TMB Day 7 (Fini!)

The room I was in last night was shared with a family of three children, none of whom cared to be laying down, motionless in the dark.  For some reason I found it funny, reminding me of my sisters and brother and was able to initially fall asleep.  What I hadn't accounted for was all the body heat being put off and I ended up laying in bed most of the night waiting for breakfast.  Once the family was awake and out the door, I was able to sleep...right through breakfast being served.  Normally not an issue, but as a result of all the non TMB hikers what was left on the tables were crumbs.  Crumbs that I gladly scooped up, even snagging the last banana and some bread for the trail.

Set out with no clear destination in mind, with the only objective of exploring Lac Blanc and finding the spot where the picture that sparked my interest several years ago was taken.  As a result of numerous chairlifts being open from Chamonix to the side of the valley where the TMB resides, the trails were crowded with families day hiking and what seemed like half the town.  With the perfect weather, I couldn't blame them.

With the potential of this being my last day of hiking I loittered around Lac Blanc and toyed with the idea of staying the night at the Refuge.  Having snacked and explored the trails surrounding these glacier colored mountain lakes, the overwhelming feeling of having accomplished the hike hit me.  I then decided to make for Les Houchea at the other end of the valley, the equivalent of another full days hike.  Completing the trail this night allowed me the opportunity to experience the tourist rides from the valley that had been recommended to me along the trail, such as the train ride to a glacier cave and the chairlift ride near the summit of Mount Blanc.  More interestingly, I'd have time to visit the CERN facility in Geneva while I was in the area.

The guide book I'd been following for this trail referes to today's hike as the most beautiful and I certainly thought the stretch leading up to Brevent had some of the best views of Mont Blanc and its surrounding cast of peaks.  Having reached the end of the alpine mileage, the best scenery or so I felt was near Refuge Elisabetta at the Val Veni on the way to Courmayer.

Video of Lac Blanc

The rest of the hike beyond Brevent was uneventful and as can be expected had to bring me back to reality with the trail leading through parking lots, along industrial fences and across highway overpasses.

Hang Gliders near Plan Praz

Video of Aiguilles Rouges

Arriving in Les Houches for the first time seven days ago, it felt like completing the circle by finishing the trail on a Sunday.

I arrived where I had originally stayed, stepping foot from the same doorway and starting the trail, Hotel Slalom only to find that the place was closed.  The thought of clean clothes and falling onto a bed after a shower is what kept me going for the last three hours.  Wanting to get off my feet I made my way to the next closest hotel.  Having been exhausted from the days hike and slightly frustrated at not having access to my clean clothes, the conversation with the non English speaking hostess at the new hotel and my non French speaking self ended with me saying, "I don't care, I just want a shower."  A low moment, but I attempted and felt that I made up for my rudeness when I returned after a shower and made a full hearted try at speaking the language.

As luck would have it, on my way to dinner I passed hotel slalom along the way and noticed a light on inside.  Coincidently, an employee had stopped by for a moment to do an errand.  I was allowed to get my bag and was informed that the back door access code I was given when I first arrived and then immediately forgot was for this reason.  Otherwise, the hotel was to remain closed for the week.

With my property now in hand and capable of continuing on with this trip, I sat down for one last meal in the cold mountain air.  Tonight, it was roasted lamb and a beer.  The last line in my guide book reads something along the lines of congratulations, you've completed the hike.  As my friend Bohannon would say, indeed guide book, indeed!

I'll have one last short post to sum up the hike and possibly a second, although I'm not planning to write anything about Oktoberfest.  Pictures to come, please forgive the grammatical errors.  It's embarrassing how much of a crutch Windows spell check and a boon Apples autocorrect is for me.

Before leaving Les Houches for Chamoix, I found a couple friends along the road.

Link to TMB Day 7 photos, via Picasa.

TMB Day 6

As I get closer to the end of the trail, I've noticed that refuges are more accessible by tourists making the evenings more impersonal and less of an opportunity of experiencing other cultures.  Tonight was comprised of mostly loud American tourists who were bused in, all intent on the world within arms reach.  I'd recommend avoiding Hotel de la Forclaz, possibly hiking the extra thirty minutes past to Trient.

Another late start, the climb up and over Col de Balme and Aig des Posettes are some of my last climbs in the alps.  The weather has been better than expected.  Today along with the hike back into my starting point, Les Houches is said to be amazing by my guide book and those hiking the TMB in the opposite direction.

