26th Aug 2013: Tour Du Mont Blanc Day 4

Breakfast today, am ordering a couple of sunny side ups, on top of the cold cuts and for once, proper bread that are included in our package for this hotel...!!! Have been having very little protein during this trek, since not a lot of meat has been served so far. Add to that the fact that I've been only having very light lunches everyday, since Jeff hardly drinks nor eats anything during the day, despite the energy spent. Bottom line, I feel my body is lacking the building blocks it needs to repair itself properly, and I need to make up for it, now that I have the chance..
2 euros per egg, but I don't bloody care, am having my eggs Dexter style...!!! I literally stuff my face up, even more than usual, and gulp down several glasses of fruit juice, much to the amusement of Jeff. Food bliss, and I have to say, I now empathise with people who have specific food cravings... :) :) :)

Whilst packing up, big Shit, my baby missing...!!! I never leave my camera behind for fear of it being stolen, and this time, I had forgotten it at the hotel restaurant...!!!! Drop everything and run there, and luckily find it where I left it... Scare of my life...!!!!!!!!
Wrap up the packing and proceed to settle the hotel Bill. Room charges for the 2 of us is 99 euros. The nice lady rounds it up to 100, which means that my eggs have effectively only cost a more reasonable 1 Euro… loving the Italians so far... :)

We depart at 9.30, which is fairly late by our standards. We needed to hang around till the banks opened, since Jeff hadn't had time to exchange money and needed some foreign currency.
Besides, after having checked the trek profile of the day, we thought it would be a relatively easy affair, and therefore no need for an early departure, as we are aligning ourselves with the recommended daily distance and elevation quota. So far, we had almost been doubling up on days with respect to the recommended stops. In our quest to get the TMB done faster, we have covered the equivalent of 4.5 days of hike in 2.5, which was has put a tremendous amount of strain on our bodies. So today is really about recovery, or so we thought... ... ...

That's the hotel where we were staying...

Word of advice, not a good idea to change currency in Italy, since the conversion rates are about 10 per cent worse than what I got them for in Mauritius.

Walking out of town, we notice how nice all the dwellings look. Almost all of them made of chiseled rocks for bricks, and usually wooden roof covered with in a slate like material.

The trail starts off in a nice forest. Good thing about those is that we are usually sheltered from the sun, and during ascents this makes for a relatively more comfortable walk. Downside, no views, no pictures...
We settle in a nice climbing pace, happily chatting away, until we reach a dead end??? Did we miss a turn somewhere again??? Start looking around, and checking the map, and it seems we should have taken a left well before...!!! But we thought we did follow all the TMB markings...
So back we go...relaxed day on the TMB? Only fools would dream of those...!!!

Jeff in the distance...Yeah...I have to play catch up again... :(

200 meters (elevation only, much more in terms of distance) down, we finally see the sign indicating the turn. It's an easily missed sign actually, tucked way on the left side of the trail. Most trekkers usually look down during ascents, and absence of views means that you don't look out in the distance as much as you should. We were also fooled by a TMB dummy marking that was well past that signpost. 1 hour of unnecessary trek on what was meant to be a recovery hike...!!!

Courmoyeur Below

Brutal gradient going up, we overtake lots of hikers, sometimes stopping briefly for a pause and chit chat. Hikers are really the most polite people in the world. Always a smile and some nice words when they cross each other, despite how tough the trail is. Overtake a tall guy at some point and higher up, stop for a picture with the view now opening up as we gain altitude. Meet a woman, who was waiting for her husband, there and we chit chat for a while and find out she is actually spending the night in the same refuge as us (more on this further down). Wish her a good day, and resume my trek to the intermediate point of the day, Rifugio Bertone.
Rush in the restaurant where I ask for a big sandwich, determined not to repeat the same mistake of the previous days of under eating during the day. No sandwich the lady says (which I felt was really weird at this time if the day @ 1 pm).. No worries, I ask what they have as alternatives, and the lady informs me the only options are a salad or a cheese platter. The latter is not an option for me since I struggle to eat most cheeses unless they are melted and hot, so I ask what ingredients go in the salad. The lady goes into the kitchen, and addresses someone who seemed to be the chef, and he responds in an aggressive manner. Lady comes back and politely informs me that it's just leaves and tomatoes, with no protein nor carbs. Nothing that will fill a hungry hiker's tummy. Seems like the food gods are against me, and that cereal bars are all I'll have today..!!! Lucky stuffed myself in the morning...!!! Get a couple of cold drinks before meeting Jeff outside in the nice warm sun.

