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