See what I did there? Karin smiles or Karin's miles. I like to think I do a lot of the first one a while clocking up the second, my running partners may think differently... Filed under: walking | Tags: Courmayeur, Mont Blanc, Monte Bianco, shoes, TMB, walking
We were first down to breakfast … and that was at 8am after a long lie in. The standard rifugio breakfast is bread, jam and coffee so we took full advantage of the massive spread in the hotel: ham, cheese, various types of bread, jam, butter, honey, toast, juice, joghourt, fruit, fruit tart…
Our plan for this ‘rest’ day was to take the gondola up to Punta Helbronner then go across to the Aiguile du Midi on the Panoramique. We were hoping for good weather at Courmayeur because the Panoramique is highly dependant on good conditions and only runs about one day in four during high season.
Punta Helbronner
The cable from La Palud goes up in three stages. The first gondola holds lots of people but runs every 20 minutes, the second stage is smaller and more frequent and the last one only holds half a dozen people but rus every few minutes. We didn’t stop at any of the stages on the way up and then we had to cross from Italy into France to go on the Panoramique.
Italian Border
What can I say about the panoramique to do it justice? It surpassed all my expectations, though I’m not sure what I did expect. The ‘flight’ over the glaciers was the high point of our trip. The gondolas run slow enough for you to take in everything – the endless glaciers below us, jagged aiguilles, rock seracs, mountaineers crossing crevasses over snow bridges, a view that seemed to stretch forever in the incredibly clear air. It really was like slow-speed flying.
Telecabines
The cabins are attached to the cable in groups of three, so there are 5 points on the trip where they just stop while they load or unload more cabins at the two ends. At these times we looked across to te cabins going the other direction and they were bouncing quite far up and down. Of course on the way back we realised we had been too, but the motion is so smooth it’s not disturbing at all. Both our camera batteries started to fail, so I put mine away and just enjoyed the trip. The reurn rip across the ice cost €20 and I think it was the best of the whole trip (surprisingly, the return to Punta Helbronner was €36 and the fares for the French ascent are considerably dearer, but the trip is definitely worth every cent from either side.
Hanging by a Thread
I think I had expected cables strung out across pylons running across the Mont Blanc massif, and I did think that would be completely crazy. But of course it would also be impossible because you couldn’t build structures like that on glaciers. Instead, the cable is suspended from each end, with a pair of lateral suspended pylons maintaining tension close to the Italian end. In fact the cable climbs slightly from Punta Helbronner at 3462m to the French side, slightly below the Aiguille du Midi at 3777m.
We stayed at the Aiguille du Midi for some time, watching climbers, taking photos, glad that we had brought gloves, hats and thermal tops, even in the brilliant sunshine, but eenually we decided we should head back to Italy while the queues were still small. The return trip was every bit as good as the outward one and we stopped at all the gondola stations on the Italian side for a look round. The Italian side was less busy and considerably more laid back, with families enjoying themselves having picnics.
Double-click to see tiny climbers on the ice
Rifugio Torino is the station below Helbronner but the refuge itself is actually connected to the cable station by a covered arcade of very steep metal steps, which looks and feels almost vertical, particularly in the thinner air above 3000 metres. There were lots of climbers at the refuge and we were really envious of some of them that were clearly novices, going out on the glaciers with guides and identical hired kit.
The trip seemed almost as tiring as walking and we did still have a couple of miles to walk back down to Courmayeur, in heavy boots and wearing too many clothes for the sun in the valley, so we had a siesta when we got back to the hotel (everything shuts until later in the afternoon anyway, presumably everyone else is having a snooze as well). The bad news was that the sports shop didn’t have any insoles, the good news was that I managed to get a pair of gel pads to fit under my toes from a pharmacy (also €20, but very good value if they saved my feet).
Tomorrow we’re back on the trail, I hope it’s not a let-down after the trip across the big white mountain.
aaaah!
oooh!
wooow!
Thursday 3rd September 2009
We woke up to unsettled weather but it was fairly warm when we got down to Les Contamines in the valley. We bought lunch supplies in the supermarket and then the first rain started. It was easy to follow the route because in addition to the fingerposts and paint flashes on rocks and trees, there were frequent chalked UTMB arrows on the road for the crazy Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc which had taken place the weekend before.
Notre Dame de la Gorge
The early miles as far as Notre Dame de la Gorge were flat and easy but my feet were really sore, relieved a bit by loosening my boots but still beginning to be a problem, and it was only Day 2 of the walk.
With very little warning, the road started climbing up out through the gorge, apparently following an old Roman road. It was raining off and on, sometimes quite heavily so we didn’t stop for photos, lunch or anything else until the path levelled off a bit and opened up into alpine pasture.
Lunch Hut
The terrain above the col was quite different with long ribs of limestone running across the hillside and huge boulders semi-submerged in lush green grass. In the breaks between the clouds we could see for miles across the valleys to the north-west of Mont Blanc, in one of which was a huge turquoise reservoir where it looked as though the sun was still shining. We spotted our first marmot of the trip and we had heard choughs all day and now saw a group of 5 or 6 harrying a much bigger raptor.
