Stage 9 The end

We woke early to a damp but clear morning we began the walk up to Lac Blanc. The trail rose quickly from the valley floor giving us our last views of Mont Blanc. 

Then just as we took the turn off for Lac (lake) Blanc clouds started to roll in and all views disappeared.

We stopped at a lake that we thought was Lac Blanc but turned out to be Lac Cheasery. 

Needless to say we were disappointed with the cloud but continued on. We had missed the infamous ladders and handrails near Tre La Champ since we had ascended from Artentiere or so we thought. 

We had a set of ladders on the way to the real Lac Blanc. Eventually we made it to Lac Blanc and could not even see the lake. We sat inside and contemplated the 3200 feet we had just climbed and magically the clouds lifted and we were treated to magical views. 

From Lac Blanc we had planned on descending to La Flegre but we saw a sign that indicated that we could take another route to our destination La Brevant. I think that we thought this would be a shortcut or at least a way to avoid descending and then immediately climbing again. The best laid plans..,,

We climbed to the top of the index lift and then descended to climb over another pass via some sketchy handrails - ala Angels Landing but some were a little loose.  Leah loved these so much that she stopped to take these photos of them. 

After the fun of climbing to the pass we were rewarded with great views of a lake that very much reminded us of the Sierras. 

We then hikes over to another pass via a little boulder field and took a break looking at Mont Blanc deciding our next move. 

From here we had to descend 1500 ft. We could then climb another 1500 ft to La Brevant and take the gondola down or take the cable car from Plan Praz. 

As we had already ascended 5300 ft and we still has to get off the mountain and get a bus back to Les Houches we made the decision to climb no higher. 

As we hiked down to Plan Praz we saw this. 

I originally thought it a mountain goat but after examining it horns I now think it might be an ibex. Yippee 

We also saw paragliders launching and gliding down the mountainside. I posted a video on FB of this. 

Below is one of the views of Mont Blanc as we descended. 

Over the last several days Leah and I hiked 133 miles including 36600ft of ascent. It was challenging and beautiful. I loved it and look forward to more adventures in the future 

Chamonix Rain Day

OOWe woke to rain in the morning. However, it eased around 9am and we took the bus into Chamonix. We walked around a bit going to the tourist information center, the mountaineering museum and then listened to the Jazz festival for a bit.   

Inside the museum there was a replica of Mont Blanc.  It was interesting to see our journey in the replica. 

Afterwards we returned to tourist information center for a little more info and walked around town.

 

I found a Tour du Mont Blanc tshirt souviner. Leah found a pistachio ice cream bar and some blueberry bread. We then each had a cookie from a bakery.  I had a blueberry and white chocolate cookie and Leah had an almond cookie. 

As we walked we considered if we should have hiked today during the nice weather period. However, the mountains were shrouded in clouds so we would have had no views and the ladders would have likely been slick. 

Just as we got on the bus to return to Argentjne the rain started again and became very heavy. 

Our plan tomorrow is to hike up to Lac Blanc where there are some great views and then on to La Flegre. From there to hike to the high spot at La Brevent. At that high spot there should be some great views. We will likely take the cable car down from there and get a bus back to our hotel in Les Houches. 

I will fly out the next day at 7:30. I will probably need to take the shuttle at around 4am so it will be a short night. 

Stage 8 - Col de la Forclaz to Argentiere

Today was another great day on the trail. The hotel let us eat breakfast early (an hour before they opened) which gave us a good start to the day.  Unfortunately Leah misplaced her favorite hiking shirt but we are opening it turns up because it wasn't in the room or on the clothesline when she ran back to check. 

We retraces yesterday's route along the bisse for about 30 minutes. Along this same route they shipped out ice from the glacier in little carts along a track. I am not exactly sure what they did with it as the sign was in French but I expect it was used to keep food cold. 

We crossed the raging river formed at the base of the Trient glacier and worked our way up the side of the mountain. Along the way there was a very steep section along the granite face. I wouldn't want to use that part of the path in icy conditions. 

Eventually we reached the Refuge Les Grands under the Les Grands glacier. 

From there we hiked over to Col de Balme which would lead us into the Chamonix valley. 

There we met up with many of the people that we have met along the way. One group was Audrey and Rachel who we met in Courmayer. There packs were smaller than Leah's pack and they were camping. This amazed me. Turns out they made there tent from tyvex.  At Col de Balme they mentioned that camping was no longer their preferred option. They would prefer to stay in refuges or hotels. They also were going to take the next day off due to rain. We hope to catch up with them an maybe hike the last day together. 

The views from Col de Balme were just phenomenal. We could see the Glacier du Tour and many towering mountains draped in glaciers. 

We thought our climbing was done but we were mistaken. We dropped down and had views of the Lac d'Emosson and then climbed to the small peak of Aiguille des Posettes. Here we were directly across from Glacier du Tour and had phenomenal views of Mont Blanc. 

Below is an attempted selfie in front of Mont Blanc and Mont Blanc 

We then trekked down,down to Tre le Champs where we were unable to get a reservation. We continued down to Arhentiere were we would wait out the storm. 

We had hoped to go back to Tre le Champ to restart but the logistics would be complicated so we were happy to find a trail from Argentiere up to Lac Blanc and the TMB which we will take out. 

Our accommodation, Gite Belvedere, is nice and not expensive. We both got the best night sleep since arriving. 

Below is a panoramic with Leah in the lower left corner