Le Tour du Mont Blanc, Day 4

Tuesday, September 4th

We rose at 6:30 am for breakfast. While many huts have individual tables set, the Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme with 110+ hikers had giant vats of coffee, tea, hot milk, and hot water, plus dry porridge and cornflakes. I was glad I brought my instant French Roast to add to the weak coffee.

We were on the trail before 8 am, heading up again in another stream of people to the Col des Fours. This col is the access point to the highest peak we would reach on our route, the Tête

Nord des Fours at 9042 ft/2756 m, so Sue and I dropped our packs and headed up the trail while Nancy and Colleen started down ahead of us. Sue spotted some Alpine ibex as we were walking and spent more time watching them and scanning for more, while I headed on up. It took less than 15 minutes to get to the top where I met two Israeli girls just leaving. I briefly had the Tête to myself with it's amazing 360 degree view including the elusive Mont Blanc.

Admiring the view (Mont Blanc in middle distance) Photo by Sue Priest.

Sue and I returned to our packs and were now 45 minutes behind Colleen and Nancy who waited for us by a marmot colony. We hear them a lot but don’t often see them so it was a good place to wait! We then had a long, and mostly steep, downhill by a beautiful glacial stream that had smoothed the rocks under them so they looked like slides.

Sue admiring the glacial and fluvial geology and stream

We continued walking down valley and stopped for lunch in a grassy area by a small waterfall. I finally had a chance to get completely wet! The walk continued down and my knees were feeling it. At the valley bottom there was a restroom and a non-potable water source so I used the Steripen to purify water for both the Israeli girls and for Colleen and I. The Steripen didn't work at first, until my feeble brain remembered that I had put one battery in backwards so the unit didn't accidentally turn on in my pack!

Nancy, Sue and Colleen walking down the long valley

We now had a long steep climb up to the border with Italy and we were criss-crossing with other folks we had met in the huts or on the trail as we walked in the same direction. At the Italian border at Col de la Seigne, we met a guy that had biked up from Chapieux! He said it took him about two hours and I was gobsmacked. We met more bikers as we headed down the other side but they were mostly coming from the Italian side and not all the way up from the French side.

Colleen, with the route we climbed down (right) and then up behind her!

I finally got cell service and discovered that my Swiss friend Richard had been trying to reach me as one of our planned refuges was closed for the season. I finally reached him using Darrell as the go-between and he booked another place for us just down the hill from the original Col de Balme site. It was a little nerve-wracking but it all worked out.

Rifugio Elisabetta on the near hill with glaciers behind

We arrived at Rifugio Elisabetta at 5:10 pm – our latest arrival after a long and tiring day. We got into our room, thankfully a private room for four, and got settled. They lack shelves and enough hooks, but we make do. It seems like it would be such a simple thing for huts to add more shelves and hooks to make things easier. We had one electric outlet in our room and we’ve now decided that is a luxury instead of the bare minimum we thought this was at the beginning of the trip four days ago. It is amazing how quickly your expectations can switch.

Celebrating a long day in our tight room at Rifugio Elisabetta - Photo by Sue Priest

This Rifugio had two seatings for dinner which helped make the refuge seem less crowded than Bonhomme, though it still held 85+ people. Dinner was risotto, beef, green beans and potatos – all delicious. There was no bread which seemed impossible after four days in France. Dessert was a creamy parfait in a small dish. We crashed in bed by 9 pm.

Day 4 Summary: Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme (France) to Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini (Italy); 11.11 mi/17.9 km; 3451’/1052 m up and 4332'/1320 m down; 9 hrs on trail