Hiking the TMB with Deb and Jeff: Day 4 Refugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur

We watched the sun rise over the alps and valley that we would be hiking out of this morning. We rose early as the rifugio was bustling by 6 am. Those who didn't get hot water last night were eager to get a shower before the long hot hike out.

We enjoyed a quick breakfast of strong coffee, biscuits, bread with nutella and jam. No yogurt or granola this morning. The Italian's seem to survive on a very light breakfast. We said goodbye to our Israeli friends, and talked to Kath and Phil (our Austraian friends) about meeting up in Bonatti

The sun rising over the valley below Elisabetta

Thankful for the well marked paths

Leaving Elisabetta

We began our hike by climbing down the rocky jeep path from the rifugio. The beginning of our journey today was flat and leisurely for about 20 minutes. Then we quickly made a right turn onto our trail which began climbing immediately up to Col Checrouit at 2659m (over 8000 ft). The uphill hike was beautiful. Winding our way through wildflower filled meadows, snow patches, ski runs, and crossing more creeks. We passed through giant moraine fields from old glaciers, beautiful pine groves that smelled like Christmas.

Each time we rounded a corner we were marveled with the spectacular views of the mountain peaks surrounding us. At certain points on the trail we were surrounded by mountain peaks. We had perfect views of Aiguille Noire (a high peak that stands alone), The Miage glacier, Mont Chetif, and then finally the entire southern face of Mont Blanc. This is the best and closest view of Mont Blanc thus far, so close we could almost touch it.

At the Col Checrouit. Great rest stop and restaurant. From here we can see down (way down) to Courmayeur. Now that we've enjoyed this beautiful uphill adventure, it's time to navigate the dreaded down hill. We need to drop over 4000 ft, in less than 2 miles to reach Courmayeur. The path is ridiculously steep, filled with a multitude of switchbacks and hairpin turns. We had to navigate several wood and stone steps while dropping down rapidly. The path was dusty, rocky, and filled with tree roots and stumps. Needless to say, we quickly forgot the beautiful scenery from the morning uphill climb. It was a long arduous task, but we made it.

Later in the afternoon, after a long hot shower and putting our feet up, we realized we needed to eat something. We hadn't eaten since breakfast, which seemed like a lifetime ago, so we mustered up enough energy to walk to town. Thankfully town was only 5 minutes away. We ran into one of our Israeli friends and he joined us for a beer. As we were lamenting over the down hill walk, he said that they paid 15 euro to take the gondola down. Initially we didn't want to deviate from the hike as we felt that was cheating, however when we do this trip again, we will take the gondola. Money well spent.