Day 7: Refuge Elena to La Fouly

Distance Walked: 13 K
Height Gained: +475 m
Height Lost: -930 m
Height Change: -455 m
Total Distance: 107 k
Total Ascent: 5677 m
Total Descent: -6696 m

Over the Grand Col Ferret and the Swiss/Italian Border, then on to La Fouly.
We left this as we crossed the Grand Col Ferret.
Over the Grand Col Ferret at 9 this morning, we crossed our second national border and descended into Switzerland. 






The views were not as spectacular as from the Val Ferret, but on the other hand we were in La Fouly and done for the day before mid-day, so there's that.
Prime object, after checking in an sorting out lunch, is to wash and dry a growing number of items of sweaty clothing. For any followers from my DofE work, today was day three of our second back to back Gold expedition.

Clean clothes. Dinner finished. A five minute stroll which took us from one end of the town to the other. A beer before an early night. Leisurely valley bottom walk tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Live Map

Popular posts from this blog

Day 6: Refuge Bertone to Refuge Elena

Image
Distance Walked:  16 K Height Gained:  +550 m Height Lost:  -360 m Height Change:  190 m Total Distance:  94 k Total Ascent:  5202   m Total Descent:  -5766 m Not impressive on the map. Very  impressive in real life. Started the day with fantastic views of Mont Blanc massif. (After a very typical French breakfast... in an Italian refuge). The views as we progress along the valley constantly changing but for most of the day dominated by Mont Blanc. This was made even more spectacular by a thin wispy mushroom-cap cloud lightly shrouding the summit. All this made the long uphill drag to the refuge the afternoon before all the more worthwhile. As well as the backward views we faced the steep drop to our left (occasional very exposed) on the long contouring path, which led us to the head of the Val Ferret, and a pull up to Refuge Elena. The final part of the day was dominated by some  spectacular he...
Read more

Day 10: Trient to Auberge La Boerne

Image
Distance Walked:  13.5 K Height Gained:  +1126 m Height Lost:  -970 m Total Distance: 150   k Total Ascent:  8387   m Total Descent:  -9476 m It's somewhat peculiar walking through a ski area, but the views today were completely worth it. A day of surprises from beginning to end. The walking guide notes led us to believe that at the start we would face a hard steep trek up through forest before the final uphill section to Col de Balme. Maybe fitness levels had improved over the previous 9 days, but the generally easy pitch of the zig zag path proved not to be hard at all. Then the next surprise. As we reached the C ol, the awesome views of the Mont Blanc range opened up in front of us. Absolutely worth every step of the 900m plus ascent. The less adventurous could get to within 120m by skilift from the Chamonix valley, but the views would not burst upon you in the same dramatic way. The next surprise came...
Read more