Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Tour du Mont Blanc – Day 4
Cabane du Combal to Hotel Berthod, Courmayeur
Starting elevation: 1,950 m
Ending elevation: 1,226 m
Elevation gain: 505 m
Elevation loss: 1,229 m
Distance: 7.5 miles
Today we woke up at about 6, and since we had so much space, our own bathroom, and only our day packs, it was really easy to get ready quickly. Breakfast was served at 7:15, and Pat wasn’t up yet, so Nathan and I went for a walk down the road.
Overnight a fog had formed over Lac Combal, so we watched the sun get higher and higher while the fog slowly dissipated.
Breakfast was coffee, orange juice, homemade white bread, jam, cheese, toast, and a hard-boiled egg. We enjoyed a sort of leisurely morning, with no rushing to get out of the room or to get our bags ready for the porter. Plus, we had the added perk of being able to brush our teeth after breakfast instead of before. It’s the little things.
The 500 m climb out of Val Veny towards Courmayeur was a slow one, but we were rewarded with terrific views of Mont Blanc and the neighboring mountains and glaciers. Andrew has been trying to avoid blisters, so has started hiking some of the parts in his flip-flops, so he got quite a few comments from the other hikers.
When we got to the top at 10:30, we dug through our sack lunches for a snack. Today’s lunch contained a terrific local chocolate bar, a ham and cheese sandwich on homemade bread, apple, tomato, and egg. Pat, Andrew, and I gave the tomato back to the refuge, so only Nathan’s lunch still contained it.
After our rest and numerous photos, we were back on the move for the downhill towards Courmayeur. Nathan and I arrived at Refugio Maison Vieille at 12:30 and had a lemon soda and our sack lunch on their shaded wood porch. Pat and Andrew weren’t far behind.
It’s been terribly hot and sunny, and the shade was very welcome. We have a long, hot, and dusty descent in front of us to get to Courmayeur, so we delayed as long as possible and had an espresso.
The downhill trek was extremely hot and dusty. We had the option to take a gondola down to Dolonne, and Pat and Andrew did, but Nathan and I toughed it out. It was a punishing downhill. Stair steps in some places and just a dry steep path in others. The farther down to the valley floor we got, the hotter it was. When we finally reached the bottom, we were so sweaty and absolutely filthy.
I switched out of my hiking boots and put on my Tevas for the walk through town.
At about this time, Andrew had messaged us that they had checked into the hotel, and there was a bit of a kerfuffle checking in because the hotel had upgraded us to an inferior room in the annex. It’s times like this that I’m thankful Andrew speaks Italian, because he insisted to the front desk that they put us in the rooms I had booked back in November.
Nathan and I arrived, and the front desk informed us that they had tried to upgrade us but that our friend refused the upgrade. We were brought to our room, and promptly stripped down to shower, only to find there was only one towel in the room. I was also trying in vain to get the A/C to go lower than ‘hot sauna,’ but alas, couldn’t figure it out. Our overheated brains needed a rest, and thinking through problems was not what they were doing best at this time. I couldn’t even figure out how to get hot or warm water out of the shower, even though it was obvious once the hot panic brain cooled down. And sadly, even though it’s in the 80s here, there’s no A/C.
Freshly showered and shaved, we bought a 7 € load of laundry (washer only, but it included soap), chucked every last item of hiking clothes into the washer, and went back up to our room to settle in. Pat and Andrew were out and about having a drink, so we just hung out in our room til the wash was done. We hung our clothes on our clothesline on our balcony when done, and joined Pat and Andrew for dinner at 7 pm.
