August 27

August 27:  Courmayeur - Rifugio Bonatti - Courmayeur

Today was supposed to be a rest day in Courmayeur for us.  But - the weather is deteriorating and the forecast for today was better than for tomorrow, so we did tomorrow's walk today and returned to our hotel in Courmayeur.

After a climb out of Courmayeur the path remains flat, walking high on the slopes of Val Ferret with a dramatic panorama of ice and rock on your left.  The trail finishes at Rifugio Bonatti which is always one of the highlights of the TMB.  

The climb from Courmayeur zig-zags through pine forest which offers shade but also obstructs the views.  It is only as you burst above the tree-line near Rifugio Bertone that you suddenly get a view to Courmayeur and realize how much height you have gained.  Moments later, you round a corner onto the upper slopes of Val Ferret and have a stunning vista throughout the entire valley.  Sweeping your gaze left you can see Col de la Seigne at the head of Val Veni; you crossed this pass several days ago, and just beyond lies France.  Turning right, you can see all the way to Grand Col Ferret marking the border with Switzerland and which you must cross tomorrow.  Spanning the distance between these two cols is a panorama of jagged rock and ice that makes up the Mont Blanc massif.  

As you walk along the valley, parallel to the Mont Blanc massif the mountains shift slowly beside you which only reinforces how giant they are, however by the end of the day it will be the angular, imposing figure of the Grandes Jorasses that takes centre stage rather than Mont Blanc.  Rifugio Bonatti perhaps offers the best possible views to Grandes Jorasses and is perfectly situated to catch those gorgeous sunrise colours hitting the mountain in the morning.

One of the many charms that ensures Rifugio Bonatti is consistently a highlight of the TMB is its remoteness and the absence of any road to get there.  This means there is no baggage transfer to Rifugio Bonatti, so take your overnight things with you, and you will be reunited with your full luggage the following night.

14 km.  1058m up.  560m down.

So - once we reached the Rifugio Bonatti today, we descended 300m and took the free shuttle bus back to Courmayeur.  Which means tomorrow we will take the shuttle bus back to the base of the climb and hike up 400m to our overnight accommodation.  Hopefully we can find a weather window which isn't too wet.

Back to today - despite the dreary forecast we actually had a lovely hike in the morning.  I had absolutely no gas in the engine, so was waaaay behind the other 3 (+Joti who joined us for the day) for the entire climb.  On the flats, too, for that matter.  Oh well...............

Our day started out with a walk through a bit of downtown and then started immediately uphill.  We walked through the hamlet of Villair.  "Villiar is a peaceful commune of Courmayeur characterized by alpine houses and sleepy, narrow streets."  And may I say - many large, expensive homes.  

We left the road at 1.8km and started up the steep, rocky footpath.  For about 800m.  Oh boy......  We could eventually start to get views back down to Courmayeur.  

At about 4.3km Rifugio Bertone came into view.  Quite a little complex.  

Saw these avalanche fences at about 4.5km, and then the path started to flatten out.

I wouldn't say we had no views, but we could only imagine what it would look like on a clear day.

We got lucky with the weather.  Thankfully we had no rain on the climb.  I get so stinkin' hot going uphill that the last thing I need to do is put raingear on.  We didn't get our first drops until we had (just) finished the big climb, and then I had about a dozen wardrobe changes for the rest of the hike as the light rain came and went.

This little waterfall and "derelict alpine huts of Arminaz Desot" was at about 9.8km.  

We finally reached the hut at about 11.8km.  We had (our picnic) lunch there and donned full raingear for the 400m descent.  

Hmmm - not sure how this happened, but I seem to be missing about 30 photos.  Oh well - Gary had sent me some of our time up at the hut.

Back to town on the bus.  Time to clean up and get our bags ready for tomorrow.  Then out to dinner - same place as last night - and a stroll through the commercial district, which merits another visit tomorrow morning.  

Another really good day.  Hopefully not too wet to hike back up tomorrow afternoon and maybe we'll have better weather on Friday.  

As an aside - I just got a notification from our outfitter (Mac's) and apparently some of the busses in the valley will not be running tomorrow.  That could complicate our plans and I spent the next while juggling things to ensure we had a Plan B.  

Pictures to follow, with better internet - or maybe once I'm home.  No internet tomorrow, so that one will have to be posted at a later date.