Day 5 Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti

Day 5 Elisabetta to Rifugio Bonatti

A little rain shower greeted us this morning while we were having breakfast. The sun quickly appear and offered a fabulous fresh day for us to hike. We began walking from our hotel up a rode through a high end ski village called Villair. After about 25 minutes of gentle uphill walking, we found our trail to Rifugio Bonatti. The trail became very steep and rocky as we made our way up to 2000m (6500 ft) directly above our hotel in Courmayeur. After about 1 1/2 hours uphill we came upon the Rifugio Bertone, a nice resting spot after the uphill hike. After Bertone we began a beautiful 'meander' through high alpine meadows filled with windflowers. The views of Mont Blanc were staggering, and the expansive view of the Val Ferret far below was incredible.

Along the way we met a family from Holland with two young girls, out for a two day hike, a couple from South Africa, and saw our friends, Kath and Phil from Australia. After about 4 hours of picturesque hiking, we came upon Rifugio Bonatti. Today's hike was by far our easiest day and we welcomed the less challenging route. As with Elisabetta, Bonatti was quite the climb to reach, but again well worth the climb. It didn't seem like anything could beat Elisabetta, but Bonatti does. The view is incredible! Our room tonight is larger and has a window that overlooks the beautiful mountain range that we viewed during our hike today.

We enjoyed our lunch (sandwiches we made this morning) along with beer and wine at the picnic tables that overlooked the mountains. There were at least 75 people enjoying lunch, the beautiful sunshine, and the incredible views. As we sat waiting for our room to be ready and the showers to become available, we met a gal from Canada, two young guys from Ireland, and a family from Milan.

That night after a less than adequate dinner ( which was very disappointing) we retired at sundown.  About an hour later I noticed a light on the glacier across from us. There were rock/ice climbers camping on a rock just below the glacier!  I spent the next hour wondering how they got up there and where they were heading.  The next morning we could see their speck of a tent perched on the rock.

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A view of Courmayeur below

The shower felt amazing, and it was great to get in before all the people arrive. After our shower, we ventured back out to the tables and met with our Australian and South African friends. We met some English hikers and another Dutch couple as well. Everyone was out enjoying beer, wine, the views, the sunshine, and stories of their day. Its great to hear about parts of the path we have yet to experience, and share our stories of where we have been.

A View of the valley below

Dinner with our friends in Bonatti