113 CH-VS T4 Plan de Croix Lanche du Brêlon Linleu Tête de Sevan Haut Sé Saix Rouge Le Mouet Tête du Tronchet Tour de Don

Date : 2023.08.03
Duration on paper : 07h24
Duration real with breaks : 09h05
Difficulty for me : T4
Physical : difficult
Technical : difficult
Fear : Very high
Average Slope : +18.5% -17.4% (-13% max recommended)
Attendance ascent/summit/descent : low/low/null
Comment : Plan de Croix to Linleu ascent is T2 or T3- pretty easy not technical.
Around 3km don't do Lanche du Brêlon 1815m it's an unofficial wild mountain pass at up to 90% slope I did to explore off-trail, continue on the regular trail instead.
Tête de Sevan on the other hand would be worth the ascent, it has an unmarked T3 trail that isn't hard to find, watch out where you put your feet tough I had to jump a short distance two times because there are holes hidden in the trail by thick vegetations and you don't want to slip there (87% slope) poles are really a must on that kind of trails to test the ground and sure enough there was nothing but air under the grass.
The Haut Sé ascent from Col de Recon was surprisingly hard after the easy Linleu, it's steep with knee high stairs steps, a real T3 and a sign of things to come.
Le Mouet was also a big surprise a serious "no clowning around" T3 for a big part of it you have a serious 90% slope on one side and pretty much a cliff on the other on a thin trail with high vegetation left and right (longpants recommended) and exposed to strong winds (I had 40-50km/h squalls that day) the descent to col de Croix ends with chains it's steeper than the maps suggest, that whole Col de Chetillon Le Mouet Col de Croix segment should not be done by inexperienced hikers or if your low on energy or tired, it's quite risky.
You can skip the summit at 10km (Saix Rouge) I did another off-trail there and it's again 90%+ slope very high vegetation at the top and high risk to fall to your death at the top.
Tête du Tronchey and Tour de Don are regular T2-T3 trails.
Now let's talk about the descent : I'M VERY ANGRY ! for the 3rd time in my hiking experience I and anyone who attempted one particular segment of this route had his life needlessly endangered...there was a hidden T4 segment, I realized that immediately when I saw the 60° descent (200% slope !!!) I called it after only 3 meters "this is going to have chains all the way there's now way you can ascend or descend this without them" and sure enough there were chains....a lot of them and a 12" trail next to a slope so steep it could be a sheer cliff wouldn't change the outcome you slip you die...so no this is not a T3 I didn't need markings to know that...and "big surprise" all the blue markings have been painted over with red by completely irresponsible people. You cannot allow elite alpinist/mountaineer rank public trails taken by regular people it's criminal. Trail markings are made for normal hikers not people who can handle off-trail T5-T6..this was a blue (check screenshots) and should have stayed that. I managed to do it because I have enough T4/off-trail experience that I can manage a sudden rise in difficulty/danger even tough I was tired after 14km and 1585D+ but I would never have chosen this route as descent if it had been the proper color BLUE I would have taken the T2 descent from Col de Croix not far away, this was a litteral trap someone should be condemned for that. If you want a T4 in the region you got one but I strongly suggest you do it ascending and I doubt you will want to do much after it because it's rough enough for a day. I checked Strava heatmap after the fact and sure enough not many traces on that route, I usually check beforehand but that day I was testing smartwatch routing so didn't use my phone.
Last picture fails to show the danger of that fake T3 real T4 path, if you look at it you'd think it's flat, it's not it's going downhill quite a bit, I had to descend backwards holding the chain with both hands on several spots, I'm sure going up is easier and that's a telltale of T4 difficulty, if you can't do it in both direction easily it's not a T3.

YOUTUBE WIKILOC HIKES 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jlT6AiHKqw&list=PLOCc4Atr-UDdfNBqAYLqx-Za4u_53-FOG&index=61