DAY 33: Wednesday July 4th: Col de Forclaz to Champex:
Walk: 16k 9hrs: No wind, a little cloudy, Magic day, late storms, 8°C to 18°C
Accommodation: Au Plein Air Champex
8am - Leaving Hotel de Forclaz
Looking back at Col de Balme - yesterday's walk.
Glacier du Trient - getting close
Glacier du Trient - real close now
Blue skies and beautiful alps
Only 1200 m more - straight UP
Just a stone's throw to the glacier
Time for a coffee break 1/2 way up
That gap - Fenetre d'Arpetteat 2665m is where we're heading
Head down, upward and onward
But time to stop and stare
Friends meet - Darren and Andrea - we met at Col de Bonhmoome
Can't help myself - had to include
Top of Fenetre d'Arpette 2665M
C'mon - throw me some cheese
Down again - Ian did ask if I was OK - before he took the photo
Fenetre D'Arpette - the window in the mountains - you can see why
2 hrs later - a long way down from Fenetre d'Arpette in Background
Down to the Forests of Champex
Finally Champex on the Lake
Another magical day - sorry - I've run out of adjectives. We decided to do a difficult variant of the Tour de Mont Blanc, over the Fenetre d'Arpette at 2665 m- a climb of 1200 m. We walked beside the Glacier du Trient, then a helter skelter scramble over boulders on hands and knees to the Fenetre. We passed a milestone today 600k - and that doesn't include back-tracking 6-7k to find my lost Body4U cap.
We’re up early and shower. Our washing strung around the room didn't dry so we’ll need to hang stuff off our backpack- We're downstairs at 6.30am to skype home before breakfast at 7am. It’s nice - hot tea, fresh bread and a croissant, butter and jam. I save my bread for lunch. We’re running low on snacks.
It's a crisp 8°C as we leave the Hotel de Forclaz to walk beside an old irrigation channel built in 1895 to carry water from the Glacier du Trient to the farms in Forclaz. It's flat for 3km. The temperature drops to 5°C near the Glacier and then we start to scramble upwards, often on hands and knees. We catch up to 2 Americans doing the Chamonix to Zermatt High Walk with a personal guide. Half way up we stop for coffee before attacking the second half, a steep 45°. A group of 15 is coming down and they courteously stand aside for us - mountain etiquette means give way to uphill climbers. Soon we meet Darren and Andrea, an Australian couple doing the Tour de Mont Blanc anti clockwise, whom we had met at the southern end of the TMB near the Col de Bonhomme. It was a surprise 40th Birthday present from his girlfriend and we said - see you half way round - and we did – near the Fenetre d’Arpette. The climb gets steeper and after 3 hrs of near vertical climbing we reach the top. The views to both sides are amazing on a near perfect day. Time for a cup of tea and a tiny piece of cheese at the Fenetre d’Arpette.
Heading down, it's really steep and there's snow drifts making it hard to get a footing. Looking back, it's clear why it’s called the Fenetre d'Arpette - the Window of Arpette. It’s a huge U shaped chunk out of top of the mountain. Another 2 and it levels off into the forests. It's 2pm and a warm 18°C . Time for lunch – one slice of bread to share with a squashed tomato and small piece of cheese.
We roll down a narrow dirt road into Champex at 3.30pm to the Au Plein Air which doesn’t open til 4pm so we find a bar to have a drink with nuts before returning at 4pm. We have a basic room with a shower down the hall. We're still starving and thirsty - Ian goes back to the little shop we’d seen before and buys a half bottle of red, some beer and a packet of chips. He proudly returns with his haul, then discovers the bottle is a cork top - so we donate a fork to the cause. I'm blogging and checking out the State of Origin scores - Qld Wins 21-20 - Yeh!! There's no TV downstairs - there is but she won't turn it on because she thinks people argue over what to watch. But Ian found Eurosport on his Samsung tablet to watch Andrew Greipel wins the sprint finish of the T de F after Mark Cavendish crashed out 3k from home.
The Au Plein Air is run by Lis who helped write the Cicerone book on The tour de Mont Blanc. I was keen to come here instead of our usual Belvedere Hotel. Dinner is at 7pm and there's only a handful of people as it's early in the season. There's 2 guys opposite us - one is French the other is Nepalese and they're married to 2 French sisters. The Nepalese guy has a Tibetan/Indian Restaurant in Shanghai. The 2 of them walked from Courmayeur to Champex in 11 hours – normally a 3 day walk Tomorrow they are doing another 3 day in 1 walk from Champex to Chamonix.
Dinner is really nice - mixed salad, followed by Chicken, cauliflower and potato wedges then ice cream. I eat the salad, but not much else. After being starved all day, I stuffed myself with chips and peanuts before we even started dinner.
Back to our bedroom - it's quite spacious with twin beds and a balcony. Time to blog and email - it's nice having strong WifI in the room. Tomorrow is an easy 15k walk to La Fouly. But the forecast is rain.