We parked the car inthe large car park just off the bend below the Arolla drag lift.and packed all the stuff for a couple of days in the hills.
We needed to go across to the drag lift and then work our way up the piste and then across onto the end of the glacier.
Last year when we were here, the drag lift was working, and the pistes had snow on them. Now we have to walk up them with the skis on our backs, this year it is all bare and grassy.
After a 100m height gain we then moved to the other side of the stream and worked our way up the moraine on a path that wound its way through the odd trees.
As we got higher there was more show, but still patchy and it was not until the morine steepened and started to turn to the bottom of the glacier under the North face of the Peign.
As we turned the corner, and prepared to put the skis on, it suddenly dawned on us that the cloud had descended.
We still could not see the hut, which was just as well as it was still a fair way off.
Climbing up the glacier we continued to curve around to the right. Looking back we could see all the way back down to the valley.
Around the corner of the glacier, we could suddenly see the hut up on the skyline, in the clouds.
As we got higher the snow started falling in earnest, and it did not seem as if we were getting any closer to the hut.
The clouds got thicker and it did not help us as we struggled up, by now I was feeling the effort and was getting very tired.
All of a sudden we were approaching the haven of the hut, although all we could see was the helicopter pad hanging above us.
The way the hut is organised means you approach along a covered walkway, which is under the day room, what was hard to see until you remember is that this is always very slippery and iced up.
We soon struggled around to the front door and checked in, before collapsing in the common room... totally knackered ... 1100m in a day, and half of it carrying all the gear.
We were not very hopeful for tomorrow, with all the snow falling, but in the event of bad weather we were confident that we could reverse what we had just done.
The last time I had done this route .. in summer 199x I vowed not to repeat it ... I could now relate to why I had said that all those years ago!