It's 6:00 AM and i'm already awake. There are already some people preparing to head out. Breakfast is a humble affair - some porridge, bread (which they bake themselves, it seems), tea and coffee. The topic of conversation is the fog, and whether to take the long way around through Les Chapieux, or straight through Col de Four. I really don't want to head down, but the fog scares me. I find that the Israeli couple I met yesterday are taking the straight way over the pass (yes, he found her. She almost got lost in the fog. He has some really ugly glistering wounds on this palms from falling on the rocks). So I ask them if I could join, for safety sake.
We head out, and it's really foggy. We move from one trail blaze to the other, steadily. When we get to col, we forgo the idea of climbing a bit more to the top of the pass, we are not going to see anything anyway.
The climb down is lovely, just lovely. Streams of water cascade among a lush meadow. I heard that early in the season some people slide down this path of their bums, due to snow, and I thank my smart decision of going at the end of the season. It gets muddy in places, and we hike in a leisurely pace, by now we are small group, with additional hikers my lovely temporary hiking partner picked up along the way. We chat, we laugh, we take photos of the cows.
We make it to La ville des Glaciers and peek into their impressive cheese storage room. It's a working dairy farm, preparing local cheeses all through summer. Through the trip you will see ruins of deserted farms. When hiking it might look romantic, but I guess it's a hard life. There's a public restroom here, though no water to fill. The shuttle from Les Chapieux ends here. and although it is no longer in operation, I see a group of hikers getting off a van - they ran into the shuttle driver last night and he promised them a ride.
On the way down to La ville des Glacier
We start the hike up to Col de la Seigne I end up in the back, chatting to a single hiker, a girl from India. I'm curious about solo female hikers, particularly ones not from western countries. She tells me how it's not acceptable at all where she comes from, but she has been living in the US for a while, where she picked up this habit. We chat for a bit about the increase of people from Asia on the trails and about the rise of the middle class in these countries.
The path winds up and up and up into the Col. It's the border between Italy and France, though I hardly imagine this really mattered in the past. I mean, it's not as if there was a physical barrier here, and the locals, i'm sure, knew their way around the mountains.
A short stroll down we find a caved in area providing us some protection from the wind, and we have a late lunch. Another short while down, and we are at the Rifugio La Casermetta, the old customs house turned into a small regional museum. It is staffed by two young Italiens, who live on premise.
From here it's down, Val Veny opening up below us. As we reach some dilapidated storage buildings (which I later learnt belongs to the Italian army), that's my cue - I'm heading up into Rifugio Elisabetta, while my hiking partners are either looking for cramping grounds or heading another 45 minutes into Cabane du Combal. Elisabetta is perfectly suited at the mouth of the valley, with what looks like a new wrap around balcony, only it's way too windy to be sitting out. Inside it's nice and warm and loud. I'm led to my bed, take a (hot!) shower, order a beer. At dinner i'm with a group of 4 American women who are having the time of their lives with a few bottles of wine. What a way to finish a day !
Pro tip: hut life. Prices typically include half pension, which means bed, dinner and breakfast. Dinner can be anything between ok to very good, and the portions are typically large. They know you've been hiking all day. Most huts will have assigned seating for dinner, sitting groups/couples together. Some huts will also sit you next to others from your country/language. Not everyone on the trail can speak english, after all (My experience includes French, Italian and Koreans. It's awkward to spend a dinner with people who absolutely don't speak any language you do). If you go for a dorm bed, the hut will show you to your assigned bed. Some huts will let you choose the size of the dorm when you book, others will not. In these cases, each hut will have its own system for deciding which type of bed to give you. Breakfast are usually limited, with porridge/cereals/bread and jam and some coffee/tea. You will know you are in Italy by the quality of the coffee they serve..
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