Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Tour du Mont Blanc – Day 9
Refuge le Peuty to Auberge la Boerne
Starting elevation: 1,279 m
Ending elevation: 1,395 m
Elevation gain: 1,144 m
Elevation loss: 1,028 m
Distance: 8.8 miles
Col de Balme: 2,204 m
Col des Posettes: 1,997 m
L’Aiguillette des Posettes: 2,201 m
Today was another very hard day. We have nearly 1,000 meters of ascent and descent, most of it exposed and above treeline. We ate breakfast at Refuge le Peuty in the communal dining yurt. It was coffee, oj, cereals, bread, watermelon, yogurt with fruit and muesli, ham and cheese, and tomatoes and mozzarella. Quite a big spread actually.
The first climb today ends at Refuge Col de Balme, and the guidebook and online discussions say this place is run by a dragon lady with a terrible disposition, so we set off hiking, wondering who would provoke the dragon lady.
The climb was punishing, but aren’t they all? There were numerous switchbacks, and we were just pressing onward hoping for coffee and a snack at the top.
Andrew and Pat beat us to the refuge and had a table waiting for us. We both had coffees and shared a homemade granola bar and muffin. Everyone working in the refuge was lovely and we didn’t spot any dragon ladies. Maybe someone pushed her off a cliff…
While we were up at the top, we took our obligatory photos at the Swiss-French border.
The next bit of the trail was downhill, completely exposed, through a ski area, only to go uphill again. No shade was offered, not even a cloud.
We started the next ascent up to Aiguillette des Posettes, and I bonked, hard. I literally got to the point where I could not lift my legs to go up the stair-step rocks. Nathan and I took several breaks, ate a little at each one, and tried to stay hydrated. I was wishing hateful shit on the French and their terrible, no protein breakfasts, and Nathan was not having a shining husband moment when he told me it had gotten to my head. Like, there are literally 1,000 ways to be supportive and helpful in the moment, and telling me it’s all in my head isn’t one of them. Husband fail.
We eventually got to the top of the Aiguillette des Posettes, and there was Andrew and Pat, taking a siesta. Nathan and I decided to press on, and keep going. The downhill is no easier, but at least the further down you go, shade becomes more likely.
We entered a nature reserve, and the landscape was beautiful, and you could tell the start of civilization and the Chamonix valley was down below. We could see Mont Blanc and the entire massif, and paragliders were all over the sky.
We got down to nearly the bottom of today’s descent and came across an elderly French woman who had fallen. The hiker in front of us knew passable French and English, and we got the lady up and tried to get her to eat something. It seems she was hiking with family, but without food or water, and it’s nearly a million degrees Celsius with 500% humidity. The other hiker sped down to speak with her family, and they came back to retrieve her and we all hiked down to the refuge. It was hot as hell and we were ready to be done.