From Tre Le Champ to Lac Blanc
Today is a short day, so i'm taking my time. This year Refuge La Flegere, traditionally the last night on the tour, is closed, together with the cable car leading up to it. Not wanting to finish there, nor keen on sleeping in Chamonix that night, and having time on my hands, I've decided to spend tonight at Lac Blanc, which meant half a day's hiking today.
Breakfast is yet again a few notches above a typical hut breakfast with fresh Croissant (!!). While I try to not rush out, there's a limit to my ability to just ideal. Back up the road, I cross it to find the beginning of the trail. Immediately in the forest, it starts up in a gentle slop, quickly turning more steep as I head out of the forest into the rocks. As I hit the junction for the variant, I'm excited about hitting the ladder section soon. I know some people find it scary, but i'm oddly excited about it. Not being a very brave person, with some seriously shitty balance, i'm not sure where this excitement is coming from, but i'm happy it's there.
Suddenly I look up and the ladders are looming above . Now I understand why there are there: the path reaches sheer rock-face, and a set of ladders, wooden steps, support beams and handrails are what makes it passable.
There's a bit of a queue, and I start chatting with a couple, clearly father and daughter, who's backpacks are full of trail patches. They speak English, but I can't place their accent - it's neither British nor Spanish, but a mix of both. I'm happy to discover I've got it right - they are from Gibraltar. The father has retired young from the British army, and has been hiking all over Europe. He even hiked from Gibraltar to Israel !
We stand there chatting until our time comes, and start up what is essentially easy Via Ferratta. There a good atmosphere among the hikers, some enjoying themselves, others more concerned, with a lot of help and words of encouragement. I wouldn't want to hike this down, but i'm enjoying the hike up. Even in places where the ladders are nearly vertical, and I crawl like an in-elegant monkey, unable to stand straight with the weight on my back. Good thing it's not a competition in elegance.
The Via Ferretta ends a bit too soon for my liking, but there's more stairs. Much of the wooden stairs are in bad shape, and it seems there's work in progress to replace some of them. I push on, and soon hit Lacs de cheserys - a set of small alpine lakes with a direct view of the Mont Blanc range. This is a great place for a picnic, but the sky's suddenly gray and it looks like rain is coming.
From the lakes there's another short ladder section, and in no time I'm at the Lac Blanc hut, perched on top of the lake itself. The first thing I notice is the strong smell of sewage from the outhouse, I later learn that they have a septic tank, and this being the end of the season ... you get it.
I've heard so much about the lake, but I find the lower lakes were more impressive. It's too cold to sit outside on the porch, and as I enter the hut the lovely young women informs me that they are out of drinking water, producing a bottle of mineral water. She explain that this also means there's no electricity: the hut makes its own electricity using water from the lake, but the water level's too low. So no electricity, no drinkable water, and no hot showers. Yet again, I think about the challenges in operating an Alpine hut. In distance, Lac Blanc is not too far from Chamonix, but there is no gravel path leading up to it. The proprietress is a young French women with excellent English, who just took over the hut following a legal dispute that saw it closed last season. What a task for a 27 year old !
I leave my backpack, take some essentials and head to the next lake up - Lac de la perseverance. About 20 minutes hike all by myself among crates and boulders bring me to a spot overlooking the lake. I take out the apple cake purchased yesterday, munch on it and consider that there's only one more day. At this point, I feel like this can turn into a simple life: wake up, pack, eat breakfast, hike, reach the next hut, sleep, repeat. Over the past 10 days this has become a routine, requires very little thinking and providing much joy.
Heavy with impeding goodbye, I hike back down into the hut, synced with the wind picking up and temperatures dropping. Dinner is served - there's a big group with their guides, a few couples, another solo female hikers, and a group of burly Frenchmen who turn out to be the crew working on the Flegere renovation project. Unlike other huts, this one doesn't feel very sociable, but I think it's to do with the specific mix of groups and individuals, and is not about the hut itself. I'm a bit sad, as this is my last night in a hut for this trip.
I head out to look for the Ibex that are rumored to show up at sunset. It's a clear night, and the moon is raising above the Mon Blanc range, illuminating the mountains in a bright bright light.
Full moon rising
I shudder with the idea of a cold shower, so skipping it I head to bed. While the room contains 20 beds, they are organized in sections of 5, so it feels much smaller. I fall asleep thinking of the pros and cons of a short hike day, wishing that perhaps I would have pushed further yesterday, experiencing a truly long day. I have a hard time letting go of plans and the way they turn out...
Last night, last pair of hut crocs
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