It was cloudy in the valley today so we decided to venture in to Switzerland to try out Bravo Lapp – a route recommended to us by Henri Bouillet, a great friend of Smiler.

We drove through Martigny and then on up to Les Granges, a tiny village at the end of one of those crazy alpine roads with a hundred hairpin bends. The sun was out so we’d made a good choice.

Pete contemplates how to get across

The hour long trail down to the bottom of the route was an adventure in itself. Following various red dots, and losing them from time to time, we descended gullies, built bridges, crossed streams and traversed precarious slopes. Two and a half hours later we eventually made it to the route. Now we know the way, and with less water in the stream, we probably could do it in an hour.

The 8 pitches were fantastic. The harder ones felt harder with a rucksack, but is was all good rock – and bolted. Bolts and red dots are quite nice, but I’m still glad we don’t have too many of those in the UK.

Laetitia on pitch 4

Pete on pitch 6

The descent was also a bit of an adventure – traversing a massive cliff on an ancient two foot wide path made from stacked stone and crossing more streams.

Pete tackling the final stream crossing

An excellent day.

A convenient picnic spot with a view of the route in the background