It was supposed to be an easy day. Walking 3-4 hours, sleeping at a camping site and visiting the town of Courmayeur for some notion of a vacation.
We walked +7 hours and were DEAD before arriving to the camping site.
It started out great, walking slowly at my pace, getting excited and weirdly proud of myself because I didn't need to stop to catch my breath and all that crap.
It was a beautiful day and we even took endless pictures trying to catch us jumping in the air with the mountains in our backs. Took us a while and a lot of thigh muscle.After having walked for like 4½ hours, we started to wonder why we hadn't arrived yet.
When we arrived at the small shelter called Maison-Vieille at Col de Chécrouit at 1956m hence on top of a ski cliff, we saw the camping site La Sorgente on the left side and Courmayeur on the right side. There was just a couple of hundred meters altitude in the way.
Climbing down took more than an hour, even tho it was really really steep. And we even got lost before finding the right path down.
And to boot, the camping site was like the one farthest away, at 1510m.
7½ hours in total. I did not stop grumbling.
We were dead. We checked in, took a quick beer, left our bags in the camping site and took the bus to Courmayeur.
Since Olivier had sworn never to step into our tent EVER again - truth be told, he wanted to slice it, burn it, jump on it's ashes and bury it under a huge pile of shite.
So a new tent had
to be bought.
Of course, we set the budget to 100€, no need to get a fancy one, something basic and solid.
There were quite a few shops specialized in mountaineering pass times, but only one that sold tents. So we asked the kind vendor to show us a nice tent that was waterproof, not too heavy and easy to assemble.
230€.
I had to stop his explications to ask him whether he had anything cheaper.
Nope.
I guess my shock, disappointment and puppy dog-pity-me filled stare did the trick because he gave us a 15% discount, lowering the price to 195€.
We still needed to go drink beer before having the courage to hear the ka-ching of his till.
At least we had a spanking new tent. A La Fuma tent. A very very good tent. I made everything easier. Now we have to go camping again, can't leave an expensive piece of tissue to rot away in a corner.
I didn't even get to eat a real Italian gelato. I was so disappointed. Even today I can't stop thinking about it. Sigh.
Day 4.
Weird, I don't even remember what day 4 was like... Wait !
So we had to pass by Courmayeur to start the day. I climbed up reeeeaaalll high, luckily in a forest because the sun was blazing away.
We met the English couple again, actually we had met them the day before at Courmayeur too, it was pleasant :)
They stopped at a shelter called Bonatti I think.. at 2050m. We continued for another 3 hours, first straight, then a steep descent to Lavachey at 1642m and then climbing up to the shelter Elena at 2062m.
Death was not far. I was so broken I had a hard time taking a shower. I ached everywhere.
My knees had already started to ache because of the steep descents and my right foot that has a deformation + a toe that broke in 2 places 2 years ago was decidedly NOT happy with all the stress it was put under.
We ate and went to sleep.
We slept in a big hall of a room filled with bunk beds amidst to some Swiss who managed to wake us all up in the morning. Gah. I showed them tho the next day. I deliberately put more speed into my legs when I saw them approach to gain in distance. HOHOHOHOH.
Yes, I'm not a good loser. Gave me a good reason to give me the right to buy Swiss choco tho once we stopped at one of their too-expensive towns.
Day 5.
I honestly have trouble remembering the route.. I remember there was a fairly long climb, and that's it.
Ah right, that's it.
We entered the Swiss territory, passing by Le Col de Ferret at like 2550m. That was the highest point of our trip.
From that point on, it just went down hill. Just the trail, everything was fine besides :D
It was a really easy day, we walked like 4 hours and I was surprised that it was over for the day when we "suddenly" stopped at the camping site of Les Glaciers at La Fouly at 1660m.
We took the opportunity to go eat at a fancy restaurant (well kinda the only one in that small excuse for a village) and do some "grocery shopping" (a bag of mixed nuts&dried fruit, chocolate and some more chocolate). Olivier was the only one that ate at the restaurant because the restaurant obviously didn't want me to eat.
We ordered and 2 minutes after they came to tell me that they were out of my order.
Ok, I ordered something else, and again they came to tell me that it wasn't possible. So I stared blankly at the nervous young waiter and told him that I guess I wasn't eating then.
Olivier ordered this thing called Croûte Valaisienne, a mix of cheese, meat, fruit and berries. We stared at it in wonder. It cost too much to boot.
See, that's him staring at it.
Back at the camping site, we checked our mails and surfed the internet a bit for the moderate price of 2€/h.
We ate a later dinner of miso soup mixed with rice noodles and coconut milk powder with a side dish of dried sausage. It was reeeaaallly good.
The night was calm and the dreams pleasant.
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