Tuesday 26th August: Raining all day - Morning 10°C, Col d'Pinter 5°C, Ferraro 15°C
Rifugio Alpenzu to Rifugio Ferraro: 17.9k: 7.45am to 4.45pm: 9hrs
Everything we own we're wearing
You win some you lose some. Yesterday I had a win when I back tracked to find my glasses. Today we had a loss - a fox stole our lunch bag parked outside our room high on a balcony, with food for the next 3 days lunches. And it rained all day. But we still had a wonderful day. Despite the rain it wasn't freezing cold - no snow. An we teamed up with the two Danes, Simon and Jens, to cross the Col de Pinter and walk most of teh way to Rifugio Ferraro with the. We were the only fools doing that trip today but we were above the mist, it was bright though drizzly and we really enjoyed it compared to the other rout through the Betta Forca ski fields with denuded mountains.
It's pea soup as we leave
Mist in Gressoney valley below
Still smiling
OK for coffee, not much cow plop
It's warm and smelly inside
Above the mist it's rainy but bright
Simon and Jens appear
They soon catch me up
Col de Pinter at 2777 metres high
Yes, another Col conquered
Mist in the valley on other side
Down there somewhere is a Hotel
Lunch outside the Ski lift
Along the ridge to Resy
Very pretty after the rain
At last our home for tonight
Good day to be a dog - Chester at home snuggled up in bed.
Dummy - photo to be added
It's 6.30am and we awake to misty drizzle, but the good thing is it's no colder than last night. The bad news is our lunch bag that we left sitting outside the door is gone! We think it's a wlld dog. All we have left is the jar of apple strudel, 2 tomatoes, some green leaves and a slab of butter. our lovely mortadella, cheese, meusli bars, and nutty bread are gone! Another shower warms us up and off to breakfast where our host informs us that it was the fox that would have stolen our bag. Well it's now a fat fox. Breakfast is spartan but the tea is hot. Stale bread and jam with a few italian cruskits.
The Danes are contemplating whether of not to go over the Col de Pinter, the Italian family and their son have already decide not to. We're going regardless. Every piece of rain gear we own is donned before we leave. rain pants, rain jacket, poncho, gloves with rain mittens to keep the gloves dry. It's not so cold as we head on up the mountain and we quickly work up a sweat and get damp on the inside. My thermal feels drenched.
At last we climb above the mist and although still raining, it's quite bright and we can see where we're going. After two hours and with another hour to climb, we come across a cow shed - there's less plops in this one than others we've seen. It's a good place for a cup of coffee and a fe dry biscuits. oh for a piece of cheese and mortadella. Damn that fox!
Up wards to the Col de Pinter. It's a fairly well defined and well graded track. Soon after, we can see the two Danes climbing up behind us. We arrive at the Col de Pinter together and take each other photos with the Sign showing height at 2777 metres, a climb of almost 1000 metres, taking us 3 and a half hours. Down the other side it's windy cold and raining, but still bright enough to see.
It's very steep down and a bit slippery in the rain. But we're amazed that it's so warm - well not really, but it's not cold. The Danes have streaked ahead to get lunch at the Hotel on a ledge half way down. It takes for ever, trudging over a track dodging teh cow plops, to get to Vieux Crest, where there's supposed to be Hotel. We don't see it, but decide to have tea and our surviving apple strudel in the alcove of the Ski Lift entrance - beside, there's a real toilet there. That mortadella and cheese with nutty bread would have been nice! Curse that fox, I hope he chose on the plastic bag!
The Danes, Simon catch us up. They managed to find the Hotel, but could only get pasta. We walk together along the Ridge towards Resy, chatting along the way. They are headed down to St Jacques, another half hour down in the valley from Resy. It's a pretty walk through the forrest, with waterfalls tumbling over the rocks down teh gullies after the day's rain. We come to a path junction and Simon and Jens head off down. We say good bye and continue along towards Rsey, a small village consisting of 3 buildings, One private residence and two Rifugios, Frachey and Ferraro where we're staying. It's good to be there. There's just a handful of hikers, some have come down from teh 3,300 metres Theodule which we'll do tomorrow, some from Col d'Olen which we did two days ago.
The Refuge Ferraro is warm inside. We're on the 3rd floor of a recently renovated wooden building in a 4 person room. We spread out to make it uninviting for anyone else. The showers down stair are hot. There's no chance to do washing as it won't dry by teh morning. There's only one more night at the high mountain hut of Theodule, which by all reports has no showers and a disgusting toilet, and then it's down to civilisation and Zermatt. So we'll have to make do for the next few days.
The dining room at the refuge is warm and cosy and surprisingly there's WiFi. So we blog and catch up while waiting for dinner. Sitting at our table is an Italian couple, Marta, 29, and Marco, 34, who are both pharmacists in Milan. They are doing the 6 Refuge Circuit, which includes Ferraro, Vieux Crest and Alpenzu. It's a trek put together by 6 Rifugios in the area to attract walkers.
Dinner is superb. Ian and March have a huge bowl of pasta and vegetables, Marta and I have thick. soup of potato and peas. Main meal is a platter of pork medallions with mushrooms and a huge bowl of green beans with a dash of oil. Followed by chocolate pannata and a platter of selected cheeses. We're most impressed. It's 9.30 by the time we've finished chatting. Marco speaks English very well, and Marta a little. Bed time. We have the highest climb of our trip tomorrow to 3300 metres and we hope it's fine weather.