Our final day! Tre le Champ to Chamonix

Our final day! Tre le Champ to Chamonix

We had a quick breakfast with our British friends at the auberge this morning.  We also had the pleasure of meeting a dad and 15 year old son from Holland.  They were just beginning their trek but only going for a few days.  The son was a glider pilot and working to become a Belgian junior Air Force cadet! Very impressive.

We packed up for our final walk and sadly said goodbye to friends we have shared this adventure with for several days.  We headed out into the heavy fog and mist to find our way up the Le Flegere.  This route had been weighing on me for several days as there are steep mountainside ladders, cables, and rungs that need to be negotiated.  Since the terrain was wet, I was anxious, but ready for the challenge.

It rained of and on and was very foggy as we walked on a steep, beautiful path amongst the forest. We wound our way up 2100 ft using stone steps, steep paths, and timber steps.  This path had many benches to rest on, if needed, and to view the expanse of Mont Blanc from the opposite side from early in our journey.  Unfortunately because of the fog we couldn't see more than 30 yards in any direction.

   

Once we reached the junction for Le Flegere and Lac Blanc, we ran into our Israeli friends.  We had planned to climb another 1000 ft to see the lake and marvel in the famed views of the glacier, but the fog had thickened and we wouldn't be able to see anything.

Our Israeli friends who had gotten lost in the fog and wandered around for four hours told their story of being disoriented in the fog, not being able to see the signs and basically going around in a circle.  One of the men, Joven, and his wife were near the top of le flegere when we found them. Joven said, "we have been walking for four hours of 'sheet' " he meant shit!  Too funny.  So needless to say we didn't go to the lake.  Sadly this meant our journey would be over!  We would take the gondola down to Chamonix and be done.  But wait! There's more!  There was one last path the continues higher up the mountain and eventually works its was down to Les Houches where we began.  We weren't planning to go all the way back to Les Houches because Chamonix was where we were staying, so we climbed an additional two hours through pouring rain, steep slippery moraine (avalanche) fields and fantastic high mountain ski runs to Plan Praz.  Here we could take the gondola down to Chamonix and walk to our hotel.

As we sat in the gondola riding down into the valley, we were reminiscing about our 10 day adventure and how quickly it ended.  We both agreed that this was a trip of a lifetime.  The perfect vacation.  Beautiful scenery, incredible physical challenges, great people from all over the world, and wonderful food. The only thing that would have made it the ultimate trip would have been sharing this with our girls!  Next time! And yes! There will be a next time!

The sun came out just as we came into Chamonix!  Must have known we were celebrating!

Day 9 Col de la Forclaz to Tre le Champ

Day 9 Col de la Forclaz to Tre le Champ, France

Today we experienced a bit of everything. As I sit on the terrace of our very rustic auberge, looking up at Mont Blanc (as it peeks in and out of the clouds), I reflect on our day and all the beautiful things we've seen.  

We started out from Forclaz, it was raining, and the skies weren't looking too promising.  We walked down a wooded path to the village of Trient to catch our trail to Col de Balme (our high mountain midway point).  We went through a few small residential areas and then our path began to climb.  The path, which was written in our guide book, as a gentle up hill walk, was nothing of the sort!  This path turned out to be a very steep, rocky route of switchbacks that lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  We walked through pine forests, high mountain meadows, and fog that blew in and out.  We would get peaks of mountains that were around us, but many times we could only see a few yards in front of us,  we would stop for moments when the fog would clear so that we could snap pictures.  By the time we would put the camera away, the view was gone and the fog was back.

When we reached the Col, it was chilly, foggy and breezy, We stopped for a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), and then moved on. The fog filled into the valley where we were headed so we couldn't see but 25 yards ahead. As we walked down the path, we crossed from Switzerland to France.  Our next village was la Tour, then Montroc, and finally Tre le Champ.  We walked through high mountain meadows and followed down amongst ski runs as we made it down to La Tour, about 1 hour later.

We walked through La Tour (a small ski village), Montroc, and then walked up a path that went up through a forest area and 15 minutes later we came upon Auberge Le Boerne.  The auberge is over 300 years old.  Our British friend referred to it as a hobbit house!  The rooms are tiny little cubbies, made of wood,  with bunk beds in every nook and cranny.  We are the lucky ones because we have our own cubby. We have a 5 bunk bed room next to us, and the other side is next to the shower (closet).

There is one shower upstairs in the sleeping area, and one water closet.  The shower is the size of a very small broom closet and you had to hold the water faucet in order for the water to flow!  After a very quick shower ( thankfully hot), we ventured down to the kitchen/restaurant to enjoy beer, wine, and a fabulous daily special of ham, locally made cheese, salad, a delicious quiche,  and bread. We chatted with our British friends (Kat and Rich), a Japanese man named Tet, that's running most of the course, two Australian guys, and an Israeli guy who has been with us a few times this week.

Tonight is our last night on the path, so we will enjoy the company of those we've known for a few days, as well as our new friends.  We will eat well, rest up, and enjoy our final day of hiking tomorrow.  

Day 8 Champex to Col de la Forclaz

We started our day walking through Champex, past the lake, through the town, and then proceeded down a small country road through a few more small Swiss villages.  At this point we were able to have some beautiful views of the Rhone Valley.  After walking for about 1 1/2 hours, we left the road and began climbing up a rugged 4 x 4 track which soon turned into a rugged steep footpath.  We began our climb to Al du Bovine (climbing about 1500 feet).  At one point we crossed a creek that was a vibrant green that we hadn't seen before.  We had to stop to take pictures as the color was iridescent.  We heard later that day that one of our fellow hikers actually filled a bottle with the water from the creek because the color was so unique.  Soon we were above the tree line and could see the valleys below.