The Col de la Croix du Bonhomme was reached without too much difficulty and there we had a difficult choice to make. Our original plan had been to try and make it to Refuge les Mottets today via the Col des Fours and then gain a day by going straight to Courmayeur from there. We had plenty of time to complete the trip but an extra day would give us a cushion in case of bad weather.
The route over the Col des Fours is a variant on the official TMB route, described in the guide book with dire warnings about descending the steep shale-covered paths in bad weather. However, it also gives access to a little side-peak, the Tete du Nord des Fours where spectacular views of Mont Blanc are to be had in clear weather. There was cloud at the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme but it cleared periodically and we debated whether to go on up to the Col des Fours or go down into the valley on the official route. In the end we climbed up to the col to find visibility down to about 10 feet, no possibility of climbing to the Tete du Nord des Fours and the prospect of descending a steep shale slope for the next two hours to arrive late at a refuge where we hadn’t booked beds. We made the sensible choice and backtracked to the Refuge at the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme to spend the night there and hope for better weather in the morning.
Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme
The refuge was fairly quiet so we got a 4-bunk room to ourselves but there was a big enough crowd to make dinner fairly lively. The meal was delicious : leek soup (the French is poireau – travel is always educational), boeuf bourgignon with crozets (little cubes of pasta, the guy from Nancy who sat beside us told us it’s a Savoyard speciality), cheese and slices of fruit tart.
Wednesday 2nd September 2009
There was a good breakfast on offer but we ate it nervously. Sure, it’s a holiday but there’s a decent challenge in starting on a two-week mountain walk with a pack. We took the gondola up to Bellevue partly to avoid the first slog up the hill, but also because cables, gondolas and other scary contrivances are part of the experience for me. I don’t have a great head for heights so it’s a bit like a tame version of a white-knuckle ride.
Bellevue Gondola
We stopped countless times in the first mile or so to adjust straps, re-tie boots and take photos but it was good to get going and the path was really quiet, through woods with occasional views across to grassy and wooded slopes. The first excitement arrived with the bridge across the Bionnassay torrent – just like Himalayan suspension bridges but neither rusty nor with missing planks. There were fabulous views up to the Bionnassay glacier but I waited until I was off the bridge before I paused to appreciate them.
Bionnassay Torrent
From here the path climbed up to the Col de Tricot (2120m) through meadows which must have been spectacular when it was in full flower earlier in the year, but now offered a tasty mid-morning snack of beautifully ripe, sweet, plump blaeberries (or myrtilles as they are in France).
We had met very few people so far, so it was a shock to come upon about 30 people at the col, and mostly English speaking. There were two English groups, both going the opposite direction and just finishing their tour. We could see both the hamlet of Miages in the valley below and the chalets du Truc above it, which is where we were heading, but there was a steep downhill path to negotiate first.
Cloud at the Chalet De Miage
Visibility went down to a few yards but it cleared again periodically as we got down to Miage.
There was another steep but very short climb up to the chalets du Truc, with a short stop at the top of the hill for some of the sweetest wild raspberries I’ve ever had. We were the first to book into the dortoir – cold water only and no electricity but a fantastic view to the Domes des Miages when the cloud cleared.
Auberge du Truc
My legs and shoulders felt fine but I was a bit concerned about my toes which felt completely hammered. Hopefully they would improve as we walked on. We were joined by Eileen and Rosie, two spanish chaps and a French guy who had done the tour several times but the dortoir was still almost empty. The cloud closed in again with the darkness but there was an electric light in the dining-room and a log fire to keep us cozy while we poured over maps for the next day’s route.
Dinner is a real high-point on a long walk and we hadn’t eaten much for lunch so we were really looking forward to it. Tonight it was soup followed by omelette and pasta (an odd combination but we had no expectations and it was filling enough) then cheese. Bill chose the local tomme, which proved to be the correct choice because Rosie, Eileen and me all had fromage blanc. It was a bit like semi-solid sour milk, in fact I think it probably is just strained curdled milk – maybe it’s an acquired taste but I don’t think I would persevere to acquire it. The Creme Brulee afterwards made up for it though.
An early bedtime was forced on us by the lack of electric light in the dortoir but I don’t think anybody stayed awake long. First day down, 10 more walks to go.
Filed under: walking | Tags: Courmayeur, Les Houches, Mont Blanc, Monte Bianco, TMB, walking
Bill and I have come back from the Tour du Mont Blanc with two rucksacks full of dirty washing, empty camera batteries from over 800 photographs, about 100 pages of spidery hand-written journal, and a stack of memories. I think it’s going to need more than one blog post to share it all.
Monte Bianco from the Val Veni
This is the short version – we left Edinburgh on 1st September 2009 for Les Houches, spent 12 days walking round Mont Blanc including a static day in Courmayeur, and came back on 15th September. We had all kinds of weather on the way, walked for long, hard days and shorter, more relaxing ones, slept in basic dorms and hotel beds, saw stunning views and met dozens of fascinating people.
The medium-sized version is spread over a fortnight’s worth of posts in this blog; the long version would take almost as long to tell as it took to walk.
Karinsmiles 