Day 10 Triert to Argentière

Day 10 - today we take the shuttle down the pass to a tiny little town called: Triert where in the 50's the Tour De France went through.  It is a very memorable Tour de France as the road was so steep here that the bikers did not have the right gears for the hill so they had to carry their bikes up the hill.  The road looks pretty narrow and plenty steep.  We are headed in the opposite direction.  Wind is blowing over the top of the glacier and down the valley making the air very chilly.    Since we are going uphill it is not to long before we are warm!

Kathi and I are in the first group along with Chip, Cole, and our guide Danielle. We are moving along and all of a sudden Danielle stops and said there was a Chamois across the valley on the the mountain rocks.  These mountain goats are pretty allusive.  They are hunted, and so have a pretty keen nose for avoiding people.  No matter how hard I tried to see it I could not, there where a few others who said they could see it... I think they just wanted to believe they saw one!  

Not much further up the trail we stop again for another Chamois sighting...sure, I know where this is going.  But this time there were about 10 or more of them on the hillside across from us.  Kathi has been packing the binoculars in her backpack everyday and today is the first time we needed them! The chamois is a mid-sized mountain goat. A fully grown chamois reaches a height of 28–31 inches. Males, which weigh 66–132 lb, are slightly larger than females, which weigh 55–99 lb.  Both males and females have short, straightish horns which are hooked backwards near the tip, the horn of the male being thicker. In summer, the fur has a rich brown color which turns to a light grey in winter. Distinct characteristics are white contrasting marks on the sides of the head with pronounced black stripes below the eyes, a white rump and a black stripe along the back.  

We are joined by the second group and play pass the binoculars around a bit more before moving along the trail.  The hike to the pass is two thirds in the forest and a third above tree line.  We can see the top of the pass so it seems easier to hike as you see the progress that you are making.  Along the way there is a renovated stone barn which doubles as a hiker shelter during storms.  We stop here for our daily cookie and chocolate break.

Our path follows an old smuggler's route back into France. We hike to Col de Balme (7,186'), the border between Switzerland and France.  I'm not sure what they were smuggling up this path but it must have been prize merchandise as it is a good climb to get to the top and back down.  We shoot several pictures of the boarder crossing and a few more panoramas of Mount Blanc. It was a good moment up there .  We spend about twenty minutes at the Col viewing the Chamonix valley.  The views to Mont Blanc are absolutely phenomenal!  And here we are, standing looking at the city where we began, looking up at the massive mountain...  It is difficult to believe the walk around Mont Blanc is almost finished.  

We descend to have lunch at a summer dairy, but the clouds are gathering and they don't look too friendly.  Danielle is trying to get a good forecast for us from her sources she can reach on her phone.  Seems like we need to get moving so we collect our items and get moving.  Eve does not like stormy weather and seems to be a bit of a lightening magnet so she high tails it out of there with the first group of hikers.  We leave with Danielle and hike a slower respectable pace.  We encounter people picking blueberries and having picnic lunches, no one seems too concerned about the clouds.

We found some fox scat balanced on a protruding edge of a rock.  It was quite colorful as the fox had been eating blueberries.  We also learned that fox like to go on top of things that are taller to " showcase" their scat.  We are in no big hurry as we chit chat our way down to the international road. The weather that Eve was fast hiking to avoid never came our way.  The trail down to the road was really steep, and I can't tell you how happy I was not to be racing down it. 

For dinner tonight we enjoyed a local favorite of fondue.  It was amazing!  We had all local meats, veggies and salads plus a fruity dessert.  To finish the evening we enjoyed a local group of two French accordion folk singers. One of the guys occasionally yodeled along to the song.  Neither of these guys spoke in English, but they strongly encouraged each  table to go up and sing with them.  Chip went up and sang some sort of Russian song he had learned in his youth.  Later the band was playing a polka so Kathi and I got up and did a polka dance.  Soon Chip and Mary Ann joined us in the dance.  It was all good fun.  One big local party, to bad we did not understand the language to know all that was being said.

It has certainly been a pleasure to have the gift of guides and the transportation support, to give us the opportunity to experience the local cultures and customs as we trekked  around this great mountain.  

Hiking: 8.5 miles; Elevation gain: 3,507'; Elevation loss: 3,225'.

Wind is blowing down off of the glacier, and it is kind of chilly...

Allusive Chamois

Headed up to the pass

looking back at where we have traveled

Still hiking towards the pass

Inside of shelter for hikers if caught in a storm

This is the renovated storm shelter.  It is made of local rocks

Our feet standing on the boarder Switzerland to the right  and France on the left

Mont Blanc

Where we stopped for lunch, Mont Blanc in the back

Our Group :)

Main street has Mont Blanc as a back drop.