If we only choose one word for today, it’s a no-brainer for us–“perfect.” The weather was perfect. The trail was perfect. The views were perfect. The company was perfect. The food was perfect. The accommodations were perfect. And, obviously, the beer was perfect.
Since we were staying in a B&B in Courmayeur last night, we decided to take full advantage of the accommodations and sleep in. Having our own bathroom was such a luxury and much easier on me in the middle of the night than walking down a flight of stairs and across a refuge. We even had a bidet. Granted, I wasn’t real familiar with how to use one even though we have had them in several places the last 6 months (at least that’s the excuse I’m using to explain why I sat on it for three hours last night–we may have to include one in our own library when I build us a house in the future. If Pam can’t find me, she’ll at least have a starting point for the search).
It was a B&B, so we headed down for our second B about 9. As soon as we got in the dining room, we saw David and Michelle. I talked to them a few minutes while Pam started grazing. I was afraid to ask to join them since they had already changed their hiking plans to get away from us. They are taking a zero day, today. By the time I got my food, they had invited Pam to join them and, since we are married, they got a bonus unwanted guest. We sat and talked with them until about 10:15 (calm down, Pete, accept that we are getting later starts on average this trail).
Michelle had finished reading a book that she has been carrying on her honeymoon (David, she’s read an entire novel–step up the pace) so she offered to let Pam have it. It seems like a nice gesture, but in the backpacking world, this is known as “weight shedding.” In the Himstedt world, it means Pam carries the book and an equal weight of food to lighten my load. If she can carry luxuries, she’s been slacking.
After we got packed up (and I had one more trial run on the bidet), we hit the trail. Unfortunately, the trail runs through town and there are lots of cafes in town. Even though they had an expresso machine at the B&B. which we took full advantage of (hence the extra bidet practice), there is always room and time for another cafe, especially if the day is starting off with an 800m (2600′) climb.
As we got out of town and on the trail, the Italians must have installed some new sort of trail sensing device which analyzes the hiker and determines the expected time to complete the next section of trail. I walked up to the first marker and it said 1 hour and 30 minutes. I walked 15 feet to the next one, heard a click, and it read 1 hour and 45 minutes. Pam was just a bit behind me when she passed the first marker that said 1 hour and 30 minutes. When she walked past the second marker, it sounded like a drum corps. I never did look to see what her expected time was, but “not good” was my guess.
Something strange happened when we started hiking–I felt great. I didn’t have any pain. I had lots of energy. I was moving quickly. There was a bounce in my step. It looks like six shots of expresso is MY magic number. I would walk 5 minutes then wait 10 minutes for Pam to catch up. When her breathing would slow and I was not able to hear her heart beating from 10′ away, I’d take off and hike another 5 minutes. We made it to the top of the climb in just a little over the recommended time.
At the top, other than amazing views of Courmayeur and Mont Bianca, there was an open refuge with a bar. We went in for an expresso but decided to have some lunch instead. Pasta with fresh Parmesan and a dessert to follow. Pam made me skip the expresso. I still had oodles of energy, so I didn’t mind. According to the book, we only had two and a half hours to go for the remainder of the day.
Two fully stuffed hikers don’t go quite as fast as 20 year olds on steroids, but we still maintained a pretty good pace. The trail was amazing. We were hiking up on a ridge at 6500′ (give or take) and we stayed at this level the rest of the way to the refuge. The only reason we didn’t make the trail times indicated is because we kept stopping to admire the views of Mont Blanc. At any given time, we could see between 6 and 11 glaciers across from us (the trail follows the ridge opposite Mont Balance because of all the glacial washes and steep cliffs which make building and maintaining a trail near impossible).
As we were ridge walking, we would occasionally stop to try to find the source of the rumbling sound across the valley. We have heard at least a half dozen avalanches in the last two days on Mont Blanc. Because of the cloud cover, we haven’t been able to actually see one yet. Hearing all the avalanches and our experience with rock slides around glaciers on Mt Rainier, we appreciate that the trail is not actually on the Mont Blanc side of the valley.
About two miles before we were going to stop for the day, we ran into a group of mountain bikers. My first thought was “French”. Only the French would be fool hardy enough to mountain bike the TMB (we have seen lots of bike tread trails along the way, but this is the first bikers we have actually seen). The lead biker was, in fact, French, but the next 4 were Americans from Colorado. It was nice to see Americans keeping pace with French on craziness and pace. I’m very glad that we aren’t the standard that Europeans measure Americans by.
The refuges in Italy are absolutely beautiful. The French refuges are nice, but the Italian ones beyond belief. The settings are spectacular and the refuges, themselves, are much nicer than anything we stayed at on the Camino or GR10–ceramic tile throughout, huge picture windows, spacious, well appointed, expresso machines, everything modern and new. When we were at lunch, the place mat showed all the refuges in the area and there must be well over 50 in the area. I thought the French infrastructure was nice, but the Italians have them beat.
Refuge Bonatti is the nicest one we have stayed in to date. As I am typing this entry, I’m also looking out of 1 of 8 picture windows in the dining room at Mont Blanc hoping to catch a break in the clouds (unfortunately, MB hides in the clouds quite a bit). We have (meaning I have) been carrying 3-6 days worth of food along this trail and we haven’t really eaten any of it. We hadn’t planned on not getting any meals at this refuge to try and lighten my load, but with the huge lunch we had at the last refuge and the few beers I’ve had here, my load might not lighten much. I just hope we eat the food and use the fuel before we complete this trail.
I’ve also got to say that this is the best time of year to hike the TMB. Tonight is the 3rd night we have stayed in a refuge so far on the trail and we have had a dorm room to ourselves each time. I don’t understand why Europeans are not out hiking now. The weather during the days is perfect and the trail is almost deserted. I guess I should thank them for not realizing what they are missing. Even if it snows, we’ve got plenty of time–our return tickets to the USA aren’t until December 8.
