Via ferrata at Le Rubli

Near Rougemont there is a mountain called Le Rubli, which has cliffs on one side and some via ferrata running up them. It's easily accessible by a telecabine that delivers you neatly to La Videmanette at 2152 m. When we arrived, a week ago, the chairlift operator promised us the lift would take us out of the clouds and into the sunshine above. He was wrong. We arrived in the midst of heavy cloud that gave the mountain a mysterious air.

We harnessed up and had barely set off when a herd of bouquetin (ibex) crossed our path. They looked at us with quizzical expressions - it was like they were saying "what on earth are you doing here? And why are you wearing those ridiculous harnesses?".

Soloing bouquetin.

The first via ferrata route we did was easy, and turned out to be covered in edelweiss flowers. We climbed through the cloud and arrived at the top in time to see another herd of ibex run casually down an extremely exposed ridge and into the mist.

Luca taking in the view.

Bouquetin in the mist.

Next we did a much harder via ferrata route, which was properly vertical for a long way and involved some slightly overhanging ladders in a very exposed position. It was great fun! When we arrived at the top of Le Rubli this time, the cloud had cleared and in the distance we could see Les Diablerets, the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.

After the via ferrata we decided to walk down to Rougemont. At the top station of the telecabine, we asked whether we could be reimbursed for our return tickets if we walked down. The answer was yes, but only at the base station. The walk down was supposed to take two hours and the closing time of the station was sooner. We risked it and walked down at a blistering pace to make it there before closing time, got our reimbursement, and immediately spent it on beer in Rougemont. It was totally worth the effort.