Start: Rifugio Frassati/Finish: Courmayeur , 19.6, +679, -2006
It rained last night. Heading out of the hut, I see the young volunteers packing garbage bags on their backs, taking them down into the valley. A reminder on why we should always be taking our own garbage with us when we leave a hut.
The trail leaves the small lake and quickly turns into a gentle horizontal ascent, leading into a rocky outcrop and the highest col in the AV1, Col de Malatra (2928). Fog is rising up, the soil is gravely, slippery and in some places, muddy. I feel like I'm being pulled back. As the trail take a right turn it gets steep, and the slippery mud is turning from a minor hassle to a blocker. My shoes can't find perch, and there is nothing to stick the poles into. Every step is a struggle as I try to press down on the poles and push myself up. All I need is to get to the rocks where ropes and rungs have been installed. It's only about 20 meters, but I feel I'm being dragged back, and with the weight of the pack on my back, every time I loose perch I fear I'll tumble down. I feel I might not get out of here alive. In the last few meters I'm frantic, letting out a curse and a yell, pushing myself up. Finally reach the sturdy blue rope and I can push further and up into the col itself. Looking back I realize I was not on my own, but rather there were 8 trail runners behind me.
Looking back, I'm not sure what was it that put the feat of death in me on the trail.
Col de Malatra is a narrow pass in the rocks, and there are already some people at the top. The runners have already gone, but a French couple is idling behind. For some reason, they won't leave, and all I want is to take a photo of the pass. They think I would like to have my picture taken, but I don't. I never have my picture taken.
The descent down from the col is an easy one, and it doesn't take long before I'm passed the rocky area into the meadow. There is a stream on my left, and ahead of me is the Mont Blanc range, and it is so. fucking. peaceful. Just water babbling, wind whispering, and nothing else.
Up and down Col de Malatra
The map shows that if you wish to hike to Col Sapin, the TMB varient, you need to descend almost to Rifugio Bonatti to cross the stream, and then head back up on the other side. But some online maps show that perhaps it is possible to cross the stream much higher, thus shaving 45 minutes from the trail.
My plan was to confirm that this is indeed possible, and then take the Col Sapin trail. While it's not on the AV1, I missed it when I hiked the TMB, and I would like to do it. But I'm so absorbed in the beauty surrounding me, I don't pay attention to my surrounding. As I reach the official crossing, the bridge is being re-built by a group of men with building supply, and I need to descend even further.
Stopping at Giue Damon to look at the view, I see Rifugio Bonatti and where the AV1 overlaps with the TMB below me, and suddenly the trails are full of people going in every which way. Mare minutes ago I was on my own, and now, Rifugio Bonatti is simply packed with people picnicking around it, with others running or day-hiking the trail. The combination of this being on the TMB, together with the day hike from Courmayeur and the hut being famous means that it's probably one of the busiest trails in the alps.
i stop at the hut for an early lunch. They do not allow sitting inside, and only one person is allowed in to order at a time. I had lunch here two years ago and remembered it fondly, and now it feels very different. I take my Taglieri outside, and like so many have my lunch overlooking the Mont Blanc range. I think I can see the difference in the glacier's position compared to two years ago.
From Rifugio Bonatti is an almost straight line above the valley to Rifugio Bretone, with the Mont Blanc constantly on my right. I've hiked this twice before, the first in early July, and this was a stunning walk early summer blooms erupting all around us. It is still beautiful, but it's also far too busy for my liking. You see - I complain when there's too many people on the trail, and I complain when there's too few.
From Bretone is a zigzagging descent through the forest. There are even people making the ascent this late in the day. A man hiking up stops me to ask a question, and even before he opens his mouth I know he is Israeli (long sleeved khaki shirt AND a khaki hat with neck protection - no local is protected from the sun like this). When he asks me how long to Rifugio Bonatti, I answer in Hebrew. Turns out he landed this morning, and today will be a long day for him.
Like all of these descents, it's long and never ending, until it does end. Across the bridge and down the other side, the trail turns into a gravel road and then I'm in the familiar back streets of Courmayeur. It's a good thing that I know my way around, as I head directly to my hotel - I'm wrecked.
Hotel Berthod is right next to Via Roma, the town's main street. I've spent a few days here a few years ago, and liked it enough to return. It's been clearly refurbished, and I'm led to a fancy room in an annex building. I plan on shower and then food, but I just can't move myself. It's the days of ascent that scare people, but the reality is that descents are much harder on the body. Nothing aches, and yet I can barely move, my body is just exhausted. Dragging myself to the incredible shower, I slowly get dressed and use the wi-fi to find a sushi place, breaking my own rule of never eating Asian food in places like this.
Back at the hotel, I realise I ordered enough food for two, but that doesn't stop me scarfing it all down while sitting on the floor and looking for a tv channel that is not dubbed to Italian.
I fall asleep with the BBC in the background.
I've completed the Alta Via 1.
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