The thought of only two more summits once I left Possettes made me linger at the top and take a snoozer laying out in the sun.  The hiked down toTre le Champs was uneventful.  Overall, today was easy and feel I could have finished by hiking all the way out if pressed.  Tomorrow I'll include a day hike to Lac Blanc on my way to the final refuge.  A picture of this lake started my interest in this hike some two years ago and wouldn't seem complete without a visit.

The refuge at Tre Le Champs is best described as a tree house from Never-Neverland.  Low ceilings, narrow hallways, all wooden material with few straight lines and bendy walk ways, there's a bed tucked away around ever corner and offset into walls.  Very interesting.  My room has the balcony, I expect traffic but am of the mind set that nothing can ruin today.

Swiss pic of a certified BA, traversing a glacier around 1943.  As pointed out to me by a couple of British gentleman: "...while the rest of the bloody world was at war." - Brit 1.  "Well what do ya expect Michael, he's Swiss."  - Brit 2.

Link to TMB Day 6 photos, via Picasa.

TMB Day 5

La Peule was enjoyable, maybe too much so as I found myself lingering to a late start.  Today's hike began with a variant, as recommended by my trusty guide book and a cow farmer with aggressive hand gestures.  The trail followed the valley, ending at La Fouly, with out event.  Fortunate for me, the bus leaving La Fouly arrived fifteen minutes later taking me to Champex

Taking the bus at this point has been my plan all along, allowing me to bypass the next nine miles of wooded trail, with no mountains or glaciers and described by my guide book as the easiest section.  The time I save here will be spent hiking alpine miles during the next couple legs.

Waiting at the bus stop, being a smelling foreigner.

I arrived at my intended Shelter, Arpette about a forty minute walk passed Champex along the variant trail.  When I walked in the place was full of older couples having driven up for lunch.  The weather was amazing and wanting to protect the badass image I'd been cultivating the last few days, I decided to keep walking.

The keep walking part involved an ascent of Fenetre d' Arpette, the highest point on the TMB.  One of my more careless moments as the ascent and descent were snow and ice covered and I had no practical plan B or informed any hikers that we're familiar to me.  The trail brought me extremely close to the glacier du Trient, allowing me to hear the croaks and groans.  Besides several moments that made me glad I was alone, the hike ended on a mental low note.  The pain from my ankle took me out of the TMB spirit, but I still managed my version of a friendly smile and a hearty bonjour!

Tonight the dormitory is ten or so to a room with shared showers.  As I was sitting outside the sound of cow bells from a nearby flock of beeves was echoing off the valley walls.  I'm hoping that my roommates tonight don't snore and my ankle Wolverine heals itself.

Dinner tonight was good; first cream of vegetable soup, small bit of chicken with assorted veggies and French fries and finally really good Italian icecream and coffee.  Tomorrow, I'll be hiking too Tre Le Champ.  Two more nights.

Hotel Tre Le Champ

Side story; I've been known to accept foody gifts from nature along the trail, in varying conditions.  On this day I found a bite size morsel of trail food left about by another hiker.  Before rash judgments are thrown around,  the dirt is was laying on was clean and I’d been without lunch and was due a snack break.

Trail Magic

Link to TMB Day 5 photos, via Picasa.

TMB Day 4

Breakfast was almost as nice as the weather.  Meet with Luca and Ivo after breakfast before parting ways.  Their company was enjoyable and before setting off again we exchanged emails.  Along the trail I ran into Jean Luc, a French hiker who I shared a dinner table with at Refuge Mottets the day before last.  His English is about as good as my French, leaving most our conversations with broken Spanish and hand signals.  Oddly, Jean Luc didn't get my first Star Trek reference any more than the twentieth; we have all day, I'm sure he'll come around.

Jean Luc

All along the trail to the next shelter ultra marathon racers were heading the opposite direction to the finish line at Courymayer, where I had left that morning.  I can't be certain of the race position, but at one point a female racer tough as nails passed me and was someplace in the top ten.

