Tre Le Champ, France, on Sunday, July 10, 2016.
As we woke in our cubicle of a sleeping space, every step on the wooden floor creaking loudly, threatening to wake up other hikers in the gite. We packed our packs outside, then had a quick breakfast with Matt and Hilary, the couple from Philadelphia.
We started stage 10 by heading out of town and starting directly uphill, along the side of the mountain towering over us.
After about an hour or so, we came to a large rocky shelve, where our path turned into a series of ladders and climbing assisting bars, footing shelves, bridges, and platforms to help us climb up the sheer rock face. This we did carefully, trying not to look down...
Ascending higher and higher, the Chamonix valley opened up under us. We hiked up to the Tête aux Vents, a milestone marker, to which multiple paths led. We got a selfie w Matt and Hilary before saying goodbye
The rest of the hike was short, but hot. I ran out of water earlier and was relieved to find a water fall with multiple streams to refill my bottle. Some hikers shy away from drinking water from streams, however, my dad and I have found as long as there is no cattle upstream, the water is safe. Neither of us got sick from alpine water; arguably the cleanest water in the world.
Our destination was La Flégère, a cable car station, where day hikers could come us to high elevations without hiking. We call them cheaters.
This station had an amazing view of the Mont Blanc mountain range. There was a snack shack with picnic tables and sun-bathing chairs. I had A conversations with a British group just starting the TMB, to whom I bestowed some of my advice: 1) start early 2) everyday is beer day.
After my parents arrived, we walked down the road to Refuge La Flégère, our lodging for the night. A shower, laundry, and a nap was on the agenda, and even the view from our bunk beds was surreal...
Afterwards, I went back to the ski station, where they had great wifi and messaged Alina. It was great talking with her.
We enjoyed dinner with 2 couples from Scotland. They were going the opposite way, so we could give each other advice to what was coming. Our last stage had a height loss of over 5000 vertical feet. That meant a step a steep descent for 4 hours. 4 knee-crushing hours...
Up until then, the tour had been difficult and enjoyable. But we had no idea what was going to happen next...
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