La Haute Cime
by John Hardwick
The Dents du Midi stand as sentinels over the eastern shores of Lake Léman and are situated in the Swiss Canton of Valais. In Newsletter 178, Chris Culley described a walking tour around them and wondered if the region was “a little know area.” In fact, the northern ramparts are an impressive sight from Montreux and have served as inspiration for numerous poets and painters. The highest point is the most westerly tooth called Haute Cime. There are six other prominent teeth and in historic times significant landslides have meant their shapes, names and climbing routes have been subject to change. In summer, Haute Cime can be climbed by piétons expérimentés and is a good excursion from the Susanfe refuge reached from Champéry from where it was first climbed by the local curé in 1784.
Remarkably this summer, right at the summit 3257m we saw a bunch of Androsace helvetica and a tortoiseshell butterfly so Vladimir Nabokov, some time author and a keen lepidopterist, had good reason to spend his later days in Montreux.
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Last updated: 20 February 2010