Haute Route 2013-Day 1-Chamonix to Trient-The Journey Begins…

We finished packing up bags after a good breakfast. I think I had about 3 croissants with Nutella. As we were packing, I was sifting through the receipts I had laying on the night stand and noticed the ones from Denise’s hiking shoes. I asked her if she wanted them and we noticed that the 30 EUR one from the exchange was marked as a credit. Hmm? It was a credit card purchase so we thought it should say debit instead. We surely don’t want to pay 60 extra Euros for clicking Non-Gore Tex shoes, so back to the store we went. The salesgirl we dealt with was there and she went to the office to find out how it went through. I had tried to check it on credit card on my phone but it had not shown up yet. She ended up giving us 30 EUR cash and then we realized that she really needed to give us 60. She finally understood and gave us another 30 and then we were on our way.

Denise heading out of Chamonix beginning our Haute Route Journey

The plan for the day was to take a bus from Chamonix to the next town of Argentiere and start the hike there. Normally, the hike to Argentiere is one shorter day, but since we decided to stay an extra day in Chamonix we needed to double up. Argentiere was around 6 miles from Chamonix and Trient was 11 from Argentiere which would make a very long first day. We got to the bus stop and found out that we had just missed the 10am bus and the next one was not until 10:55. Ugh! I suggested we start walking and maybe we could pickup the bus at another bus stop. So, we kept on walking right out of town.

We followed the road for a bit and eventually hopped on a flat path that followed the river out of town. It was shaded and very easy walking which was nice. Eventually we came to a point were the path ended and we came into a golf course. A guy on a golf cart noticed our confusion and came over to help us out. He directed us through the parking lot of the golf course and then follow a very well-protected path that ran between the golf course and the river. The path had a large cantilevered, cement barrier protecting the path. It seemed like so much for just protected people from golf balls. Once past the golf course we crossed the river and headed up the side of the mountain.

The way the day started out I thought it was going to be really easy going from Chamonix to Argentiere. Easy is a such relative term! We climbed rather steeply up the path for a while. Eventually it leveled out a bit paralleling the valley below. Soon we dropped back down to the valley floor as we came into the town of Argentiere. It was basically a main road running through some shops and restaurants with houses behind on both sides. It was much more quiet than Chamonix and I was kind of wishing we would have stayed there for the first night. Oh well. It was now around lunch time so we stopped at the Les Cheserys restaurant with outdoor seating along the main road. There were some other hikers there so we didn’t feel too out of place there.

We looked over the menu a bit and decided on going with our old standby, Pizza! It was a very warm, clear sunny day so we were relieved to get the packs off our back for awhile. We had now covered the 6 miles that we had planned to take the bus for. Looks like we were in for an extremely long day. We had a good lunch and headed on our way to Trient.

Looking back on Chamonix and Mont Blanc

Small Church in Argentiere

We crossed the street and meandered North through the town. Eventually, we came to Tre-le-Champ and from there we began to climb. It was pretty steep for most of the way. We were a bit humbled though when a family came by going down the trail. The one child and a very old grandmother cruised by us like she was out for an afternoon stroll. I really felt like a flatlander now. After we got above most of the forested area, we hit this one section that was a long series of log steps. I am sure they had good intentions for these to be helpful, but they really sucked.

Stepped trail above Argentiere

Sun rays on Col des Montets

We eventually topped out and came upon some guys that were actually mountain biking the other way. I don’t know how they could ride this stuff. We were having a hard enough time hiking it. The clouds had started getting heavier and darker as we ascended up. It had actually started to sprinkle a little bit when we reached the top, but nothing major. We could see that ahead of us was march darker and most-likely getting hit with heavier precip. Hopefully it would stay ahead of us.

