perfect.
We appeared to be the first people who had hiked along the Bisse for some time as the only footprints were those of various animals. It soon became obvious why, as with the heavy dumps of snow this year the path was very tricky. In particular we had to pick our way with great care round rocky outcrops where the summer wooden protective railings were largely covered by snow. Glad to have our new MSR snowshoes as they were much lighter and narrower than our Tubbs which would not have given us the same agility to get round and over the various HAZARDS.
My most challenging moment was when to had to drop below the trail as a large tree had fallen over the rocky outcrop which we were skirting. Climbing back up to the path, over the tree on a very steep slope with crumbly snow was heart in mouth stuff! Had to stuff my hands in the snow (alas was not wearing gloves at the time, thereafter remedied) and hope the snow would hold (not always) whilst I hauled myself up trying to remember to keeps 3 points of contact at all times. After that there were a large number of fallen trees and evidence of earlier small avalanches. The forest service are going to have a lot of work to do to clear this trail for the summer season.
It was beautiful in the woods with views of the ski area and mountains. However, was very happy when we reached the easier section with less precipitous drop offs!
Possibly not a hike to do early in the season in a heavy snow year!