Magic Moments

WHR Day 4.

Overnight one client took ill and her husband has taken her to Arolla, so now we are four.
And it's a shame on many levels but also a blessing in some. I've spent a lifetime in the mountains, but still the high route from Mont Fort to Prafleuri is the best day's walking that I know. Today with a small fit group I was able to show them the very best the Alps has to offer.
Taking the Sentier du Chamois before the sun had crested the ridges let us set off in the cool and led us to being in the midst of a huge herd of chamois and ibex, for once these timid creatures seemed happy to let us oh so slowly pass by, the little fawns(?) only running to Mum when we got a few feet away. Magical Moment #1.
We made great time along the path under the impressive mass of the Grand Combin till we reached our first col,the Col de Termin. Now a  90° turn led us into the sun and the wonderful fertile Louvie valley, with the eponymous Lac aquamarine a 100ft below us. We contoured along, the hills alive with colour, but just as we approached the Col du Louvie, much as I'd hoped, we encountered what is believed to be the largest herd of ibex in the Alps. These magnificent creatures allowed us to get really, really close ( see extras) and after a while of taking pics we simply sat, transfixed. Magical Moment #2.
Eventually we moved on. Over the Louvie and into the Grand Desert, an intimidating, immediately wild place. As a guide I love it here, here I can be challenged, tested, needed - here in the 'right' conditions can be the toughest place in the Alps - or on a day like today it can be simply  magnificent, somewhere it's a privilege to be able to visit (see extras). Magical Moment #3.
I was torn for a main blip, but in the end I settled on the Chamois - simply because they first put the smiles on our faces, smiles that lasted all day. Magical.

Notes for self
LA 3/10. RF 0/10. Ib0.