Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

up and over the border
However, there is an older route that runs directly over the heads of motorists in
the tunnel: up above the sunroof, up above the strata of metamorphic rocks and a
crust of ice and snow, high among the summits where the air is thin and the
passing airliners don’t seem so very far away. This route is the Great St Bernard
Pass, a frozen highway counting as one of the most treacherous and storied trails in
Europe.
‘Summer and winter are two different worlds up there,’ explains Eric Berclaz,
leaning on his ski poles at the foot of the pass. ‘Summer is not a problem. In winter,
you need to know what you are doing.’
Eric is my guide for the ascent, and it is also his job to help decide when the
Great St Bernard Pass is able to open to motorists for the summer season.
‘Summer’ in the loosest sense of the word. For just two or three months of the year,
the snow melts enough for tourists to drive to the top, admire the view and maybe
buy a souvenir fridge magnet from a kiosk. From September to June, the Great St
Bernard Pass is plunged into a near-permanent state of Narnia: the road buried
deep in snow, shivering in temperatures that sink to -30°C (-22°F) while
holidaymakers on the Mediterranean siesta on the beach not so far away. During
this time, the only way to cross the pass is on skis or snowshoes.
I strap into my snowshoes for the three-hour hike to the top. It soon feels like an
exercise in time travel. In the valley below, spring is arriving: wildflowers grow in the
meadows and people are wearing shorts. The Great St Bernard Pass, meanwhile,
is lagging a few months behind in bleak midwinter. The snowdrifts become deeper
with every step. Everything is still, but for the croak of ravens and the hum of
overhead power cables. A few skiers and snowboarders whoosh past.
Today, like much of the Alps, the Great St Bernard Pass is a place for recreation.
But before the tunnel was built in the 1960s, travellers between the Italian plains
and northern Europe had little choice but to come this way. Pilgrims on the Via
Francigena crossed on their way from Canterbury to Rome. Napoleon led a