The rain backed off a bit just before 10AM and the forecast called for clearing in the afternoon, so we put our extra stuff in storage, checked out and took the 10:15 bus to Chamonix Center, carrying our big hiking packs.
The weather gods were with us again. We started hiking at 10:30 and it rained only a little bit on and off during the morning. We were doing a hike called the Walkers Haute Route that goes from Chamonix to Zermatt. It is a variation of the Classic Haute Route, which is a high mountain, technical route between Chamonix and Zermatt. Our route does not pass over any glaciers and we never get much above about 9,500 feet. We should be fine as long as the weather holds.
We had potentially thought of combining the first 2 days' walks - about 2 hours to Argentierre and then about 5 more hours to Trient, but we were tired and it looked gray ahead of us, so we stopped in Argentierre at 12:45. We got beds in a Gite, Le Belvidere, which is sort of a guest house with rooms and dorms. We are in a 4-bed room which costs 10.40 Euros each, and we had a choice of having dinner here for about 10 Euros or paying 1.75 Euros each to use the guest kitchen and cook our own food. We went with the guest kitchen and cooked pasta for dinner. It helped to lighten the weight in my pack.
Even though I hiked only a short time today, I was very tired and it was great to take a nap this afternoon. I read for awhile and then slept at least two hours. After we got up, we went for a walk to the store in town and I called Joshua. It was great to talk to him. I bought a beer on the way back to the Gite, and sat and read and wrote notes while I enjoyed my beer. I also patted the dogs for a while. They have a golden lab and 2 golden retrievers and they are all very friendly. I really like dogs and I enjoyed spending some time with them. We cooked pasta for dinner and went to bed early.
9/01: I was reading The Lonely Planet pages about France last night and I realized I described the gondola and cable cars in Cahmonix incorrectly. The Aiguille du Mida is a telepherique, the highest and probably the scariest cable car (not gondola) in the world. The Le Brevent peak on the other side of the valley (where we went paragliding) is reached by a combination of a lower lift, the telecabine (gondola) and an upper lift, the telepherique (cable car).
We had cereal for breakfast and left about 8:30 for today's hike. We hiked 12 kilometeres with a total of 953 meters of ascent. It took us 3.5 hours to reach the Col du Balme refuge where we stopped for hot chocolate. Just before we got to the refuge, we crossed the border from France into Switzerland.
A refuge is a mountain hut where you can get food and drinks and spend the night. I'm glad we weren't staying there because the woman who served us our hot chocolate was a grumpy old lady. I was quite happy to stop for a hot drink though. I really felt the hike up (953 meters is about 3,100 feet), carrying that big pack, and it got very cold as we went up. The sun was behind the clouds, it was misty and quite breezy, and Shari's little thermometer read 42 degrees.
The trail was downhill after the refuge and we got to the village of Trient about 3PM. It got warmer as we went down, but I was still looking forward to a shower to warm me up, because my clothes were soaked with sweat. It's weird to be hiking uphill when it's kind of cold and be sweting (from the exertion) and chilled (from the cool air) at the same time.
Trient is a tiny village with nothing much in it, just a few places to stay and a couple of restaurants. We checked into the Relais du Mont Blanc and got 2 beds in the dormitory. Checking in was an interesting experience because the woman at reception spoke no English and I know only a few French words. Even though we are in Switzerland, they speak French because they are so close to the French border.
We decided not to buy dinner because it seemd sort of expensive, and I want to use up some of my food to lighten my pack. We decided to get an order of fries at one of the restaurants and then eat pasta and sauce left over from last night.
The shower was great (very hot) and it felt nice to put on my long underwear bottom and top. I think I'll take some Ibuprofin before bed tonight and I'm sure I'll sleep very well. Today was a pretty tiring hike, but tomorrow is a much bigger hike. It's only 2 more kilometers than today (14 versus 12) but we have a total elevation gain of just over 4,500 feet. Oh well, as Shari keeps twelling me, we can do it. The book we brought for the hike is very good and it gives alternative routes for some of the days hikes. We can take an alternate route tomorrow and cut out about 500 feet of elevation gain if we want to, but we will go for the higher route unless the weather is bad.
We are in a 12-bed dormitory room and luckily only 2 other people showed up for the room - 2 men probably around my age. We slept with the windows open and it was quite cool but each bed had 2 blankets so it was a wonderful night's sleep.
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