I think I fell asleep around 18:30 last night. I was wiped. I think the transit before the hike must have done me in.
Before I passed out, I talked with some TMB hikers. They’re about finished with their loop. Zoë learned more from them after I went to bed but it seems like even amongst the campers, which is who we talked to yesterday, it is uncommon to carry most or all of your food. It sounds like most people were eating meals at restaurants and buying snacks for the next day, one day at a time. I also think, it’s many people’s first backpacking trip. Props to them though, picking something this tough.
It was properly cold last night. I don’t know how cold it got but it felt like 40s. It’s time to close my foot box on my quilt and maybe pull out my straps that hold it onto my pad to keep me warm when I roll over. September has really turned a corner!
We woke up at 6:00 in the dark. We got ready, mostly by minimal light and just muscle memory. We know where everything is and where it all goes. We usually know the order it all goes in our packs. It’s all part of the routine. I deviated a bit and made myself tea this morning. I drank tea, ate pain au chocolat, and watched the sun rise over Glacier du Trient! My hands and feet were numb from the cold. Fall had arrived and I couldn’t be happier.
As we were leaving, we counted the tents and there were just shy of 50 tents pitched this morning! We were some of the first folks out at 7:00 and we would see no one for the first half of our day. Hiking off schedule is great for that: start early and there’s no one, and if you walk further than most people in a day, by the time you get to that part, everyone on the latter portion will be further on and you’ll still have it all to yourself. We climbed in the crisp morning air with no sounds other than our own. We had some switchbacks up to a pass and it was windy at the top. The top gave us our first views of Mont Blanc! There were glaciers all around, it was so nice. This hike is off to a great start.
We continued along a ridge, dropping down and climbing back up. We saw some people going the other direction, but it was still very quiet. Eventually we descended all the way down to a road, which would complete the first half of our day. I got some water and then we took a brief break on the side of the trail. There were lots of cars down here, presumably belonging to day hikers since there was a 24 hour parking limit.
After our break, we climbed up something that I didn’t expect to be nearly so long. The sun was starting to hit us more directly now and down low, where there wasn’t as much of a breeze, it felt hot. Once we got higher, the breeze returned and it was pleasant again. At one point on the climb, we reached a series of metal ladders bolted into the rocks. I wasn’t expecting this! What a nice surprise! Thankfully there was minimal traffic the other direction because when there was, it took a while to let others pass, mostly because folks are pretty tentative on ladders. We were fresh off the via ferrata on the Alta Via 2 so these were a walk in the park.
We got up to a junction that was crowd city. The alternate we were taking today apparently was incredibly popular with day hikers. The junction we had reached must have been where their trail joined ours. I had my lunch here and Zoë took a break since she ate hers during our last break. We moved on and from here on, it was fairly crowded for the rest of the day.
We had quite a bit more climbing until we finally reached the destination of our alternate, Lac Blanc. It was a nice turquoise lake set beneath wonderfully glaciated mountains across the valley. It was also crawling with people. I still think it was pretty nice. After a brief break and seeing the sodas were €6, we moved on.
The only thing left at this point was a descent down to our campsite. Our campsite was going to be near the top of a ski lift, which is where all the day hikers were headed. Since we’re bivouacking, we’re technically not supposed to set up our tent until sunset and we’re supposed to take it down before sunrise. We’ll do our best. For now though, I’m enjoying the last bit of sun as I look out over Mont Blanc, Grand Jorasses, Aiguille Vert, and the many peaks that surround them.