August 28

August 28:  Cormayeur to Rifugio Bonatti

2 km.  300m up.

There was much confusion today.  It started out late last night when, just before I retired for the evening, I heard that busses would not be running up and down the valley (Val Veni and Val Ferret) today due to weather.  I sent a note to Macs and they replied within a few hours.  But - they said they could not cancel our reservation at Rifugio Bonatti and if we wanted to stay an extra day in Courmayeur then we would have to make our own arrangements.  So - about 1am I was online making a booking of one of the few available rooms in the entire town, which happened to be at the hotel Gary and Pat are at.  We had 3 helpings of breakfast and lazed about the room until almost 11.  It was interesting to listen to all the chit-chat in the breakfast room as many peoples' plans were affected by the bus situation.  When we checked out, we were given an update on the busses.  They were now running between 10 and 4.  Hmmmmm.  Over to the new hotel to see if we could cancel and get any money back.  No go.  Just as we thought we would go to Bonatti it started to pour, so then having a room in Courmayeur seemed like a good option.  We checked in and donned our rain gear to head to the downtown shops.  Lots of money gets spent in those stores!  Of course the rain stopped and travel once again seemed possible.  In the end, the rain was still holding off so we caught a bus just before 1 with the thinking that if it was raining at the trailhead we would just stay on the bus and come back to town.  If it wasn't raining we would head for the Rifugio.  Luck was on our side.  The hike up only took 45 minutes (vs. an estimate of 1 to 1.5 hours) and was only 300m vs the advertised 400m. Not much in the way of view, but we did glimpse a glacier from time to time.  





The road follows a raging river pretty much all the way from town.  It's running pretty high, so maybe they're afraid of the road flooding.  The forecast keeps changing and so far we haven't seen the really heavy rain that was predicted.  It is now predicted to pick up again tonight so I'm glad to be at the Rifugio and not dependent on a bus tomorrow morning.  Time will tell.

The place isn't nearly as busy as it was yesterday when we hiked over.  Our room is clean and comfy and has a lovely mountain view (which will be even better if the clouds clear!).  The hut itself apparently has a lot of history.  Nice that it's inaccessible by road (not sure how all the food gets up here).  We hope to see our luggage again tomorrow night.  Shared bathroom and shower downstairs.  Dinner is included, so a chocolate bar (and tuna and a banana) will have to hold me until then.  No wifi, so hopefully we'll see the boys tomorrow night in La Fouly (Switzerland).

A bit of a chill afternoon.  Our busiest activity is looking our the window from time to time to see if the clouds have lifted.  Nope.  And - making some progress on the e-book. 




Dinner was a noisy affair.  Eighty three people at the Rifugio tonight.  Good food, though.  Salad, pasta, meatballs & mashed potatoes plus a pudding for dessert.  I'm not sure if it rained any more tonight.  Here's hoping for a clearing trend!

 

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