Argentiere Ski Area

We then crossed some pastures towards what was the Argentiere ski area. I could tell by the large lift poles lined along the hillsides. It kind of took away from the scenery a bit, but whatever. There was actually an option to take a chairlift or gondola from Argentiere to Col de Balme, but I didn’t see any of the lifts actually running. It was now getting to be around 5PM, so perhaps they were closed by now. We followed a maintenance road for a bit uphill and then veered off onto a marked trail that took us to the Col de Balme. The col was the border between France and Switzerland and there was a large stone post sticking out of the ground indicating this. The was also a hut at the col called Refuge de Balme, but it appeared to be closed. There was a lady peering out the window at us as we passed, but she did not wave back when I waved to her. Ok…keep moving along.

Denise straddles the France-Swiss Border at Col de Balme

Refuge at Col de Balme

We stopped for a little bit to have a snack and put on some extra clothing. It was pretty cloud y and since it was later in the day it was a bit cool. We wound our way downhill via some longer switchbacks. It was a nice view of the Trient Valley and the backdrop of mountains we soon be tackling in the upcoming days. We passed a couple of long huts made totally of stone. Even the roof was made of cemented rock which was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Trient Valley

Carved Owl above Trient

The downhill had not been too steep so far, but we soon entered back into forest where the trail became one of the steepest switchbacks I had ever been on before. If you looked over the edge of the trail the subsequent levels of trail look as if they were stacked on top each other. It was like a switchback into the side of a cliff wall. Not only was this steep but they had obviously taken the brunt of all those dark clouds we had seen earlier and it was wet and muddy. This had really started to take its toll on our tired feet and legs. It had been a long day and we on the final descent into Trient. We could see the town but it could not get here soon enough.

Auberge du Mont-Blanc in Trient, Switzerland

Once we got back to some flatter land, we still had another mile or two across some pastures and through town. We were staying at the Auberge du Mont Blanc which located was at the far end of the village. It was now getting dark as it was approaching 8PM. We were supposed to be at the auberge by 7PM since they were serving a group dinner. As we entered the building it was obviously right in the middle of meal time and the place was very busy. I had to go back into the kitchen to find someone to give us our room. A very stressed out lady, who spoke very little English, came out and said room 9 but didn’t give me a key. I went up to the room figuring it would be open, but it was not. Back down I went to get the lady again and tried to communicate that it was locked. She was now getting even more agitated. She eventually got me a key and I headed back up and the key didn’t work. Oh man…she is going to hit me this time! I flagged her down again and she blurted out something in French as she went by. Probably calling me an asshole or something. She eventually came back with the master key which looked like one of those ones that a janitor has with about 100 keys on it. We went to the room together and she opened the door only to find that someone had taken this room mistakenly. We had pre-booked all of our accommodations for the trip so this room was reserved for us. Now another younger girl had come up who spoke English and translated. Apparently the lady was not mad at me, but just stressed. She apologized and gave us another room which was a dorm with bunks, but we still had it to ourselves.

The Pink Church of Trient

One nice thing was this room had a great view of the town above us with the large pink church and the surrounding mountain peaks. The church also had lights on it so it was well lit at night. We then headed down to eat and they brought us out our own dishes as the masses typically got family-style and they had all finished. It was also much quieter too, so it kind of worked out well. We were pretty tired after the first day traveling a fairly demanding 17 miles. We definitely through ourselves into the fire for the first day. I had a couple beers and then we headed up for showers and then quickly crashed for the night.

One note on the showers here were that they didn’t drain well and started overflowing onto the floor. It was pretty gross. This place was packed with people which is mostly because it is on the very busy Tour du Mont Blanc trek. We would eventually be breaking off of that and it should be a little less busy in a day or two.

Tomorrow we are heading for the Champex. Our route card typically sends you over the Fenetre d’Arpette, which is a very technically difficult and demanding hike. We are debating whether we want to take that or the alternative “Bovine Route” which runs more South through Col de Forclaz. The Bovine Route is still a demanding hike, but just not as technical as the Fenetre. Denise was leaning towards the Bovine and I was feeling like I would be missing out not taking the Fenetre. Guess we will sleep on it.