Читать книгу Walking in the Valais - Kev Reynolds - Страница 9

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

Further visits to what many regard as one of the most spectacular parts of the Swiss Alps have enabled me to revise and update this guide for a fourth edition. Yet despite repeated visits and dozens of very active days, it has not been possible to re-walk every one of the routes described (after all, I’m eager to discover new routes too), so I am indebted to those readers who focused my attention on certain paths that had either been rerouted or had disappeared altogether, or made suggestions for additional walks to be included. My thanks then, to Jim Cohen, Mohammed Ellozy, Tim Ford, Keith Reeves and Simon Stevens; to my wife and daughter Claudia for their company in the mountains, and to our good friend Hedy Füx-Pollinger for her hospitality, advice and encouragement.

This new edition has provided me with the opportunity to include routes in the beautiful Fieschertal and nearby Märjelental, to extend a walk beside the Grosser Aletschgletscher, and to sample the amazing 124m-long suspension bridge across a gorge below the Aletschwald. A few extra huts and mountain inns (berghausen) have also been included, which reminds me to mention that newcomers to the hutting experience are recommended to spend an occasional night in a remote SAC hut to sample the ambience and to deepen their connection with the mountain world. There are plenty of these huts and inns in the Valais region that would repay a visit.

Finally, all information in this guide is given in good faith, and the routes described are offered in the hope that readers will gain as much enjoyment from walking in this magnificent region as I have, both before and during the many weeks of research. However, as is proved too often, changes do occur, not only to resort facilities, but to the landscape too, by landslide, rockfall or glacial shrinkage, which can sometimes invalidate a route description. Should you discover any route in this book that has been adversely affected, I would appreciate a note sent to me c/o Cicerone Press, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, giving details in order that I can check them for a future edition or updated reprint. Between editions, updates are usually posted on the Cicerone website, www.cicerone.co.uk.

Kev Reynolds, 2014

The trail that leads above the Grosser Aletschgletscher is one of the most popular on the northern side of Rhône Valley