DAY 18: Tuesday June 19th - Nevache to Mont Thabor: 19k, 7hrs, 8°C to 22°C (but mostly 15°C)
Our room has the washing outside
Climbing the Col de Thures
Hopping across icy water
Zig zags are OK with this backdrop
This view is just magic - or did I already say that before??
Can a lady find loo paper in peace!!
Sheer Magic
Pure Magic
Refuge Tre Alpini - Italian
Our 4 American friends who we have played tag with for 2 days
It's marmot country
Last climb - Col de la Vallee Etroit
Home for the night - no shower, no WiFi, but great friends and wine.
Today was a hard one - 2 cols to climb (A col is a high pass between mountains from one valley to the next). The first one Col de Thures was up a 800 metre climb and the second up the Col de la Vallee Etroite was up 700 metres - and there's a big down in between. We are staying in a rugged mountain hut with no WiFi, no showers, no hot water - but lots of interesting walkers and a bottle of rough red.
It's a warm morning - 8°C (The manager of the give tells us its normally 0°C in June). We have breakfast at 7.30 and ring home from the hallways near the kitchen - the only place where there's WiFi. We wait around til 8.30am as we are trying to book one of the very highest mountain huts - Refuge Peclet Polset, high in the Vanoise - and they haven't returned my emails. It's good to get the owner/manager to book ahead as you can usually explain in English/French what you want and then they can make the booking over the phone in French. We're in. So that leaves only tomorrow at Modane where we know there's lots of Hotels.
We leave at 8.30am and already we're walking up through the pine forests. It's quite warm - it is already 22°C and we're drinking lots of mountain water that's icy cold. It's a long way up on the track which soon turns to a stony path. It's starting to get cloudy and turn cold. We continue to climb towards the Col, can't stop, it's too windy and cold. But we do stop for a quick Bonjour to all the walkers we have seen today - at least 20, most of them heading towards us in the traditional direction of the GR5. And it's like a marathon or triathlon at home - there's all shapes and sizes and ages - and bigger women you wouldn't expect to do anything except watch soap and eat all day, go sailing up the paths quicker than I could. it's nice to meet all these people but it also means you have to be careful where you go for a wee stop. Just any old rock won't do any more.
After almost 3hrs of climbing, we go over the Col where we were going to stop for coffee, but it's still too cold and windy. We keep on walking down the other side and find a small grassy patch out of the wind by a stream. It's 11.30am and we are starving by don't want a heavy lunch as there's another Col to climb soon. So we have a small snack of bread and cheese with our coffee.
We now start a steep descent into the Vallee Etroite - a beautiful grassy valley with a fe houses and 2 refuges - both run by Italian's - as we are only about 3k from the Italian border in a part of the country that used to belong to Italy. It's only 1 2k walk along the valley floor before we start to climb again, and we soon see our 4 American friends ahead - they had stopped for lunch at the refuge - Italian sandwiches. We all trek up this long ascent together, but big tagging backwards and forwards as we each stop for a break. Half way up, we need another coffee stop. It's 2pm but we can't stop for lunch - Cardinal rule 2 - don't stop before a hill - and there's still another 2 hrs of climbing to do. We shelter behind a rock as it's now very windy and cold - the temperature has dropped to 14°C. Only 6k to go to the Refuge.
We move on and catch our friends on a steep slope - we play tag again. Stop go, stop go. It's really steep and I'm so glad I have my two trekking poles to haul me up the slopes. In Sisteron, I almost sent one of them home to save weight, but it didn't fit in the box. TG. After a long climb we reach the Cole de la vallee Etroite, and the Refuge Mont Thabor is only 1k away off the GR5. But there's still a climb and we have to cross multiple snow drifts - at least others have crossed them before and the snow is compacted. Then the refuge looms in site. The last 100 meters is a sharp climb but we are there at last. There's a sign at the door that says "take off your shoes" and another that points to the toilets and bagno, whatever that is. We look. Yes there's toilets, but no, there's no shower, just a wash basin with cold water.
Upstairs to the dining room and the beds - about 20 beds per room. I bags the top bunk so I don't get trampled when Ian goes to the loo in the night. No point in unpacking, there's no room. No point in putting clean clothes on, theres' no shower. But we are starving - we stuck to our rule - no eating lunch while there's still an uphill climb - and there was a continuous uphill climb to tMont Thabor. So its 4pm when we dig out some cheese and stale bread, buy a bottle of rough red and sit down to enjoy.
There's snow all around outside and the temperature is dropping really quickly. We go to our dorm - and organise the bunks - this is only the second night we've had to use sleeping sheet liners - a very light weight bag for when a pillow and doona is supplied and that's all. (thanks to Ian who bought the silk liners in Vietnam). There's not much to organic really, I don't even bother unpacking. We get our cheese and ham and hang it in a bag outside - at 0C, it's colder than the fridge. There's no lights in the bedroom, power is at a premium, so we sit up stairs and chat to the 4 Americans, compare notes and wait for dinner. Hot pea soup, cabbage coleslaw followed by squares of polenta with small sausages - we all agree it's marmot meat in the sausage - we've seen dozens of hem today - then a small slice of cheese and a slab of chocolate brownie. Then there's nothing to de except go to bed. It becomes warm very quickly with many bodies in the one room.
Sampling local wine and blogging
Weather closing in on Mont Thabor