The Nendaz Trekking starts in the small town of Veysonnaz. Here, it’s time to use your map reading skills, because the route is not waymarked apart from a few yellow waymarkers helping you find your way to different places along the route. You’ll walk uphill through a fairytale forest, with impressive pine trees on a bed of high grass. From here, the trail passes through the wintersports-town Thyon, which is very quiet in summer. If you are already feeling quite hot by now, this is a good stop to eat some ice cream while looking at the Jungfrau, Matterhorn, and their neighbors on the horizon. The route continues on singletracks through open landscapes, with blueberries, mountain lakes, and herds of big, black cattle that are typical for the region.
After a night in the cozy Cabane d’Essertze, you cross the pass near Mont Rouge. Here, at the wooden cross, you enjoy mountain panoramas on two sides. Try to descend on the much greener slope on the other side, where you might spot baby marmots looking curiously from their holes in the ground. Here you will follow the Bisse de Chervé, an old irrigation channel. There are many of these on the south-facing slopes above Nendaz. The hot climate and the burning sun make these slopes very dry, and the channels were used to treat the village to water transported from higher altitudes. Follow the mountain path until you see the very blue mountain of Lac de Cleuson, which exists because of a 420-meter wall. The ascent here is relatively steep to Cabane Saint-Laurent. Funnily enough, the best view of the lake will be near the outdoor toilets.
