Piute Pass and Treasure Lakes out of Bishop

Despite the heat of Bishop I woke to frost on my car windshield at North Lake.  It was a chilly morning but I quickly warmed up as I hiked up the side of the mountain towards the pass that you can see in the distance in the above photo.  Trail was in the sun and basically snow free until just before Loch Leven.  Just below Loch Leven it was very snowy and a little hard to navigate but I made it to an icy Loch Leven.  From there on I was hiking intermittently in the snow.  The lakes were beautiful with the icy covers.  I saw a marmot here and there and one brave camping backpacker tucked away in his tent.

I worked my way up to the pass in the distance occasionally post holing into the snow.  At one point my leg went down but when it came up my shoe was stuck.  I had to reach down and pull it out with my hand.  I am super glad I got it back.  It would have been a chilly return to the base without footwear.  I eventually made my way to the pass and looked over the snowy backside to see Summit lake (see image below).



The next morning I decided to try and hike to Treasure Lakes.  I knew there would be snow and this is a trickier hike as I had never been there before so navigation would be more challenging.    There were a few tricky areas to navigate but I was pretty much on track and was almost to the upper lake when I began to post hole with each step.  I needed snow shoes.  The microspikes were not going to cut it.  I decided to turn back as I was the only person around and I didn't want to get into a dangerous situation.  I worked my way back without incident except for one post hole all the way up to my upper thigh.   I did get this nice reflection shot  while I was up there.



I am heading to Las Vegas for a couple of days.  From there I will try to do a couple of hikes in Utah and then head to Colorado for two weeks of training and very little hiking.  More adventures to come.

The summer begins

The summer hiking began with a hike in the Northern Sierras up to Loch Leven. The hike was not well marked and the snow level was quite low. I did make it to the lower and middle lake after a bit of back and forth. Campers at the lake said they didn't make it to the upper lake. I may have tried it but I was short on time. I gave fellow hikers some advice on the way down because they too were having  a hard time following the trail. I passed a couple who had given up completely. 

After this I met up with family and we explored Donner Lake State Park. The next day I drove from Roseville down the Eastern Sierras. It was pretty. 

I hiked the following day up the North Fork of Big Pine Creek. It was beautiful as always. I made it to Lakes 1-5 but eventually lost the trail before Black Lake so returned the same way.   

After that I drove up to Bishop and headed out to North Lake. On the way there was a car with hazard lights. I slowed and the driver got out an motioned for me to stop. She then picked up a snake off the road. It was about four feet long. I think it may have been a gopher snake. Then she got back in the car with the snake. I am not sure what she did with it as she drove. 

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

Stage 7- Champex to Col de la Forclaz

We awoke to a village that was fogged in. We delayed our departure by an hour or so but it didn't clear. After discussion we decided to go up the higher variant.  

We walked up and along a bisse which is an irrigation channel.   This is a picture of a bisse that we walked by later in the day. 

Up and up we walked. I chatted with a nice family from the Netherlands. As we talked the surrounding mountains cleared for a moment. 

We soon came to the part of the trip were we were navigating through boulders. The way was painted on the rocks but was sometimes hard to find. 

We looked up and saw a small saddle and wondered if that was what we were climbing up to and yes it was. It is the notch on the left in the image below. 

The climbing was a little tricky with a heavy pack. 

However we eventually made it to the top to be rewarded with some fantastic views     

This is Leah as she made it to the pass. 

We took hundreds of photos of the Trient Glacier on the way down the other side. It was amazing. 

Then we walked down through a beautiful valley to our hotel. We are in the dorms again tonight and they are crowded but at least they seem to be making a great dinner for us. 

Distance: 11 miles

Elevation: 3800ft

Stage 6 La Fouly to Champex

Today was a short day. We looked at doing more but high variant on the next stage had few places to stay and rain was forecast for the afternoon so decided to keep it short. 

The days hike passed under a pretty waterfall. 

Then through some small villages or hamlets with narrow winding streets. 

In one of these small villages we took a wrong turn but realized it and backtracked to get on track. In our defense there was only one sign. It indicates turn right for La Fouly. As we came from there we turned left. We identified our error and backtracked meeting another group who had just made the same mistake. We had a nice conversation with them. They live in Scotland but the woman was from the US and then man was originally from Switzerland. 

We worked our way through the villages and stopped at a restaraunt / pub to use the restroom.  We decided to buy sodas there. While drinking our soda at 9am we became aware of a couple of people having their morning beers. That led us to the question of were they just drunks or is it more acceptable to drink beer early in the day in some countries. Leah and I did not agree. 

From there we began our climb up to Lac Champex. For a change we saw lots of wildlife. 

Just kidding !  The trail was lined with wood sculptures. 

We reached Champex and took a few photos of the lake before locating our hotel. 

We then meandered up to our hotel which was closed. Being an overly aggressive American with a heavy pack, I wandered the halls asking if we could check in early or if we could at least leave our packs. I found someone who was not overly pleased to see me. She told us to leave our packs in the bottom at the front of the hotel. That wasn't to secure but I counted on the fact that not one would be very interested in some old hiking clothes anda pair or $1 flip flops. 

We went to get a snack afterwards we went to stop by the market but ... Oops it was closed until 3. Siesta caught us again. We walked around a bit and soon the tourist information was open at 1:30 after their siesta. We asked the lady to make some onward reservations for us. She was not at all happy to do so but helped us get a reservation for one of the two nights that we didn't have them yet. The place we wanted to stay on Aug 1 was sold out. I was a little heartbroken because it was the only place that I really really wanted to stay. However after checking the weather it is probably just as well. The weather on Aug 1 is predicted to be very, very poor. Almost an inch of rain is predicted. We are thinking that we may not hike that day. Instead we can head down into the valley and the next day take a cable car up and hike up to Lac Blanc. Then hike one to the next cable car and take it down. That would mean we would do part of both Stage 10 and Stage 11. 

We checked into our hotel and the rain started and hasn't stopped today. We expect it to be clear for tomorrow when we attempt another high variant on the TMB.