Dwight Peck's personal website
A walk up the Vallon de Nant, 2014
with the clouds in and out
The Pont de Nant is a nature reserve area in the shadow of the Grand Muveran, in the Swiss pré-alps, up the seasonal road from the village of Les Plans-sur-Bex: the "Réserve naturelle du Vallon de Nant".
You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
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We park at the trailhead at Pont de Nant at 1240m and start up into the closed valley of Nant. (According to Henri Suter, 'Nant' and its related forms are a common Swiss place name, from an Indo-European root signifying a torrent in a deep valley.) 2 June 2014.
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-- Take it easy, girls. The grass will be coming along here, too, soon.
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The restaurant at Pont de Nant
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The restaurant, and the Lion d'Argentine up the hill a ways
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La Thomasia alpine botanical garden, founded in 1891 in honor of a great botanist from the university, possibly the oldest alpine garden at this altitude -- it predates by five years the founding of La Rambertia alpine garden at the top of the Rochers de Naye overlooking Montreux and Lake Geneva.
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There are 3,000 mountain plants here, from mountain regions all over the world (La Rambertia has 900). Not very colorful at the moment, but it's only the 2nd of June.
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Perhaps that's the gardener's house.
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We persist -- we're at about 1270m, with the walls of the Grand Muveran (3051m) looming down from the left.
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We're following the creek L'Avançon de Nant.
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Decorative reminders of former eras
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Today we're just walking up to the only farm in the closed valley, the Chalet de Nant, about 3km up the track.
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A carrefour of mountain paths, leading up both sides of the narrow valley. The tripod houses one of the 12 "panneaux didactiques", or information panels, spaced along the walk.
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The head of the Vallon de Nant -- the top of the Dents de Morcles (2969m) is shrouded in cloud, but even if there were no fog, the summit wouldn't be in this photo anyway.
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A herd of chamois displeased by our arrival on the scene
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The Chalet de Nant (1500m)
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A glance upward to the east -- the Petit Muveran is up there somewhere.
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Chamois lurking in the trees, waiting for us to leave
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The head of the valley, towards the Col (or pass) des Martinets
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Towards the farm
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Ambitious alternatives in all directions. The white-and-red decoration signifies "bring your best hiking shoes and leave your vertigo at home".
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There's not much grass up here yet to make it worth walking the great beasts up the road.
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Head of the valley
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The Col des Pauvres, 2111m ('pass of the unfortunate people') somewhere up there to the west -- Marlowe's mom and I walked up over that and around down the other side in 1982; my notes just say "some scrambling".
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Time to start back
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The Vallon de Nant [a 'vallon' is just a small valley]
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And piles of stuff that's been washing down off the mountain for millennia
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This is a recommended walk -- easy, 45 minutes each way, and thought-provoking scenery in every direction.
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A mess of stuff along the side of the Grand Muveran (which itself is way up there in the fog)
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Another tripod of information panels on the geology, botany, etc.
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Kristin's wearing her hiking sandals, which let the feet breathe.
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Back to Pont de Nant. That thing up behind is the Lion of the Argentine (2273m), the southwestern end of the Arête de L'Argentine, a long impressive ridge that runs between the massifs of Les Diablerets and the Grand Muveran.
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The Thomasia garden
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And the restaurant (-cum-hotel) at Pont de Nant
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This is the view up the other direction, towards the Col des Essets (leftish) and the Cabane de Plan-Névé (right, behind the buttress).
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An earlier visit -- a long time ago
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Marlowe's mom in the Vallon de Nant in 1984, carrying Marlowe along
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Proud parents, two days before Marlowe was born
Feedback
and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, .
All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 14 July 2014.
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