Woke up yesterday at
around 1 am. Twisted and turned to no avail, could not get back to sleep, so
started writing up events from the eve.
Somehow, in these multi day treks, no matter how tired I am, I can't sleep for more than 4-5 hours straight, which is normally not an issue during my normal life, cos if left undisturbed, really tired and got nothing planned the next day, I can manage 12 straight no problemo!!!!! I usually put it down to less than ideal sleeping conditions (sleeping outdoors in a tent and movement limiting sleeping bags, freezing temperatures, inadequate surface padding), but this can't be said of the TMB with comfy beds and warm duvet covers so far.
Got out of bed and went to the drying room to collect the drenched clothes and belongings, and horror oh horror, everything pretty much in the same state as I had left them. The furnace must have run out of firewood overnight soon after I put my things in the dry room. What this really means is wearing wet jacket and rucksack all day, no dry clothes to wear the next day (since I had done my laundry just before going to bed and only had 1 set of clothes to wear on the day), and worst of all, the added weight of water from the wet artifacts.
Checked the weather outside, and seems like another miserable day in sight. The high peaks were still smothered in the clouds, albeit no rain.
After packing up, breakfast, we set off just after 8, still sore from the efforts of the eve. Right off the bat, the steep Col de la Seigne welcomes us to the new day of hike. We are gradually engulfed by a thick fog as we proceed to the higher grounds. No visibility= no pictures…
As the muscles warm up, the soreness subsides, and we can pretty much hike at our normal level. As we approach the summit, tiny flakes of snow start peppering us, quickly turning into equally small hail pellets.
We spend no time at the summit and tackle the gradual descent leading to the Italian section of the trek. As we drop below the cloud line, visibility returns, as does the photo shoot... by the time we reach the upper parts of the valley, weather has pretty much cleared up, leaving only the highest peaks, hidden.
We take a break at the base of Refugio Elisabetta. I decide to hike up to the refuge which lies about 50 meters higher to get a clearer view of the glaciers. Jeff stays behind to mend his aching ankle, and look after my belongings. Hiking up without any weight on the back is just effortless!!!!
Grab a sandwich to be eaten straight away and a couple of cans of sprite, to reward us on our last peak of the day, and we proceed with the trek.
As we reach lac Combat at the bottom of the valley, we take a right to the Col Alpe Superieure. From the literature, this was meant to be an easy peasy uphill...NOT...!!! On the plus side, as we gain altitude, the views just become increasingly gorgeous (expect to see the same words over and over again :P)
The col we are tackling actually runs almost parallel to the range of mountains that include the Mont Blanc, and spectacular views of the peaks from the side can be enjoyed as we progress. The Mont Blanc itself however stays hidden behind its burka. What's the point of wearing no clothes, but putting on a veil...pfff...!!!
Quick lunch stop at the summit of the col, before attacking the gentle downhill slope, that gets fairly technical in some sections. Gentle until we get to Courmoyeur ski lifts. We hesitate for a moment to catch the lift down before putting up with the downhill. Big mistake!!! My knees before that point had started to ache big time again, and every step going down was a torture. Technical steep slope coupled with terrain with loose rocks didn't help either.
After finally exiting the trail, we check the hotel address, and guess what folks? Address not mentioned anywhere on the e mail correspondence with the hotel, and we had both missed that out.
We ask for info from people around, and get rough directions, which we proceed to follow.
Was going down a flight of stairs when I was overtaken by a woman in her 50s...'Shame on you PiGgY', I thought, can't even keep up with an old woman!!!!
At the bottom of the stairs, we reconvene to decide where to go, and the same super Mamie, probably seeing how lost and in pain we were, offered to help. She first looks up the hotel in her smartphone, calls the hotel to ask for directions, before walking us in person there...!!!!!! WOW...!!!! Italian hospitality...!!! :)
Quick shower, whatsapp, Facebook, email check, and we go hobble to dinner to allegedly the best pizza in town. Good ingredients on thin crust pizza; can't go wrong there.
Pizza is so large (diameter around 40cms) that even I struggle to finish it... By the time you reach the second half, pizza is stone cold, and cold pizza for me is virtually inedible.
Stats of the day :
26 kms
9 hours 30 hike time
5500 kcal burnt
https://www.
Refuge des Mottets 1870m
Col de la Seigne 2516m
Down to Rifugio Elisabetta 2195m
Down to lac Combat
Up Alpe Superieure 2300m
Courmoyeur 1226m
Somehow, in these multi day treks, no matter how tired I am, I can't sleep for more than 4-5 hours straight, which is normally not an issue during my normal life, cos if left undisturbed, really tired and got nothing planned the next day, I can manage 12 straight no problemo!!!!! I usually put it down to less than ideal sleeping conditions (sleeping outdoors in a tent and movement limiting sleeping bags, freezing temperatures, inadequate surface padding), but this can't be said of the TMB with comfy beds and warm duvet covers so far.
