Steps in the Right Direction: Day 11 Closing the loop Hiking back to Chamonix a time to Celebrate

Day 11 - Close our loop on the Grand Balcon, hiking to Lacs des Chéserys for the opportunity to take a swim in an Alpine lake.....brrrrrrr.

We have an early pack up and shuttle this morning due to the weather forecast. The earlier we leave the better chance we will have to have encounter no thunderstorms. We take a short drive to the Col des Montets where we begin our hike along the Grand Balcon. Kathi and I are in the second shuttle making us the fast hikers. We have the job to catch up with the first group before the first water break. The trail switches back and forth up a solid face of a mountain. Thankfully the trail is well maintained and there are no sketchy parts. For once Eve is not bounding up the trail with us gasping to stay with her, rather she sets a very reasonable pace for us to close the gap with the first group.

We meet up with the first group at an overlook with a view, and what a view it is. The sun was making the mountain glisten and the glaciers look spectacular with the clouds wafting through the valley. This is just the first of the next one hundred photo opportunities along the next four miles of this balcony trail.

By now our group is quite efficient with taking turns taking pictures of each other and how everyone wants the shot set up. Feet in the shot or waist up, no cutting off at the ankles...Along the way we talk about the mountains and what their names are, the names of the glaciers, and what the towns names are at the bottom of the glaciers.

Danielle spots a couple of Ibex at the top of the mountain. The Ibex is an alpine mountain goat that lives high in the alps and due to its protected status does not seem to be too afraid of people. It is another hot day, so the ibex are high in the mountains. Male and female ibexes come together only once a year for mating season, otherwise they live separate from each other. I think we saw two or three ibex, it was difficult to tell as they were moving around. We shot some pictures as best we could and made our way to the spectacularly situated Lac des Cheserys. There are several little lakes up in the area we are at, so we stop at one of the lakes and have it all to ourselves. Chip, Cole, Armon (Eve's son who is studying to be a guide), Eve and Mary Ann all went swimming. The lake was chilly, but supposedly warmer than usual. Thanks but I'll just put my feet in.

After the swim and lunch it was time to move on. Our group moves along taking pictures and enjoying the day. We stop right across the valley from a perfect view of Aiguille du Midi. We will have the opportunity to go to the Midi tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. We finally close the loop of our tour at La Flégère (6150') where our unforgettable journey began 10 days ago. Here we are surprised with champagne and crackers. Earlier this afternoon Armon ran ahead from the group to the gondola at La Flégère, took the gondola down to pick up the celebration items, then came back up on the gondola, and got the celebration party ready. Must be nice to have young legs! Once everyone had a glass of champagne, we toasted the good trip, good weather, healthy hikers, and amazing guides that made our trip so very easy and breathtaking. The feeling of having walked around Mount Blanc is a feeling of satisfaction given that a mere six months ago I was sitting on the sofa wondering if I would be able to walk on this new foot of mine. My foot has done well, and I have gathered a few new blisters and will lose a toenail or two, but all is well.

As we were getting our champaign ready Amy arrived at the Les Flègère deck. Amy is hiking the Tour Mont Blanc (TMB) by herself, meeting people along the way but doing the self guided and and unsupported version. When she finishes hiking the TMB, she is planning will then keep walking to the coastline of France. Amazing perseverance! Amy is armed with her trusty TMB guide book and a heavy pack.

I have not written about our head guide Daneille. She is adventuresome, knowledgable, enjoys sharing French language lessons especially to those who are multilingually challenged, enlightens us with cultural lessons and has a good sense of humor. She has an interesting life story. She started her career as a music teacher, and then went to grad school in geography. During her free time she would participate in mountain bike races and was discovered by the France mountain biking association who asked her if she wanted to ride professionally. She did that for several years before missing the Olympics by one place. Danielle decided to go back to school to become a professional hiking guide. Here she worked her way up from a driver, to an assistant guide to a lead guide. In the winters she teaches cross country skiing to school children. Sounds like a great lifestyle to stay active!

Danielle is very interesting to talk with as she always has a story or two to share that directly relates to either the location we are hiking or some crazy thing she did when she was younger. These life lessons have provided her with great wisdom. Danielle will tell you one winter day when she thought skiing down a glacier would be a good idea, she was lucky to return home and only leave her back pack up in a crevasse on the mountain. The snow on the glacier was actually not safe to ski on that day and she fell and slid quite a ways down the glacier on her back. She has summitted Mont Blanc three times using two different climbing routes and skied down it once. She has walked around the mountain more than fifty times. She is in fantastic shape, and maybe only broke a sweat once during our trip, when she mentioned she was a tad warm. She was the perfect guide instilling confidence in our group

The cable car at La Flégère carries us down into the valley over alpine pastures to Les Praz where we meet with Caroline and return to the hotel where we started from just eleven days ago.

We have a huge room this time, it could comfortably sleep 6. We unpack, but I have a hard time taking my boots off as that means the trek is over and it has truly been a moving experience. One I would gladly do again.

Hiking: 5 miles. Elevation gain: 2,460 ft., Elevation loss: 1,103 ft.