DAY 20: Thursday June 21st - Modane to Refuge Peclet Polset: 17k, 7hrs: Blue skies with some storm clouds, 12°C to 18°C - without doubt the pinnacle of our trip
Out with the old Merrells - but I'm not really sure
Boot Boy - Salamon goretex
Did I already say how magic is this?
Up through a forested path
Entering the Vanoise park - note I've just been shorn.
Out of the forests to meadows
Blue skies, snow, waterfalls etc etc
Better than a picture postcard
You can't imagine how beautiful
There's one rock in this meadow - I'd better visit now before the snow
We're climbing up there
Where to now
I'll just follow Ian's boot tracks
Nearly there - time for a break
Made it - Col de Chaviere 2896m
Which view is better - this side
Or this side
Teuli, Rob, Karen and Dave - our 4 American tag friends at the top
Coffee at the top - Col de Chaviere
This is just so beautiful
Now we need to get down
Ski sleds would help
There's storm clouds looming
Whoops!!
I'll just pull myself up
I'm not going up I'm just getting up
Well what can I say - these pictures tell 10,000 words. Today was one of the best days we've had in the Alps (eat your heart our Graham!) Blue skies, snow, alpine forests AND test of all, we climbed the Col de Chaviere at 2796 metres, the highest walking pass in France.
We're up at 6am and packed - there's a weather prediction of storms in the afternoon and we want to be up and over the Col de Chaviere before the lightning and thunder. Breakfast is hot bread and hot tea - that's a good start. I slip off the the Boulangerie to by bread and Beaufort cheese for the next 2 days - no shops where we're going for 3 days - and Ian phones home. We leave the Hotel Perce Neige, and find a bin for Ian's old Merrels - he's just become a Salamon Boot Boy (I become a Salamon shoe girl a week ago).
Then it's up - we have almost 2,000 metres to climb today from Modane at around 1,000m to Col de Chaviere at 2,796 metres and there's only one way there - UP! We wind our way through the back streets of Modane and then up through a forested track. For 2hrs we climb relentlessly. We reach the small hamlet of Polset (3 farm houses) where our American friends spent the night, and stop for a cup of coffee, bread and cheese on a sunny rock just past. Then on and up. We climb out of the forests and into spectacular countryside of rocky alps, grassland, waterfalls and snowdrifts - we have just entered the Vanoise National Parc - highest parc in France. The skies are blue as blue and the scenery just unimaginable - better than postcard stuff.
We climb up and through grassy meadows. There's one big rock in this whole grassy meadow - I'd better make a loo stop here or else I'll be in full view later on in the snow. Trust Ian to whip his camera out at that moment.
We're now entering deep snow drifts. We meet a father and son on their way down and he tells us to be very careful in the snow at the top. We march on. We've been going up for 4 hrs now and we have another 2 hrs climbing according to the signs. It's a good thing the four Americans are ahead of us as we can see their tracks in the snow. They went a little further than us yesterday to the Refuge Polset and had a 2hr head start on us this morning. It's nice to know we're not alone up here in this icy wonderland, so best to follow their tracks. If we go off track there's the danger of stepping into a deep snow drift and getting stuck. My two trekking poles are now indispensable - I need them to pull myself up and also to stop me rolling sideways. It's a slog. But we look up and can see 4 tiny back specks in the snow high up the mountain and know that the 4 Americans are nearly at the top of the Col.
Slipping and sliding and digging our toes into the snow to get a grip, we can see we'll get there - just a little further. And we need to keep moving because there's a few storm clouds looming around the edges. There's a long trek up through the last 200 metres of snow and all of a sudden we are there and our 4 American friends are there to greet us. They stopped to have lunch and waited for us - that was really nice. We shared some photos and a chat and they headed off to Pralognan, and we stayed for a coffee to celebrate. It surely was a magical moment - one I had planned for 6 months and doubted we would get there because of the snow - and it really was touch and go - otherwise we would have had to have backtracked around the lower GR5 and taken an extra 2 days to circuit around the High Vanoise Parc. This was just so exciting.
But as usual, going down was just as hard as going up. Following the Americans footsteps was easy to start with but then the snow seemed to ice up, and we were looking for alternative tracks. Once we found the right snow consistency at the right depth, it was easy and fun. But occasionally I got off track and finished up in waist deep snow. Ian was a bit concerned but I was waiting for a photo shoot. Anyway, there were plenty more photo opportunities with all my slips and slides.
Finally after 1hr of downhill clambering, we see the Refuge Peclet Polset - one of the newest (built in 2004) and best mountain refuges in France. There's a sign that says 10 mins to the hut - but it took us almost another hour before we could pick our way across snow drifts and rocks and get to the hut at 2.30pm. Hooray, we made it - a most spatular day after 7 hours of climbing.
Our shoes and socks are sodden - we were in snow so deep it spilled into Ian's new boots. We take off our shoes and go to our dorm - a 6 bedder, then go back to the picnic tables for lunch - bread, ham and cheese - but we've finished for the day so we celebrate with a wine and a beer - and the beer is on tap - must be a lot of thirsty walkers. There's 14 at the hut which holds 84, so with 14 of us it's only 1/6 full - its cosy and we get to chat to a few people. Three couples are doing the Tour de Vanoise, a mixture of the GR55 and GR5 - 7 days, 6 huts and 1 hotel. Two girls are nurses from the Les Contamines area near Mont Blanc. They followed us down the mountain by stepping in our footsteps as the track was so covered by snow it was difficult to know which way to go down - TG for the GPS. But in doing so, one of them fell in the same snow hole I had as she had followed in my steps exactly. They said that last year, there was no snow on the Col de Chaviere and they were hoping likewise this year. So we were all really lucky to be able to get through.
There's supposed to be coin operated hot showers run by solar. Ian grabs 2 coins, and courteously gives me one for a shower. I go to the shower cubicle, strip down, and get ready, put the coin in and press the timer button - cold water for 15 seconds. Press the timer button again - cold water for another 15 seconds. Press the button again - warm water, yeh, so I hop in, have a 15 sec shower before the button releases. Press the button again - cold water. Time to get out and dry myself with a 30cm square towel. I run back to the dorm, jump into bed under the doona and try to get warm Ian goes off to the shower and comes back smiling - he's had 4 presses of the timer button - all HOT water. He thanks met for pulling all the cold water through the system.
Time to stay rugged up and do some blog. I still have 64% battery left but of course there's no WiFi and no power points here - I'll have to wait til Pralognan for a hotel to get WiFi. Dinner is at 7pm and we all wait in the dining room having a pre dinner drink - or two. The 4 course meal is - piping hot pea soup, chicken and rice, cheese, then dessert is whipped white creamed cheese and berries. Then they bring out the local grappa called genepi.
Time for bed at 8.30pm - snuggled up in our sleeping sheets with doona. There's no lights in the dorm so it's good night to all. What a marvellous day. I get excited just thinking about it all again.