The idea for a Chateau d'Oex to Villenueve route was seeded into my head on a recent run up to the Col de Jaman when I came upon a sign with what appeared to many ideas for another good run. Last Sunday I woke in the predawn darkness and boarded a train to Chateau d'Oex. It seemed likely that I'd end up back on Lake Geneva by foot later in the day. The plan called for staying a bit lower than usual, opting for dirt roads over nonexistent trails whenever possible. The route, from Chateau d'Oex to Villenueve, would neccessitate climbing over the Col de Sonlomont and the Col de Chaude, neither of which is a gimme in November.
The route looking South from start to finish
The route from Chateau d'Oex (right) over the Col de Sonlomont, down to Lake Hongrin, over the Col de Chaude and switchbacking down to Villenueve on Lake Geneva.
Route planning is generally fairly easy in Switzerland. Everything is (mis) labeled. Take a train to somewhere, get off the train and look around for one of these yellow signs. If you are lucky there will be a tiny stand open right next door selling coffee to get you going.
Topo map and estimated hiking times outside of the Chateau d'Oex train station.
The route started flat along country back roads, the Col de Sonlomont can be seen in the middle of the picture below.
Eventually the climb started past houses, pastures and then through forests.
On the climb up Col de Sonlomont
Obligatory Swiss cow photo
Still climbing up Col de Sonlomont
After I acheived the pass I had to navigate downstream of damned lake, the valley that used to hold the creek is below to the left. The road turned into trails, then the trails turned into cow pastures.
Above Lake Hongrin outlet, the next valley I am heading for is over to the left.
Above Hongrin Resevoir outlet, storm blowing in from left to right
The route over into the next side valley looked promising up to this point, but then it promptly died out in an abandoned-for-the-year cow pasture. This wasn't just any cow pasture though, this was a Swiss cow pasture. I considered my situation carefully. The map clearly showed a route down to my left, but the facts on the ground didn't line up. There was this impossibly steep pasture. There were some toppled and very difficult to see barbed wire fences, and an impending storm that was already shortening my desire to study the map any longer. I did think I saw something a while back that would get me around this mess. I just had to get down to the road by Lake Hongrin. I backtracked for 1/2 hour before getting really frustrated at how far back the turnoff for the low route was. When the route opened up from forest to unforested gully, I headed straight down for the lake. It was terrible.
The gully which invited me down to Lake Hongrin
The gully shortcut alternated from young forest caked in blowdowns to impossibly steep bushwack through rosebushes and raspberries.
After 45 minutes of bushwacking my way down this slope, about 5 minutes from finally achieving the road at Lake Hongrin I came upon what I think is an old Swiss military bunker. It turns out that Switzerland is full of these, many of which have been turned into museums.
I didnt find any old Swiss army knives here, but the ruins were still pretty neat. The reason I had wanted to avoid this low route was because I had to go through a tunnel, but as it turned out there was a little sidewalk in there. The Swiss engineers obviously consider pedestrianism in their designs. By the time I was through this tunnel it was raining in earnest. I looked uphill to my right about half a mile to see exactly where I had turned around 1.5 hrs earlier. The trail which was so clearly marked on my map was nothing more than a route through a cow pasture someone had imagined might be nice and decided to mark down on the paper. There was no trace of any trail whatsoever from either side. Still, it did have some appeal, and was the type of thing that I'm not generally averse to, as long I have a good idea what to expect. Or, better yet, as long as I have no expectations. When I get lost, I prefer to own it fully.
The tunnel I was hoping to avoid
Heading towards the second pass of the day
On the climb up Col de Chaude the weather turned truly nasty. I took out my rain jacket, stuffed some food into the internal fire and picked my way up the surprisingly well built switchbacks. This was a pretty sweet route, definitely worthy of a fair weather descent. There were two structures on the way up. At the first I stopped under the eaves to get a photo of what the weather was like. My calculation that it would be snowing a few hundred meters up the valley proved correct, and I became less worried about the cold.
On the climb up Col de Jaman
There was little time for breaks however, as when I stopped for a few minutes my hands became uncomfortably cold. I briefly considered my options, added in a factor of safety and decided the best way forward was, well, forward.
Cow created mud pits are the pits
The second and final structure heading up to Col de Jaman
The author enjoys the dregs of an endless Swiss summer. It's not over yet!
Looking back towards the final pitch up Col de Jaman
Finally I acheived the pass, where I was promptly greeted by 40 mph wind gusts. Despite pulling my hat down and looking down at my feet the snow still blew directly into my eyes. I briefly considered the absurdity of running with snow goggles, then realized that this is exactly what many people do. Meanwhile the snow was burning into the scratches on my legs from the raspberry rose bushwhack from earlier and as always, the descent down to Lake Geneva would take at least an hour. I never warmed up ride back into Lausanne, but I did leave a rather large pool of water in the train.
On the descent to Lake Geneva with the vineyards of Villenueve yellowing on the hillside.
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