Haute Route – Trail Sign

COUNTRY
Haute route

DESIGN
The Swiss mountains are marked with yellow and red trail signs and on steeper mountain trails the signs feature an additional white and red tip. The trails date back centuries and often just go straight up without any switchbacks. The Swiss are very hardy people and you can see in the old days ( before cars, trucks & buses ) that this network of trails was used by everyone to get everywhere. Instead of a destination, which would be the usual reference on the sign –I listed my name and my sons and the 14 days we allotted to hike it.  The Europahutte stamp was from the last place we stayed — hi above the valley that leads to Zermatt. It is true that you need earplugs — the Swiss drink wine and promptly fall asleep in their bunk and begin to snore…..loudly at times.  The Hero sticker is from a jar of jam but I enjoyed the concept that we would be heroes by the time we arrived at the Matterhorn.  Unfortunately the legal stamp got ripped in the mails.  Unfortunately, the Swiss stamp was torn in the mail but I guess we were a little ragged after 2 weeks too.

MAILED
from Europahutte, near Zermatt, Switzerland, by me in 2005.