Day 11: La Flégére to Chamonix (July 29)
15 km, 509.6 m ascent, 1,299.8 m descent
Mountain huts exist so that hikers and climbers can wake up right on the trail, without having to add a long commute first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. This morning, our new French friends were going to hike that trail north to Lac Blanc, whence we’d come yesterday. We were heading south to Pranplaz on the Grand Balcon Nord. This trail continued to be harder than we expected!
Then we did our one cheat of the entire TMB (well, our second cheat, since we’d started with a ski lift from Les Houches). The route officially ends where it began in Les Houches. But Les Houches is past Chamonix, and we were staying in Chamonix that night. The prospect of walking well past Chamonix on more rugged mountain trails only to have to take a bus back was not attractive at all.
Though we’re not TMB purists, we did want to feel like we’d accomplished something real. So instead of doing what we’d done the previous year and taking a ski lift down to town, we walked. All the way down.
Anyone who thinks descending mountains is quick is deluded. Even if you don’t have to pick your way down, the distance alone takes time to cover. Chamonix turned out to be ten kilometers away by trail, a walk that took us over two hours.
And then we were done! We had lunch in town. We checked into our hotel and cleaned up. I bought a wonderful kids’ graphic novel about the history of tourism in Chamonix.
We had a lovely dinner at Beurre Noisette, where the proprietor comped us two shots of chartreuse “pour réoxygene les muscles.”
We spent dinner plotting next summer’s adventure – maybe it was time for the Haute Route. Chris did so long to see the Matterhorn!
(Lest this account give the impression that all of our treks go perfectly, I can say that we did indeed embark on the Haute Route the next year. It did NOT go well at all!)