Got out of bed and went to the drying room to collect the drenched clothes and belongings, and horror oh horror, everything pretty much in the same state as I had left them. The furnace must have run out of firewood overnight soon after I put my things in the dry room. What this really means is wearing wet jacket and rucksack all day, no dry clothes to wear the next day (since I had done my laundry just before going to bed and only had 1 set of clothes to wear on the day), and worst of all, the added weight of water from the wet artifacts.
Checked the weather outside, and seems like another miserable day in sight. The high peaks were still smothered in the clouds, albeit no rain.
After packing up, breakfast, we set off just after 8, still sore from the efforts of the eve. Right off the bat, the steep Col de la Seigne welcomes us to the new day of hike. We are gradually engulfed by a thick fog as we proceed to the higher grounds. No visibility= no pictures…
As the muscles warm up, the soreness subsides, and we can pretty much hike at our normal level. As we approach the summit, tiny flakes of snow start peppering us, quickly turning into equally small hail pellets.
We spend no time at the summit and tackle the gradual descent leading to the Italian section of the trek. As we drop below the cloud line, visibility returns, as does the photo shoot... by the time we reach the upper parts of the valley, weather has pretty much cleared up, leaving only the highest peaks, hidden.
We take a break at the base of Refugio Elisabetta. I decide to hike up to the refuge which lies about 50 meters higher to get a clearer view of the glaciers. Jeff stays behind to mend his aching ankle, and look after my belongings. Hiking up without any weight on the back is just effortless!!!!
Grab a sandwich to be eaten straight away and a couple of cans of sprite, to reward us on our last peak of the day, and we proceed with the trek.
As we reach lac Combat at the bottom of the valley, we take a right to the Col Alpe Superieure. From the literature, this was meant to be an easy peasy uphill...NOT...!!! On the plus side, as we gain altitude, the views just become increasingly gorgeous (expect to see the same words over and over again :P)
The col we are tackling actually runs almost parallel to the range of mountains that include the Mont Blanc, and spectacular views of the peaks from the side can be enjoyed as we progress. The Mont Blanc itself however stays hidden behind its burka. What's the point of wearing no clothes, but putting on a veil...pfff...!!!
 |
| Milkas...:) |
Quick lunch stop at the summit of the col, before attacking the gentle downhill slope, that gets fairly technical in some sections. Gentle until we get to Courmoyeur ski lifts. We hesitate for a moment to catch the lift down before putting up with the downhill. Big mistake!!! My knees before that point had started to ache big time again, and every step going down was a torture. Technical steep slope coupled with terrain with loose rocks didn't help either.
 |
| Remnants of what used to be a river of glacier... |
After finally exiting the trail, we check the hotel address, and guess what folks? Address not mentioned anywhere on the e mail correspondence with the hotel, and we had both missed that out.
We ask for info from people around, and get rough directions, which we proceed to follow.
Was going down a flight of stairs when I was overtaken by a woman in her 50s...'Shame on you PiGgY', I thought, can't even keep up with an old woman!!!!
At the bottom of the stairs, we reconvene to decide where to go, and the same super Mamie, probably seeing how lost and in pain we were, offered to help. She first looks up the hotel in her smartphone, calls the hotel to ask for directions, before walking us in person there...!!!!!! WOW...!!!! Italian hospitality...!!! :)
Quick shower, whatsapp, Facebook, email check, and we go hobble to dinner to allegedly the best pizza in town. Good ingredients on thin crust pizza; can't go wrong there.
Pizza is so large (diameter around 40cms) that even I struggle to finish it... By the time you reach the second half, pizza is stone cold, and cold pizza for me is virtually inedible.
Stats of the day :
26 kms
9 hours 30 hike time
5500 kcal burnt
https://www.
Refuge des Mottets 1870m
Col de la Seigne 2516m
Down to Rifugio Elisabetta 2195m
Down to lac Combat
Up Alpe Superieure 2300m
Courmoyeur 1226m
Véronique Koa Wing Hmmm miam. Well deserved
ReplyDelete27 August at 22:34 via mobile · Like
Francis Cheung Pizza. Yummy. But you need way way way more calories for recovery.....TWO pizzas!
28 August at 00:26 via mobile · Like
Dean Phillips Why do you call yourself PiGgy?
28 August at 01:14 via mobile · Like
Kervyn Robert Koa Wing Dean Phillips: lol, you out of all people should know that.remember the conversion we had at lunch in one if the engineering buildings, and you told me about the story about pigs and demons? Well I adopted the nickname pigdemon then... over time it just got cut to PiGgY..
28 August at 04:15 via mobile · Like
Kervyn Robert Koa Wing Francis Cheung: you are right, read about my next post... I might have been able to eat a bit more than this gigantic pizza if they had brought it in smaller fresh batches as and when required...but no way given the format offered...and trust me, that was a freaking huge pizza...
28 August at 04:18 via mobile · Like
Dean Phillips I thought it wad but was surprised you still use it