As we neared the top of our ascent, we arrived at Alp Bovine (a high mountain cow farm that produces their own cheeses).  This was a very very small refuge about 1/3 of the way into our journey today.  It was a bit wet, drizzly, and chilly so we stopped in to have some food.  When we walked in, we found the locals playing a game of cards, drinking beer and wine, and eating the cheeses (that they no doubt made in this location), and enjoying the afternoon.  There were two ladies preparing lunch and dinner for the various hikers that would stop in for a bite to eat, as well as those who would actually seek refuge for the night in their loft beds.  We enjoyed a bowl of vegetable soup, some beer, and homemade bread.  The perfect meal to keep us going through the remainder of our day.

As we left Bovine to continue our hike to Col de la Forclaz, we walked through the cows that were grazing in the high mountain meadow just outside the refuge.  All the cows have bells around their necks, attached by leather straps that have a specific emblem or crest on them to allow the farmers to identify their herd.  It's quite melodic to hear all the bells chiming as the cows move around and try to shake the flies off their heads.

These cows clearly didn't care that we were hiking through and they had no intention of moving off the trail. Needless to say, I made Jeff go first!!!

After hiking through the cow pastures, we continued to climb a bit further, to reach our highest point at 2040m.  The fog began to roll in, and the clouds were building.  We were able to catch a few more glimpses of the Grand Combin mountain range, and the Alp Bovine in the distance.  We could tell that rain was coming so we quickened our pace.  We had about another 1 1/2 of down hill walking to reach Col de la Forclaz.  The remainder of the walk down hill (to 1400m) was through a wooded section filled with mountain wildflowers, and thick brush. 

As we neared the end of our day, it began to drizzle and the ground became wet.  We were about 200 yards from reaching our hotel, and we could see it in the distance.  Jeff looked over his shoulder and noticed an older couple closing ground on us from behind (the locals we encountered in the Alps are very strong and very hearty. We had a few occasions where we were 'dusted' by hikers older than us). Suddenly, after 5 hours + of hiking, he decides to sprint so that the older couple would not pass us.  He slips on the wet rocks (keep in mind we are still going down hill), and tries to catch himself so that he doesn't hurt his already sore and swollen knees.  In the process of trying to save his knees, he spins around and slams his hand into a jagged rock on the side of the hill.  Blood comes spurting out of his hand because our hands were swollen and filled with blood from walking.  Fortunately I had a napkin in my pocket and he was able to wrap his hand and walk the final 100 yards to our destination.  As we sat outside the hotel, removing our boots before entering, his hand had soaked the napkin and he looked like a horror movie.  Fortunately, his hand just had a deep cut on it that didn't need stitches.  Needless to say, Jeff was not able to help with the laundry that night (how convenient).  Tomorrow we cross back into France.

This was the view from our bathroom window.  Very convenient to see the trail from our window!!!

This is what our room looked like after I did all the laundry.  Thankful for a large room, private bathroom, and plenty of places to hang our wet clothes.  It was raining outside so we couldn't hang anything in the windows

Day 7 La Fouly to Champex

This afternoon we have been graced by a fantastic thunder, lightening, and rain storm! Always love tom sit and watch these. I have the luxury of enjoying the show from our patio overlooking the Swiss valley we hiked out of today.

Our hike today to Champex was relatively easy in comparison to most of our days. We started today leaving from the little village of La Fouly and worked our way gently up and down along a stream, through pine forests, and meadows. We passed through some quaint Swiss villages, Issert, Moulin, Les Arlaches, and Praz de Fort. Each of these villages were incredibly charming with flower boxes in the windows, and fresh water around every corner ( something we have always loved about Europe). After passing through these villages, the road became a footpath that very quickly ascended as we began our 1500 ft climb to Champex. Again we encountered steep terrain with switchbacks and sharp turns. We were surprised at the climb, as our book didn't indicate that this would be such a strenuous section, fortunately some ares were shaded by pine trees, so the warm weather wasn't too difficult to handle.

Along our path we ran into our friends from Australia, our friends from London, and met a new family from Scotland. After about another hour and a half we came into the village of Champex. Fortunately our hotel was the first we reached and we were thankful to not have to walk too much further. Our hotel, Le Belvedere is run by a lovely German couple, Irene and Gabriel. We met their granddaughter, Betina as well. Betina was running around the front yard playing with a toy airplane. We enjoyed a beer and wine on the patio while our room was being finished, and we promptly showered, unpacked, and walked to the lake to see the rest of the village and meet up with our Australian and British friends.

Leaving La Fouly

Walking through the Swiss country side

Always fresh cold water along the way!

Swiss village of Issert

Working our way up to Champex

Leaving the valley behind

Le Belvedere, our home tonight

Room #4

Champex-Lac

The lake is small but lovely. There were paddle boats and paddle boarders cruising around in the sunshine. There are a few little restaurants on the lake as well. We thought that next time we do the TMB, that maybe we begin and end here, or at least have our day of in Champex.

The clouds have cleared, the show is over. Dinner will be served soon. Just finished dinner, and hands down, Irene is an amazing chef!  Best dinner we have had thus far.  Beautiful salad of greens (grown in the garden below our room), with garlic croutons, walnuts, grapes, and a large round of local soft cheese that was warm and crusted in garlic.  Main dish was a pork chop sauted and covered in locally grown mushrooms ( we actually walked the mushroom path), spinach linguine with parmesan and a grilled chard topped with bacon.

We are tired and will be turning in early tonight since tomorrow looks like another long and challenging day as we make our way to Col de la Forclaz.

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