DAY 24: Monday June 25th - Tignes le Lac to Refuge de Rosuel: 19k, 8hrs: Misty rain, 0°C to 9°, but 1hr is 20°C
7am out our window - Tignes le Lac
Leaving Hotel d'Aigle at 9am
Mist lifts but raining on way to col
Tignes le Lac - Leggo city
On way to Col de Palet at 10am
Leaving Tignes le Lac behind
Not picnic weather at Col de Palet
Col de Palet 2652metres and 0°C
Too cold to tie boot laces properly
Whiteout just past the Col de Palet
Yeh, I can see the path ahead
Magical misty beauty
We've been up there somewhere
I think we're going down there
My new red poncho really works
Take note Graham - blue sky
Refuge Entre Le Lac at end of lake
We're the only ones up here
Still so many wild flowers
I see huts huts - a good lunch spot
Good spot but the lettuce is gritty
A field of boulders ahead
A wild kind of beauty
Waterfalls out of the misty snow
Heading down the valley into trees
The noise is deafening
How green is my valley
Stripped off - for 1hr it's 20°C
Refuge Rosuel - note grass on roof
Ok Graham, we had to have one of those days - it was a good one for you to miss so don't feel too bad - misty rain blowing at 50k/hr and freezing at 0°C. We climbed the Cold de Palet (2652metres) today - a really interesting experience in interesting conditions - OK Graham we saw a square metre of blue sky which I captured on film. But we survived to tell a magical tale - do I keep using that word - and we're at a fascinating Refuge Rosuel with another 20 walkers from a group - but hot showers, a real toilet and room to swing a cat in the bedroom for 6 people.
We awake at 7am and it's raining - we can't see the lake down the hill. No need to rush - not a real long day - we'll have a leisurely breakfast and wait for the misty rain to cellar. And wait for the misty rain to clear. And ….. You get the picture. Breakfast is hot tea and hot bread with ham and salami - owners are Italian, guests except us are Italian, and they are all happy because last night Italy defeated England in a soccer world cup qualifier. After a few phone calls home on FaceTime and Skype and we pack our backpacks with dry clothes, don our wet gear - rain pants and jackets, and I get to try out my new red poncho.
We step out into the rain - it's not really freezing cold - about 9°C - then go to the local SPAR - a small expensive grocery store but we are in need of something green - so I buy the usual dried ham, fresh bread, one tomato, cheese AND a whole lettuce. We walk around the lake then immediately start to climb up the steep hill towards to the Col de Palet. A group of bootcamp runners come running past us up the hill. One of them informs us that the weather will get better in the afternoon. As we climb the wind gets up, the rain becomes heavier and the temperature drops. We keep walking until the group passes us again on their way down. A little later, two runners who have gone ahead of the group and have run to the Col, come down the track and tell us to take the high route over the snow drifts to avoid the vertical drop offs - Ian likes this idea. We also note they have blue noses and blue knees - they are in running shorts with no beanies.
We move on and spy the hut at the end of the telegraphique - we stop to get out of the wind - strip off our wet clothes, changes into 7 layers of dry ones, and have a cup of coffee waiting for the weather to clear - it's even too cold to take a photo - but trust me - it was bloody cold. The weather doesn't clear - the temperature plummets to zero but the rain does ease a little. My fingers are so cold they can't do or undo the buckles on my back pack. We're there for about an hour and then decide to make a move. The snow drifts are not as bad as the Col de Chaviere at 2796metres, but the wind is driving at 50k/hr and the only other noise I can hear apart from the whistling wind is Ian's poncho flapping around his ears His is a short Woollies poncho for emergencies - this is an emergency. Mine is tied around my waist with one of Ian's shoe laces he rescued from his old shoes. My poncho is a perfect fit, it's size 10 to 12 years, remember, but it's perfect for me - not so long that it dangles below my knees and stops me lifting my legs up rocks.
We reach the top of the Col de Palet and guess what - there's a picnic table - I don't believe it. We've been to seven Cols in perfect weather this trip and never had a picnic table - and now its freezing blowing and nearly snowing, and there's a picnic table. Gotta take a photo no matter what the temperature. We start to descend the other side through snow drifts. The rain eases and strangely the climb up has warmed us and we feel good going down the other side. It's easier gradients and the wind on this side is not as strong. We see the Refuge de Palet just 300 metres from the Col, but there's no smoke from the chimney, it's a bit out of the way, and we decide to keep moving rather than stop for hot chocolate - if there was any.
