Hotel de la Grand Ourse was a sociable place- dinner was at big tables with allocated seats, and I chatted with a young couple from Seattle and another from New Zealand, who were spending three months travelling. In the morning, I met a couple from Vancouver island and and as I was leaving I met Mark and Foster again, who along with their wives, I’d chatted with a few times since we first met in La Fouly- they were friends from different sides of the US/Canada border.
The whole atmosphere was very friendly on the trail too, as I set off in the early morning cloud, beginning another big (948 metre, in other words, equivalent to a Munro) ascent, this time to the Swiss/French border. As I climbed up through the forest , there were some familiar faces, many of whose also seemed to recognise me, and brief words when people inevitably paused for rest and breath, as we zigzagged up another hill.
The difference this time was that it was not hot, and indeed as we got higher it became noticeably colder and colder, so layers were added, and I ended up with beanie, scarf and gloves. We entered the cloud and it became difficult to see our surroundings or how far we had left to go. This is where my gps came into its own as it has an accurate and useful elevation monitor and I could always tell how much more climbing was left. In fact , when we approached the top and people rested, as I had done previously, I gave people some encouragement by letting them know, for instance we had climbed 749 metres and only had another 200 or so left. When you couldn’t see the top, I think it helped.
Finally, there I was at Col de Balme, the border, the top, and right there, a refuge with a cafe and bar. Everyone by now was so cold we at least put our heads inside, but it was a small place and there was barely enough room to get in and out, as all the seats were by now taken. I decided to give it a miss, and here took a a decision on which route to follow next.
Basically there were two choices- the main route via Aiguillete des Posettes, apparently quite tough; or an easier but less scenic route via the ski runs of le Tour. I had wavered between the two, but a chance comment by my Kiwi dinner companions the previous night had put a third idea into my head- as it seemed for a ten minute walk you could actually get the chair lift and gondola down to Le Tour as they had not yet shut down for the autumn. Feeling cold, that’s what I opted to do, but arriving at the bottom in a big car park, it seemed a shame just to walk down the road for a mile or two to Argentiere after only three hours walking.
I suddenly had a thought- there was a lovely walk I had done back in 2013 from Vallorcine to Le Buet, and this wasn’t far away. Maybe I could catch a train or bus there and do that again? So I walked down to Montroc, caught the free train to Vallorcine, and ended up walking all the way from there downhill to my accommodation in Argentiere, a further 7 kilometres to add to the 7 I had already done.
It was amazing how familiar the route seemed even though I’d only been here once before 13 years ago, but what hadn’t appreciated until I looked at the map and signs was that this route was an actually a lower down, and easier, part of the more difficult variant Tour route. So I had jumped tracks from the main route to the variant, enjoying a bit of both.
The route led alongside the road and railway line, broadly flat at first, but with sheer rocky outcrops on either side. it was, as I remembered, beautiful, and so much quieter than I’d been used for the last few days. Beyond Le Buet, the route was entirely new to me, and it led through a nature reserve at the Col des Montets, with a shiny new visitor centre, which I briefly visited. Then it was steeply downhill, but a fraction of the distance I would have had to cover had I not caught the chair lift and gondola, alongside a gushing river, into the heart of Argentiere.
I can feel now the trek is approaching its climax, as I have returned back to France, and, effectively, ‘greater Chamonix’. I have a number of options for the last two days, and know that some of some of the options I have done before. so I’ll chew on it overnight before I make a final decision on which one to take.
In the meantime, for only the second time on the trail, I have a bath in my room, so I’m going to enjoy a soak in that now.
My Tour du Mont Blanc journey 