Tour of the Matterhorn — Stage 2: Rifugio Prarayer → Arolla
16.8 km
+1084 m
−1139 m
8.5 h
Fitness level
Map & route
GPX track — verify on the ground before hiking
Description
From Prarayer the historic Tour du Cervin crosses the Col Collon (3,074 m) and the Arolla glacier down to Arolla (2,006 m) in the Val d’Hérens. This is a true glacier crossing: only with a mountain guide, rope and crampons. The stage is marked as an alpine transfer, with no hiking track.
This is the historic crossing par excellence: by the 16th century the people of Evolène were already using the Col Collon to reach the fairs of Aosta, and finds recovered from the glacier testify to far older traffic. Today the Arolla glacier crossing is a facile alpine route but a glacier route nonetheless: rope, crampons and a mountain guide — or the long bus alternative via the Great St Bernard. From the col you descend among moraines to the Arolla plains, beneath the perfect profile of Mont Collon. The Nacamuli hut, on the Italian side, is the base for dawn starts.
Key points
Col Collon
3074 m · 8.3 km from start
Earth sciences
Geology & landscape
The Matterhorn is the world’s most famous textbook of Alpine geology: its pyramid is a sliver of African continental crust (Dent Blanche nappe, Arolla and Valpelline gneisses) resting on the green ophiolites of the Piedmont-Liguria ocean, visible at its base. The tour walks along this very suture: serpentinites and calcschists in the Cignana and Valcournera valleys, brown gneisses above Zermatt and Arolla.
History & culture
On the Col Collon the glacier has yielded remains and objects of travellers from every age, from medieval arrows to Savoy coins: the people of Evolène simply called it “the crossing”.
Water sources
Water at the stage's support points (Rifugio Prarayer, Arolla). On the high ground and at the passes springs are not guaranteed: fill bottles in the valley and at the huts.
Getting there
Cross-border stage: on the foreign sides local public transport applies (PostAuto in Switzerland, line buses in France/Piedmont). Check seasonal timetables; in peak season several access links run by reservation only.
Warnings
- Glacier crossing: only with a mountain guide and equipment, or use the lifts
Start & end
Start
Rifugio Prarayer
2005 m
Finish
Arolla
2006 m
Refuges & bivouacs
Photo gallery
Adjacent stages
ACurated and verified by Andrea
Data source: Tour del Cervino / Tour du Cervin — itinerario internazionale · Traccia calcolata su rete sentieri OpenStreetMap (ODbL); verificare sul terreno
Last verified:
Valpelline — Val d’Hérens
Related trails
Same valley or similar routes — more hikes to explore.
Valpelline — Valle del Gran San Bernardo
Tour des Combins — Stage 1: Ollomont → Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses
From the By basin to the Col Champillon, on the Tour des Combins line.
Valpelline
High Route 1 — Stage 11: Rifugio Oratorio di Cuney → Oyace
From the Sanctuary of Cuney to the Valpelline: a long descent over exposed ridges with short scramble sections, ending at Oyace in the heart of the Aosta Valley's most untouched valley.
Valpelline
High Route 1 — Stage 12: Oyace → Ollomont via Col Brison
The wild Valpelline: Oyace and Ollomont sit at nearly the same elevation, but Col Brison at 2520 m demands over 1100 m of climbing with views to Mont Vélan and Grand Combin on the Swiss border.
Valpelline — Conca di By
High Route 1 — Stage 13: Ollomont → Rifugio Champillon
From Ollomont to Rifugio Champillon in the Conca di By: 1000 m of climbing through forests and summer farms to one of the AV1's most distinctive huts, complete with mountain sauna and yurt.