Down past the snow drifts we find shelter behind a rock and have a warming cup of tea. On again for another hour and we soon see a few huts down in the valley - a good spot for lunch. We get there 30minutes later and it's perfect - out of the wind an a flat ledge to sit on - my pick. We drag out our lunch - the cheese is nearly frozen. I'm looking forward to green lettuce. Ian spreads the bits on our two plastic plates then adds the salt and pepper we have brought from home pre ground. I add my mayonnaise. But there's gritty bits - we're not sure if it's the partially ground pepper or dirt in the lettuce. I don't care - I'm eating it anyway. Appart from the grit, it's one of the nicest lunches we've had.
The alps are returning to their glorious beauty - a wilderness with snow capped mountains topped with mist - and thousands of waterfalls from the melting snow cascading hundreds of metres below. We're the only ones (fools) out here, and the solitude is amazing. We're following a few footsteps through the snow drifts, but clearly old from days before. Down past the snow we look to our left to see the Refuge Entre Le Lac - it's one we had intended to stay at if need be but with a few days to spare because we did the high Vanoise, there was no need - we'd already had a short day into Tignes le Lac. it looks beautiful at the edge of the lake but very isolated - we don't feel like marmot stew tonight and besides we've booked further on at Refuge de Rosuel.
Past the lake lying below us, we enter a valley of boulders and have to clamber our way through the maze. It's hard on the feet. Then past the boulders we start to descend rather steeply. On the opposite side of the valley are dozens of thunderous waterfalls. There's still no one around though there was a group of walkers on the way to the Refuge Palet - they shuddered when we described how windy, wet and cold it was. There's no one else we've seen.
We finally descend to the tree line and meander down through the pine forests for an hour. Within 200 metres, the temperature rises from 9°C to 20°C and we have to stop to shed and stash away our wet gear. My pack becomes noticeably heavier. We can see a beautiful green valley below with a few houses and huts strewn along a road. Our Refuge is one of them. Ian thinks having a road to the place is good - they can bring in the meat and foodstuffs by road - no marmot stew tonight.
It's a long descent - we've come down more than 1,000 metres since we left the Col de Palet and we're looking forward to getting down. Within a few minutes of walking along the flat road, we see the Refuge de Rosuel - I know it by the turf on the roof that blends in with the hillside - it looks newish and it doubles as an information centre for the Vanoise Park. We have a wine/beer outside at the picnic table and don't see anyone else around. We're optimistic there might only be a few people here tonight - until I step into the dining room and see 30 bags stacked in the hallway. Oh well it was a nice thought. At 5pm we go up to our room - at least there's only 8 of us in it and there's a bit of space. The girl who shows us around tells us there's a shortage of hot water, so we drop everything and race off to the shower before the 30 owners of the 30 bags arrive. It was really nice and hot, even though you had to keep pressing the button every 10 seconds.
Time to go downstairs and meet a few people, have another drink and blog. Ian chats to a doctor who is a lung specialist while I type. We are joined by two others for dinner - a man whose boots just died and he is going to return home as he doesn't want to take the chance with new shoes. Another man, Jacques, is doing the GR5 in a total of 16 days - that's huge - he must average about 40k per day - his time schedule is about 12 hours average of our walking - he doesn't stop for lunch - OR coffee. There's also 2 other men in our dorm who are doing the same fast paced GR5 from woe to go - that's from Lac le Man near Geneva to Nice on the Mediterranean.
Dinner is nice - salad entree (but Ian has to fish out the cucumber), sausages and pasta and mixed vegetables (clearly not marmot mince in the sausages), then cheese followed by apple slice - all washed down with a carafe of red wine - we're stuffed. Jacques is off to bed early - his days start at 5 to 6am depending on the length of his day - tomorrow he is doing in 1 day what we did in 2 long days. WOW!!
It's 9pm, still light outside and they tell us it didn't rain here today and probably won't tomorrow. Time to go to bed and crawl into our sleeping sheets. The 3 guys doing the GR5 are already in bed and they are ALL snoring - could be in for a long night.