Made good time to Rifuge Bonatti where I had lunch and an extremely thick chocolate liquid called coco.  I witnessed a fly land inside my partially empty cup to never emerge again.  As far as shelters go, this was the most beautiful and I partially regretted not staying the night.  There were too many hours of sun light left and the concern of losing good views due to bad weather was a possibility.  My body was aching and looking forward to getting off my feet at the next Rifuge Elena (Italy), when low and behold the shelter closed for the season literally as I walked in the door.  If I hadn't been drunk from mountain gazing shit would have hit the fan.  Apparently Italy only has 26 days in their September.  Nine hard hours and 15 miles hiked, my alternatives at this point in the day were to either hike back two hours to Bonatti or go forward into Switzerland up and over Grand Col Ferret.  Hellooo Switzerland!

It was an additional two hours to the shelter in Switzerland named La Peule.  Of the one hundred and twenty minutes it took me to get to the shelter, about one hundred of them were full of aingst and melodramatics.  I managed to remain calm, but the reality of my situation was I was limping, under dressed with shorts, walking through 3" snow drifts and on an exposed saddle in less than favorable weather conditions.  Once there, I immediately appreciated the circumstance that lead me to this place, where I would have other wise hiked passed.  Hands down the best food and drinks on the hike to date.  Dinner was some sort of baked twice bread with cheese, ham, sunny side up egg, and pickled stuff.  To warm up I asked for hot wine, something Luca introduced me to at Refuge Elisabetta and received a piping hot mug filled with chunks of fruit and a bitter sweet fluid.  As this shelter is a working dairy farm in the summer, they also offer straw tent camping.  My adventure tank happened to be tapped out, also I'm allergic to straw or I would like to have enjoyed trying a night in a straw house.

Turns out the timing of this trip will either be genius or tragically epic.  Most shelters on the trail where I planned to sleep and eat meals close mid September.  Having been turned away from a shelter that should have been opened makes me slightly concerned about the remainder of the hike.  Not that I'll loose sleep over it tonight, I'm sure it'll work out for the better.  Tonights shelter is almost empty, I was the first to arrive followed by three others including Captain Pichard.  I'm going to try and get a picture of him doing the Vulcon farewell hand sign.

One of my ankles isn't at 100%, I'm hoping the easier day of hiking I have planned for tomorrow will help out with my physical ailments.  I revised the rest of my hiking schedule today, was a bit sad having reached the half way mark but have read I still have the best ahead.

Link to TMB Day 4 pics, via Picasa.

TMB Day 3

I'm writing this from a hotel bed in Courmayer, having eaten an entire large Italian pizza with Luca and Ivo for dinner.  My intent was to stay in mountain shelters all along the way, but today was a worthy exception.  I set out from Refuge Mottets to Courmayer, putting me a day a head of schedule in the rain and cold.  Once over Col de la Seigne, the cold freezing rain turned to snow.  I had made the decision to hike in shorts and sticking with the plan found myself appreciating my hairy legs and in a mad dash to the next shelter Rifuge Elisabetta.

Rifuge Elisabetta.

Once there, I joined the international masses converging on this one dry spot by stripping down and ordering copious amounts of food and hot beverages.  I quickly remembered that this leg was my transition into Italy where the little bit of French I'd learned wasn't helpful.  With broken spanish and hand gestures we came to an agreement that what I wanted was to pay for two cups of coffee while only receiving one, along with a sam'ich and chocolate.  Spent an hour warming up and meeting up with the Iranian gentlmen from Refuge Mottets along with Luca and Ivo.  I got back on the trail with the same poor conditions.  Seems counter tuitive, but once it started snowing the weather warmed up and became an enjoyable hike...excluding the downhill section right outside Courmayer.  I must have walked underneath three separate chairlifts, none of which were working.  The thought of McGyvering my way down a chairlift cable to avoid taking another downhill step crossed my mind once or twice.

Courmayer

I found out today that there's an ultramarthon race of sorts in the mountains around Courmayer, where the race leaders so happened to be finishing as I was entering town.  Coincidently, that's exactly how I imagined my arrival into this small mountain town should be...a celebration.  It's for the better that hardly anyone understands English on this side of the Alps or my demands to be carried around by Ewolks while a feast was being prepared could have been misconstrued.

Interestingly, there're two toilets in this hotel as if one pot wouldn't be enough to contain anyone's business.  Either that or someone was extremely thoughtful of hikers and put a water bottle filler lower to the ground for ease of filling bottles.  That's why I filled my camelback first, then accepted the two toilet challenge.  Amanda would've been proud of me.

Tomorrows hike will be to Rifugio Bonatti with several variants depending on the weather.

Link to TMB Day 3 pics, via Picasa.