Steps in the Right Direction: Courmayeur to Bonatti

Day 6 - A balcony trail leads us to the Rifugio Bonatti with magnificent views.

Today we start hiking right from our hotel and onto La Montagne de la Saxe (6970'). We hike through town getting a close view of some pretty snazzy vacation homes.

Our hike today rewards us with magnificent views of the Grandes Jorasses, Brenva Glacier and the Italian side of Mont Blanc soaring into the air. We stop at Rifugio Giorgio Bertome for some hot chocolate, cookies and the use of their bathrooms and water facility. When we leave it is not much further up to the top, before we reach a balcony trail. This trail is just bursting with views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountains. The clouds are still hanging in the valley due to the rains from late last night and the sky looks a bit hazy, but the views are still magnificent!

We follow the balcony trail along the side of the mountains taking in the beauty. We stop for a lunch on the overlook down into the footings of what use to be a farmers shed. The wood is long gone and the foundation is still standing up to the test of time. Further on our hike, Danielle leads us up away from the balcony trail to what must only be considered the upper balcony. It is blazing hot today and we really feel the heat as we lumber up the mountain. We stop amongst dozens of piles of rocks. Here we take one of Danielles quizzes. “Why are these rocks in piles?” Hmmm, answers: grave yard, art work, snow retention… something for cows? Yes, but what… Well, the answer is that they are piles of rocks to increase the amount of grass available for the cows to eat. Well, I suppose you gain some benefit by piling the rocks into several larger piles.

We continue on the upper balcony trail and arrive at the Rifugio Bonatti (6745'), named after the famous Italian alpinist and adventurer Walter Bonatti. This is one of the best-kept huts in the Alps, and the walls inside are decorated with pictures showcasing Walter Bonatti's impressive life story. Plus the refugio is only 20 some years old, a new born by local standards. When we arrive we have to surrender our hiking poles to Eve, who puts them in a safe place. We have to take our boots off and place them in the boot room. The boot room is quite an experience. The room has nice orderly shelves where you put your boots and swap out for a pair of crocs. Make sure to tie some crazy knots into your boots so that no one takes them thinking the boots belonged to them. Also I have no words for the stench of the boot room. Just imagine seventy-five sweaty pairs of hiking boots sitting side by side in a small ten by seven room. It is quite a lasting olfactory memory. Cough, cough, cough.

After the boots are put away, Danielle gives each of us a shower token and very careful instructions on the shower. For your shower the token will provide you about 5 gallons of water, hot or cold depends on direction of the lever. The shower is not timed. It is based on the amount of water. Get wet, shut off water, soap up, and rinse off. Bring your own towel. Ok, seems simple enough. Next we are taken to our REI private dormitory location. We are all staying in a wing, which is away from the rest of the Refugio. The first room has two bunk beds, the next room you walk into holds two beds, and in that room there is a steep stepladder like stairway to the loft where five of us stay. The set up is one large space with the loft being the end of the line. Kathi and I are in the loft with MaryAnn, Margaret, and Rita. I make a mental note to stop drinking any liquid around 6:30, which is going to be difficult because I think dinner is at 7pm. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night looks like a big ordeal.

We get settled in and head down to take our showers. There are three men showers and three women showers for the whole Rifugio. As I stand in line I listen to all of the swearing coming out of the showers. Words we should not write here. The words used were ether in reference to how cold the water was or in reference to the fact they ran out of water before completing the rinse. I am mentally keeping track of our directions and listening to any helpful hints the quieter showerers are providing. 1) Token slot is difficult to see, don’t look, just feel for it and then drop in your token in. 2) Remove all clothing before putting in token. 3) Don’t drop your token on the floor 4) Turn handle to the left before dropping in the token. 5) Get wet, stop water a.s.a.p.! 6) Lather up and 7) Enjoy a wonderful hot shower with remaining water. While I am collecting my helpful hints I hear MaryAnn, one of our hiking friends, in the women’s shower. She was blessings all sorts of things. She was having temperature issues, apparently the water was so blessed cold that well something was frozen over. I have never heard such words put together before. In fact when she opened the shower door I was expecting ice cubes to be hanging off of her. I was so delighted to be next in the shower she exited…I bravely stepped forward to face the frigid glacier like shower. I undressed, turned the temperature handle to the left, and dropped the token. I was rewarded with the blessing of hot water. In fact it was so hot I had to adjust the handle and turn it down some. I had the most pleasant shower; thankfully I had all of those verbal cues.

After showers we sit outside to enjoy the alpine glow of the sunshine on the mountains over some very enjoyable easy talk amongst our hiking group. We learned that Bill spoke German, yeap, he memorized one poem in German about a cow. Its first three words are moo, moo, moo. Bill recited the poem to its completion and then we all laughed. MaryAnn, now thawed out from her iceberg shower bestowed upon us her memorized German poem from High School. It started with eins, zwei, drei (one, two, three) and then off into some other German words. We all laugh at our less than gifted abilities of speaking a foreign language.

Dinner tonight is soup, then some mixed veggies with onions, and some sort of quiche with

onions. Hmmm, I can’t do onions so I look for some bread and butter. Brian in our group is allergic

to peanuts and has some steamed carrots that he shares with me. Thank you! Then we have a

cheese course, followed by dessert. Following dessert we shared in a special friendship cup called a grolle. It is traditionally used to drink the "caffè alla valdostana", a typical beverage made of coffee, grappa, genipi liqueur and spices. The mixture is heated before being poured into the special grolle cup and set on fire. The ritual plans that every participant drinks from one of the spouts and passes it to the friend on his right, who drinks from the next spout. As you pass the grolle to the next person, you say “Sante Bonheur” (I wish you health and happiness) and that person replies “Que grand bien te fasse” (All the best to you.) Danielle and Eve provided much coaching to each of us as we attempted to say the French phrases. The process continues in a circle without setting the grolle down until the cup is empty. By this time, all participants feel a close bond of friendship. Our grolle makes its way around the group three times. It was a happy enjoyable time for all.

Dinner is a longer affair so when we are finished it is rather late so we head off to bed. We get ready for bed and have to go up and down the ladder a few times. The whole rifugio is getting pretty quiet for the night so we say good night and climb into our beds. As I am going to bed I recall I was not going to drink anything for supper. Hmm I forgot, the Grolle was just too much fun.

At some point during the night I hear and see two of my loft mates headed off to go the bathroom. I resist the urge to join the bathroom conga line.