Thursday 1st September: Weather: 8°C to 21°C: Cold morning Champoluc, cool day climbing to Tourmaline
Day 16 Champoluc to Grand Tournalin: 8.3k: 5hrs: 10.30am to 3.30pm: 1 x 30 min stop
Ascent/Descent: Ascent 1,153m, Descent 165m, Total up and down 1,318m
Accommodation: Rifugio Grand Tournalin
Leaving Champoluc at 10.30am
Steep climv out of St Jacques
Morning coffee with cream and apple strudel, with a free view
Views to Monte Rosa
Views to Matterhorn and Monte Rosa
Spectacular Alps back drop
Rifugio Grand Tournalin appears
Day 16 was almost a day off - 8.3k and 3hrs 30 mins hiking. But it was most spectacular with clear views to Monte Rosa and later in the day to the Matterhorn. The climb of 1,153 metres to the Rifugio Grand Tournalin at 2,534 metres over a good gradient was relatively easy and we arrived at 3.30pm in brilliant sunshine to a warm welcome and a room to ourselves.
This morning there was no need to get up early but we’re wide awake at 6am and have a cup of tea made with the jug in the room while packing. Breakfast starts at 7.30am, but we stroll down at 8am to an amazing array of everything you could possibly think of. Starting with muesli and yoghurt, then a croissant, and we’re full and haven’t even touched the cakes, biscuits, ham and cheeses, fresh fruit, eggs and toast. It was only $118AUD for the night for the two of us including this huge breakfast. Champoluc is mostly a ski village and they fill the rooms more cheaply with hikers through the summer. The breakfast room is huge, with a capacity of 150 people, but there’s only 6 of us there today.
A relaxing time upstairs calling home and chatting to the grandkids before leaving at 9.45am on a cold 8°C morning. We "want" rather than “need" to drop in to Crai’s supermarket on the way for more of their beautiful cereal bread and butter, with a small cream for coffee later on - a bit decadent and extra weight to carry but it is a shorter day. Passing a Farmacia, we check if it’s possible to get a replacement knee elastic support for Ian but walk out with some expensive contraption that seemed to work well today. No more Monica Seles grunts and groans coming down the mountainside.
It’s 10.30am when we actually start walking up towards St Jacques along the Torrent Eoenson racing down the Ayas Valley. Monte Rosa looms in and out of clouds at the end of the valley as we climb a gently rising path. First Fachey, then the small village of St Jacques where we intended to have coffee, but decide to start the steep ascent for a while before stopping. At 12 midday, we see a concrete slab to perch on for morning coffee, with fabulous view across to the alps, Monte Rosa rising head and shoulders. Someone has followed us up, thinking we were going to the Blue Lake, but he then discovers we’re going to Rifugio Grand Tournalin in a different direction and he has missed the turn about 15 minutes back. Easily done - been there done that. He goes on his way back down and we enjoy a slice of our slab of Apple Strudel, which cost 10Euro ($15AUD), with coffee and fresh cream. A decadent morning tea with unbeatable views.
Moving on and up, the track winds it’s way along a stream, until we get to what seems to be the end of the valley when the track takes a sharp right hand turn and soon we’re at Rifugio Tournalin, tucked away behind a ridge and only visible from 5 minutes away. It’s brilliant sunshine, and we’re welcomed by Ylenia who shows us to our own special room with a king size bed, towel, some biscuits, a fruit drink and a coin for the shower - not your typical Refugio welcome so a surprising nicety. We have a shower, do some washing, then go downstairs for a rather belated lunch at 4pm at the outside tables with a detergent tasting warm beer, watching our washing dry on a little clothes rack beside our table. Lunch is fresh cereal bread with butter, Simon’s cheese from 2 days ago, a bit of green mace, tomato and mayonnaise.
Time to blog while sitting inside in the dining room in the sun streaming through the window with a view of the Alps you’d pay a fortune to see. The washing is almost dry - a slight breeze and low humidity is good for drying clothes - mostly socks which get very dusty, and our shirts, which get very sweaty. Tournalin is a quiet refuge, not many through hikers at this time of the year, but apparently many day hikers coming up from the valley below from St Jacques and Champoluc. We’re impressed with our first refuge in this trio. There’s two more refuges after this one, Barmasse the Cuney and we’re not sure what to expect. Anything has got to be better than Rifugio Miserin where we were on Day 7.
Dinner is at 7pm. Well it was supposed to be until one of the hikers decided to ask teh chef/warden/caretaker a question about a particular hike and had him bailed up for almost an hour while everyone else waited for dinner. It’s almost 8pm when the first course of basil pasta arrives, by which time we’ve eaten all the breadsticks. Then the main course at 8.30pm of heaps of green beans and a few slices of meat. The best meal we’ve had for ages, but by this time we were full pf bread sticks and pasta. Dessert was a chocolate mousse and cream. We finished dinner at 9pm and climbed into our warm cosy bed almost too full to go to sleep.