Tour du Mont Blanc: Les Chapieux to Les Contamines

 

After the soggy day we had yesterday, we were pleased to wake up to crisp clear skies and a chilly morning.  We climbed high above the village and were stopped by an electric livestock fence in our path.  Previous fences included a gate, but not this one.  We assumed we made a wrong turn.  It took nearly twenty minutes of going in circles through cow pastures (just after a rain, you can imagine how AWESOME that was) to realize we had the right path all along.

We scaled the same mountainside all morning, climbing up streams, snowy patches, and mud.  I was thankful when we finally reached the top, especially on this beautiful morning.  Matt and I propped our bags up on a trail marker sign and enjoyed our picnic lunch atop Col de la Croix.  It was the first summit to have little enough wind that we were tempted to linger at all.

Descending off the summit was slow and tricky.  The path was easy to follow but skirting the snowy mountainside at a 45 degree angle while that snowy trail melted underfoot was not.  It was very slow.  Below, a marmot danced effortlessly up the hillside.  Show off!

Soon we reached the lower summit, Col du Bonhomme.  here the path included either a slow mud/rock descent or the still snowy slopes.  We chose the latter and ran down.  Arms flailing in the air, it looked more like controlled falling than actual running.  I took long, heavy steps, the snow absorbing the impact.  It felt like running on a field of pillows.  We continued running for nearly an hour after the trail turned back to dirt and rocks--our longest running stretch at one time.  This trip turned out to be more what people call fast-packing than trail running.  We did learn you could hire bag transport from each night's stay.  That would have made the trip easier to run, we thought, but we weren't sure how much we'd really want to go without each day.  Mountain weather is fickle and one never knows what layers will be needed.

Our descent of over 1300m (almost 4,000 ft) was all at once and by the time we reached the valley floor, my knees were exceptionally angry.  The trail became a flat, runnable path along a the Bon Nant river, but my legs were pretty much fried for the day.  No wishing for a run when we got to the hotel tonight.

In the resort town of Les Contamines, we washed all of our clothes for the day and dried those still soggy items on our large balcony.  They dried quickly in the midday sun!  Horray for dry undies!

Most hotels on our trip offered us a demi-pension (half board), meaning we got dinner and breakfast included in our room.  The hotel this night had the nicest provisions.  All of the other nights have similar setup: soup, salad/pasta salad/rice, main course, cheese, and dessert.  After a few nights of these meals, we learned that this allowed us to sample local specialties without even knowing it.  I came to love the cheese the best: Tomme de Savoie, a regional mountain cheese.  This dinner had foie gras (soooo not a fan) and fondant (meringue floating in sweat cream) as well as leg of lamb and a really yummy cheese selection.

Foie gras. Do people really eat the whole thing?

We explored the town more, scoping out where the patisserie (bakery!) was and noting the hour it opened.  We also checked out the tourist office.  That night, we watched a bit of the second stage of the Tour de France and episodes of CSI Miami and Lie to Me with French subtitles.  I enjoyed comparing translations and Matt liked watching something he could understand.

17km (10.5 mi.)
440 m (1443 ft.) gain
1316 m (4317 ft) loss