Remember about that lady I talked to whilst going up, and the tall guy I overtook? Turns out that they are actually married, and the guy is in cancer remission, after a heavy cancer treatment. He had just made it to the refuge, and warmly hugged his wife, thanking her repeatedly for getting him up there. They were trekking the Mont Blanc just like us. This reminded me of Sandra... ... ... Teary moment of the day... ... ...
I guess people really should live life a day at a time...

I start chomping away my cereal bars, and I see a waitress serving pasta to people who came in after me...what the f?+& happened here ??? ??? ??? I don't like all Italians all that much after all..!!! !!! !!!
(Speaking to some of the people who had lunch there, sounds like I didn't miss out on much, since the food was described as poor at best...Blessing in disguise...)

Resume hiking and we turn left after the refuge, up what is meant to be the last ascent of the day. As we drop to the other side of the mountain, we get an astounding view of the whole of the 'massif' of the Mont Blanc. Jeff turns around to me and says:
“This mountain makes you work really hard for it, but God it's worth it!!!!”
No more to add to that...!!!

I struggle to contain my giggle as we walk, facing the imposing block, and almost tripped on a laterally inclined path, overwhelmed by the view. My eyes were focused on the mountains to the left instead of the terrain...!!! And there was nothing for at least 50 meters down...!!! Pay attention stupid...!!!!!
The trail follows the side of the Val de la Saxe Mountain into another sparse forest and we progress parallel to the Mont Blanc range.
You can imagine that I went a bit mad with pictures, whilst Jeff had marched on. He had gained at least 500 meters on me, and there was no point trying to catch up to him.

Tunnel Through the mountain...

Terrain undulates up and down like crazy when it was meant to be flat according to our reference book..!!!
Finally reach Rifugio Bonatti, which is our stop for the night. Modern facility tastefully decorated with photos of landscapes and people hiking and climbing imposing mountains of the world.

We are given a token each for the showers, and fellow hikers inform us that this only gives you hot water for 2 minutes...!!!! And once these 2 minutes have elapsed, mountain cold water...!!!!!!! How the hell am I meant to shower in that teeny timeframe??? ??? ??? Just washing my hair takes longer than that..!!! I let Jeff go first, since he's a self-proclaimed lighting fast showerer (???). He comes back triumphant, saying that he managed to get the deal done just within the time limit...!!! Not happening for me...!!! The only shower strategy I could come up with, is to wash my hair with cold water, before moving to the hot shower. Stop by the reception and plead to buy another coin, and the person there just flatly refuses.
'I won't sell one to you... ... ... but I'll give one to you for free', he tells me...!!!!  Italians I love you all over again… :)
I still execute my original strategy with cold hair wash, and find that 2 minutes just to soap and wash up is just not enough, devilishly slot in the second coin and takes me another 30 seconds to get rid of all the soap. I stay still the remaining 90 secs, enjoying the relaxing effect of the hot water.

Join Jeff outside for a soft drink whist he sips his bourbon and coke mix, smoking a cigar. Hikers trickle in. This Australian father and son combo finally makes it to the lodge. We had met them 2 days earlier at Refuge des Mottets. The guy is in his 40s, and the dad 70s...!!!! Amazing...!!! Jeff had actually talked to them when we overtook them during the day, and asked them how they found the descent to Courmoyeur the day before. 'Easy' the son replied...'we took the ski lifts'...
Weather gets progressively worse, and we go back in for dinner. The couple with husband in remission from cancer never made it to our refuge. They probably stayed at Refugio Bertone, since the bloke was struggling...

Super yummy menu:
Salad
Pasta penne
Slices white meat, baked potatoes with grilled courgette
Cheese
Apple tart desert

Nice Sugar pot...

The room where we were staying...all rooms named after famous peaks in the region...

Best meal so far by far...although I needed more protein...!!!

Stats of the day:
18.5 kms
7 hours hike
3674 kcal burnt

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=fe012215ad5e190cb9ec7752c5c7c525

Courmoyeur 1226m
Dead end 1550m
Proper trail 1350m
Rif Bertone 1989
Rifugio Bonatti 2025m