Saturday, 28.8.2021

Today's (unplanned long) route: Les Bettières (1556 m) - Col du Palet (2652 m) - Val Claret (2107 m) - Col de la Leisse (2758 m) - Refuge de la Leisse (2487 m)

The shared dinner in the well-heated Refuge de la Leisse with the seventy-year-old Franc from Vallée de Joux, a druid-like wild-looking Walloon, a multilingual Flemish from Belgium, and our Monsieur Orange from Belfort compensated us for the hardships of the day. We were on the move for about ten hours and a few meters of altitude gain, and by the time we reached Col de la Leisse, we were almost frozen, it was so cold. (During the night, the thermometer dropped below zero.) We didn't plan to hike that far and long today, but the prohibition of free camping in the La Vanoise National Park, which we entered after Tignes, as well as the cold weather during almost the entire day, prompted us to stay overnight in a refuge, so we had to make the long journey to Refuge de la Leisse. The ascent of 1100 meters to Col du Pallet was wonderful and steadily easy, with a stopover in the corresponding refuge. The whole ski industry and landscape in Tignes-Le-Lac are somewhat disturbingly unreal, as is the stony, cold lunar landscape with the nearby La Grande Motte glacier (also full of ski lifts!) on the way to the Refuge de la Leisse.

The conversation during the somewhat blandly cooked dinner with the mentioned four gentlemen and Lis, especially with the lively Franc from Switzerland, was entertaining, and the Savoyard red wine Mondeuse tasted great. However, serious hikers go to bed at 8 pm, so it was soon quiet...

By the way, I realized some time ago: Our saying "to say goodbye in French" has its basis in reality. Not only once did we experience in the huts that French men and women, with whom we had longer conversations at the table and even got closer, simply left in the morning without saying goodbye, even though they were nearby.