Steps in the Right Direction: Le Grolle to Raclette's Day 7 Leave Bonatti arrive at LaFouly

This is the morning view out the front of Bonatti

This is the front of Bonatti Refugio

Now just a distant building nestled into the side of a mountain

A look back to yesterdays walk up the side balcony of this valley

Today we are headed over the pass in this picture
we are going over the top of the pass just to the right side of the medium size mouton in this picture.

Headed down to meet Caroline and dump off our items from last night and to pick up a quality lunch!

You can ride your mountain bike around the Tour Mont Blanc, but we never saw any one riding bike...Always pushing their bikes. I say why bother, just hike it. you have free hands that way!

Picnic breakfast, lunch making down by the river side.

Never get enough of these jingle bell cows.

Arriving at Refugio Elena, last chance Hot Chocolate.

Kathi is on the welcome mat.

This stuff is eaten with a spoon!

Mont Dolent to the left, famous glacier coming down the middle.
You can see the gravel rounded half pipe it has left as a moraine.
At one time it was down that far.
Now follow the stream up hill to see the toe of the glacier

Mont Dolent

Chocolate and cookie breaks, happen every mid morning.

MaryAnn and Susan arriving at the top

Last night at Bonatti Refugio we slept in the very top loft, along with Margret, Rita, and MaryAnn. Climbing down a steep ladder we had Chip and Cole sleeping in a walk through room, then in the beginning room there were two bunk beds where Bill & Jenny, and Brian & Sue slept. Technically this was one large space, but divided up into three spaces. We joked about what would happen to the snorers, but I think at some point during the night each of us snorted out a few snores. I know I stopped drinking at the beginning of dinner as it was a long haul off to the bathroom.

Breakfast was a lighter affair with some good coffee and lots of bread choices. We had an early 7:30 start as the weather looked rather questionable for the day. Storms were predicted for later in the afternoon. Today we walked through the high meadow of the Val Veny in route to the Grand Col Ferret (8,320 feet) which is the the boarder between Italy and Switzerland. The valley has the honor of having Mount Dolent, which if you remember from a few days ago has one side in France, Switzerland, and Italy. It is a grand site! But the climb is a steady up.

Today we see scores of people hiking and zig zagging their way up the head wall. The summer grasses are lush and have many cattle grazing on it. We pass a farmer out tending his fence line. The fence line is not electric but rather a colored tape about an inch in width made of plastic fiber. The fence line is held up by skinny fence posts. The cattle somehow understand the suggestion to stay inbounds. I can tell you from past experience that cows from Minnesota need a lot more fencing than that to stay where they belong!

Daniele has us take a trail that is no longer on the maps. By using this trail we avoid hiking with the masses of people on the regular trail. We have ourselves a nice private walk. We come over the top of a hilltop and right there is Refugio Elena or also known as the last stop for cappuccino in Italy. This is our last chance for a very, very thick hot chocolate. This hot chocolate is like drinking a delious candy bar!

What's not to like! Refugio Elena has been the headquarters for longitudinal research of the Glacier de Pré de Bar. We can see the present location of the glacier, evidence of where it it once pushed it's way down the valley and now has receded through time. Inside the Refugio there are photos all the way back to the beginning of photography on this glacier. Global warming is really doing a number on it.

As we head on out to get to the top of the pass, the cows we passed on the way up are following the farmer to get milked. We push on up over what Danielle, our guide, refers to as a gradual uphill. I think she uses the term "gradual uphill" to describe any incline that is less than 90 degrees. The gradual uphill term is becoming an automatic joke with our group. (We are a light hearted group and are really enjoying the trip together.) Whatever you want to call the uphill we know we are going to go up and over the pass followed by a downhill. At the top lies the boarder with Switzerland.

We make the Col and find it a bet chilly and windy. We shoot several pictures of us in Italy and then even more standing in Switzerland. Then we head on down the Swiss side to have lunch in a warm, out of the wind place. The weather seems to have lifted some so we spend a hour of eating and resting. Some people take a nap.

From here we hike down to beautiful views of meadows and yellow wild flowers. The scene from The Sound of Music comes to mind of Gretta asking "father, are we hiking all the way to Switzerland?" Well it seems like a great day to be thinking about this musical as we are back in Switzerland.

We make it down to a Swiss refuge and as some of our group are in buying a water or coffee for the opportunity to use the restroom, a group of around 75 kids descend upon the refuge. None of theses kids buy anything from the refuge, but they all used the bathroom. This type of behavior is bad form. People in our group have to wait a long time to use the bathroom.

Our group needs to break into two groups as we are hiking down to the trailhead and will be shuttled to our hotel. The van only holds 7 hikers so Kathi and I hang out with the second group. We wait for those who were hung up in the bathroom line and then hit the trail. When we arrive at the trailhead Caroline is not there yet so we pulled off our shoes and socks and stuck our feet into the cold stream water for some instant ice therapy. My thoughts turn back to the shower event last night at Bonatti...

Tonight's dinner feature is raclette. No one in our group knows what a raclette is, but we know we are going to be having wine, cheese and potatoes. Raclette is a cheese that is broiler melted and eaten with small golden potatoes. You receive a small plate of melted cheese, put a few potatoes on your plate and then eat it together. You eat that one serving and if you want another you just keep asking for another plate of raclette until you are done. Danielle, Cole, and MaryAnn where having a raclette contest! The waiter serving our table was enjoying the contest! It helped a lot when the other two tables in the room stopped eating, then it was all our table having the cheese. Kathi and I went into the kitchen to shoot some video on how to make the raclette dinner.

We finished the evening by blowing on a special round bugle horn. The horn was past around the table so everyone could have a go at the bugling. All those years of playing the baritone finally paid off, I was able to blast out several notes. I won the bugle horn contest. We had a drink (strong shot of pear flavored alcohol) provided by the chef to help with digestion. And then sat around and chatted well into the late evening. We chatted late enough that first we were asked to leave the dinning room so they could set it for breakfast, and then we were asked to come inside for the night so they could lock the patio door. Better get off to bed. A good day for sure.