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The H2H's first -- albeit short -- contact with French soil occurs today. In the morning you work your way slowly southwards, against the grain of the land, over and around a series of finger-like, east-west ridges. Then at mid-day you climb up to the main north-south crest and enjoy an up-and-down ridge hike along the Franco-Swiss border before finally dropping down to Chalet Neuf, your destination for the night.

For this and the next couple of days you will have dramatic views east across the wide valley of the Rhône as it hurries towards Lac Léman. After exiting the lake at Geneva the Rhône passes through Lyon on its way down to Avignon... which is very close to St.-Rémy.

If you were to just drift down the Rhône from Geneva, you could be in St.-Rémy in about a week. Perhaps this will be part of a future (and much easier) H2H?

Route
This is another day during which you'll be checking your map frequently. You begin by heading in the direction of Le Flon, then at the Col de Taney (1441m) turn right and traverse the hillside towards Plan de l'Ortie. From there you climb around and over the next ridge to the south to arrive at Chalet de Blancsex (1497m). And then you do it again to Dravers (1500m), from where you finally climb to the ridge at Col de Conche (1789m). The remainder of the day you walk along the ridge (via Haut Sex (1873m), Col du Croix (1806m), and Le Morclan (1970m)), except when you take the more direct path which avoids the climb to Tour de Don (1998m). At Super-Châtel (1650m) you turn left and head back into Switzerland to Chalet Neuf.

Alternatives: there are none that are significantly shorter. If the weather is bad, take a day off, because there are exposed places along the ridge that would be dangerous in a storm.
Map: ST-272T St. Maurice.

Journal
The House to House blog... stage 42.

Photos
<A couple of representative photos from this stage will be added here after the hike>
In the meantime, click here to go to all of the H2H photos on Flickr.

GPS Track
<To be added during or after hike>

Room and Board Options
Lunch: picnic.
Dinner and overnight: the only to place to stay at Chalet Neuf is... Chalet Neuf (+41-(0)24477/1296, 40 places in a bunkroom). Alternatively, if Chalet Neuf is full or you feel like more comfort, you can take the chairlift down from either Le Morclan or Super-Châtel to Châtel where there are many places to eat and stay (for a complete list, see here). Note, however, that the last chair down from Le Morclan departs at 16:45 and from Super-Châtel at 17:00, and that both may stop running early if weather conditions are bad. If you can't take the chairlift, you are looking at another hour of walking down (-460m) from Super-Châtel to Châtel (1191m). Moreover the first chair up the following morning to Super-Châtel leaves at 09:00, which will cause you to have a late start to the following stage.

Getting There and Back
Lac de Taney: there is a railway station at Villeneuve (just south of Montreux), from which you can catch a bus to Vouvry. A very infrequent bus will take you from there to the hamlet of Le Flon (1049m), from which you walk 2km northwest to Lac de Taney. For schedule information for both buses and trains, see the SBB.
Chalet Neuf: walk via Portes de Culet (1787m) south and down to Morgins (1305m), which will take about 1.5h, 3.5km, +100m, -500m. There you can catch an infrequent bus to the village of Troistorrents, where there is a railway station.
ViaMichelin Road Map and Driving Directions: centered on Lac de Taney, centered on Morgins.

Background Information and Links
Many and various...

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