Alpine Passes Trail, Stage 27/43

This stage takes you past impressive Swiss stone pines, across wide cow pastures and the steep Col de Riedmatten. On the way down, you pass a lake and at the end you climb up to the Cabane des Dix SAC hut, which is situated above the Lac des Dix reservoir.

From the Arolla, poste bus stop, the route leaves the village and initially climbs along a yellow-waymarked hiking trail. At La Chotte, the long ascent continues across open pastures. The surroundings soon become more barren, and the mountain trail, marked in white, red and white, steadily gains height between scree and rock.

From here, the hike takes on a rocky high-alpine character. The path crosses scree fields and continues uphill, with a few short counter-ascents. Only shortly before the destination does the route reach its highest point at just under 3,000 m, not far from Tête Noire. From there, a short descent leads to Cabane des Dix.

The SAC hut stands above the Lac des Dix reservoir by the Cheilon Glacier and, after a little over five hours, marks the high-alpine end of the hike. There is no public transport at the destination; the nearest stop, Arolla, Magine, is around 5 km away.