We did get a late start this morning. We snoozed the alarm a few times and only made it out of camp at around 7.15am. Yesterday’s 44km left their scars. Our legs felt heavy this morning and the almost 1.000m climb straight out of Courmayeur were strenuous. But, our mood was back to normal. No signs from yesterdays doubts. We felt happy again and also a little proud we made it so far (and of course that we kicked the trail runners butts 😂). It also ment we had a chance of finishing the trail and it was very realistic that we would at least make it to Chamonix by walking maybe missing out on the last 20km or so. After the rain and still having wet shoes we were so looking forward to get coffee in the first refugio. But when Kaylee went in to kindly ask for two cappuccino they told her “No!”. Not that we wanted anything for free. No, we wanted to leave money with them. I would have thought that this would work very easily – especially in Italy 😂 But no coffee for us. So we continued without coffee. And again we chose the high-route alternative which we only realised was a real high-route when we were half way in. Three big climbs in a row with our heavy legs.

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We hiked on a ridge parallel to the Mont Blanc massif. Such an impressive wall of stone!

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And at the same time it almost felt a bit like being in Scotland or Iceland. The ridge we walked up was hilly and coloured in such a lush green that it was a hard contrast to the wall on the other side of the valley.

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A lot of up and down, the Col du Sapin and te Col entre deux Sauts later we came back into a valley which should connect us again with the trail. But I can only recommend to take the “little” detour! It was well worth it:

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And what can I say – it also gave me this. One of the or maybe even my absolute favourite shot of the tour:

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We arrived at the Rifugio Bonatti and here we received our well deserved cappuccino. Actually two. We pitched our tent to dry it from the night and had a beautiful lunch break right in front of this massive wall #ilovemountains

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Before we could takle the last climb of today and with this entering Switzerland we had to drop down all the way again into the valley. But the views were stunning. We passed waterfalls and also the flowers and green was amazing. I stoped every five minutes trying to capture the scenery. Photographers-delight.

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On the climb up we felt the first spray reaching us. When we turned around we could see the grey wall coming closer and closer. From the direction of the wind and the also how the clouds were moving I thought it would most probably pass uns or maybe just reach us with its edges but the wind was so strong that it blew the rain over to us. And then the first lightning hit. I counted the seconds between lightning and thunder – 8km away. Not much but still ok. So maybe 10-15 minutes away according to my assumed wind speed. Our alternatives were to go back down which ment walking right towards the cell or trying to run up getting over the pass and dropping down as quick as possible to not be the lightning rod on the ridge with our tracking poles. Since the way up was also about a 90 degree angle away from the cell and the direction it was moving to we decide to go up quickly. Everything went well. The cell passed us, the lightning didn’t get any closer than the 8km and we only received a little shower. Sweet as, bro.

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We treated ourselves with an ice cold beer in the first Swiss hut and studied the maps for the rest of the day.

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Unfortunately we were dropping down into civilisation again. This ment limited opportunities for stealth camping. And respecting private property is different thing than breaking the rules with wild camping somewhere up in the mountains (of course leaving no trace! LNT). So we decided to stay on a campsite in La Fouly which was actually a bit shorter than we wanted to go. But with the extra 5-8km we wanted to do we would have ended up right at the bottom of the valley with a lot of houses and possibly no camp spots. Also water would have been an issue since there was farming everywhere. So the campsite stopped us at 19.30 already. “Only” 32km today. But she’ll be right bro. Tomorrow is another day…

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When I arrived at the tent site a few people were there already. And they all looked like TMB hikers. Tents, backpacks and “stuff” for a hike. When I had picked a spot and took my backpack down people looked at me with disbelieve. I could read on their foreheads “What is he doing here? If he wants to camp he will need a tent and all that. Didn’t he bring that? Idiot!?”. I have to admit I really had to hold myself together not to laugh. And then I emptied my pack with the few little thing I carry, pitched the tent, blew up my tiny air mattress, took my sleeping bag out of the compression bag and set up the stove to cook. It was funny… 😂

A few people came over to check out the tent. They still couldn’t believe that I had all my equipment in the little pack. And one guy came over saying “This is a Zpacks, right?”. Apparently somebody who was into the topic of ultra-light hiking. A minute later it turned out that he was also a former PCT hiker who hiked in the same season as Kaylee and me. 6-toes was his trail name. We sat down, had dinner together and exchanged trail stories and had a great evening. #hikertrash

Kaylee cheated and took a shower and we both had the feeling that our hiker hunger kicked in already. We were starving. So we went through a lot of chocolate and other things in the tent. Oh yes, baby. I love hiking…

 

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