Day 4: Cabane du Combal to Courmayeur (July 22)
13.6 km, 506.7 m ascent, 1,238.9 m descent
This was a super easy day with maximum beauty, just a gorgeous balcony walk with gorgeous views of the Mont Blanc massif. Instead of a dedicated rest day, we just had a short day’s walk.
We stayed in the Hotel le Bouton d’Or, where we’d stayed the previous year as well. We were back in familiar territory; last year, we’d started the Tour in Courmayer. (We took the bus from Chamonix through the Mont Blanc tunnel; I kept my eyes the whole time to avoid reflecting on the horror of the 1999 fire.)
It was nice to have a long afternoon in Courmayeur. We did laundry, which dried quickly on the balcony. We shopped at our favorite outdoor goods shop, where I bought a new Camelback; it seemed that my Osprey blivet was leaking, though that might have been user error. We had a spritz and Campari shakerato (Campari shaken with ice) at a café before dining at La Terrazza, the restaurant our hotel had recommended to us last year as well. Despite the Italian name of the restaurant, Courmayeur doesn’t give off a major Italian vibe, at least not in its tourist-facing side. It feels more like southern Switzerland, the way Zermatt does but in a much more low-key way. There’s certainly no need to speak Italian there!
Back at the hotel, we sat in the lobby and chatted with an English couple who was also hiking in the area. Though Alpine hiking is unfamiliar territory for most Americans, the Brits and Germans have been stomping up and down those hills for decades if not centuries. Our great discoveries are just vacation as usual for them.