My favorite day so far! Not too many miles (8) and the hard climb was at the start of the day when it was still mostly cool, with a fairly level contour path from then on.
One final fabulous breakfast at Bouton D’Or–a hotel I highly recommend. It’s a little retro, but everything is clean and the staff are lovely. The breakfasts have a little bit of everything. Would definitely stay here again.
We then had to rationalize our packs, because our bags would not be transported to the refuge–the only night of the trip where we wouldn’t be reunited with our bags. So we had to carry change of clothes, toothbrush, etc.
The TMB route left Courmayeur from the middle of the pedestrian area, past the church.
Then headed up a steep road for quite a while, past a couple of bus stops that made me question why I was on foot 🙂 We’re heading for Rifugio Bonatti, 4 hours away per the sign. By the way, “difficolta E” appears on pretty much every sign we see, and we take it to mean “difficulty: extreme” rather than “difficulty: easy”.
They put a lot of effort into making these weirs, presumably to control for flash flooding? Or limit debris reaching the outskirts of Courmayeur?
And then up into the woods. Felt a lot like the path up Mt Si back at home.
Such beauty everywhere….
Eventually, the sun reached us. Makes such a difference to how hard the climbs feel. Luckily, there were patches of shade for much of the way.
RockTree!
At the top of the climb, we were treated to expansive views down to Courmayeur and across to Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco).
I’d forgotten about this refuge soon after the top of the climb–really lovely place to pause for coffee.
And admire the signage 🙂
Geraniums on the deck–lovely!
Ever more expansive views. From here we could see the SkyWay we took a couple of days ago, and the route Dave took from La Visaille to the ski area above Courmayeur.
At the valley floor you can see the processing areas for the Mont Blanc Tunnel. Up from my pack, you can see the mid station of the SkyWay.
LOVE contour paths!
Looking back to Col de la Seigne–the low point you can see on the horizon, where we crossed into Italy three days ago.
These blue beetles were everywhere…
The entire Mont Blanc Massif on the Italian side. Because of the way panoramic photos are stitched together, it loses some of the sense of this being a massive wall of rock, rather than a mountain peak.
Looking ahead to the future…we will leave Italy tomorrow via the Grand Col du Ferret at the end of this valley on the right hand side.
Some threatening clouds, but never a drop of rain nor the sound of thunder. Almost every day they suggest a high likelihood of thunder in the afternoon, but so far it has happened only once.
Dave said “The finish line!” when he saw these Tibetan Prayer Flags. I, alas, thought he was serious, so was a little disappointed there was no Rifugio right there.
Because of the short mileage and relatively easy day, we were close to the Rifugio very early, so paused for a rest. Alas, my back is very particular about where it feels OK, so we couldn’t linger long.
Finally, the Rifugio Bonatti. Billed as the creme de la creme of mountain huts, it mostly lived up to the reputation.
With the view being the main part. Just extraordinary.
We had to linger for about an hour and a half before checking into our private room. Again, what a view!!!
Charge all the things! This is for people staying in the dormitories. We, luckily, could charge in our room.
Had a lovely dinner on long tables. Dave chatted with a couple of German men, and I mostly chatted with a professor and a young women going the tour together.
Then a quick look at the beginning of the sunset. Buona Notte, Monte Bianco!
