7. Hike: Fenêtre d'Arpette ('I feel hardcore')

The 7th hike on the 15th day of our vacation was to Fenêtre d'Arpette, a route of the black category with a 1190m ascent and 1340m descent over a distance of about 14 km. And let me tell you right away: This hike was the most difficult and toughest of our Tour du Mont Blanc. It is also referred to as an alpine stage in our hiking guide book, reaching a total (again) height of 2665m.

We started at around 9am and reached the Relais d'Arpette guesthouse along a stream at around 10am. After that, it went moderately steep through beautiful flora and fauna. At around 2100m, the path became steeper and a chaos of rocks was added. The path was fairly well marked, but we had to change our route a few times, and sometimes we had to use our hands for climbing. Concentration was required with every step. Later, we found out that there was a fatal accident there last year, although at the end of June with constantly snow-covered rocks. But even in rainy weather, the snowless stones and paths would be extremely dangerous. So, we cautiously climbed the rock flow in sunny weather, and shortly before 2pm, we made it: Fenêtre d'Arpette was conquered! Happy about what we had accomplished, we paused, took pictures (once again) of the two Israeli hikers, and replenished our strength, because the actually most difficult part was yet to come: THE DESCENT.

Yes, when it goes steep uphill, it usually also goes just as steep downhill. And so it was! Although we did not encounter rock formations arranged as chaotically, the vertical distances between usable ground made it necessary to use our butts to help us climb down! 'Gummy bears---bounce here and there and everywhere...' So not quite as extreme, but especially at this steepness (when viewed from a distance, this mountain area looked like a vertical wall), climbing down was very challenging. The Glacier du Trient provided a great view along the way, especially in combination with the sunlight!

Afterwards, it felt like we were going downhill forever, sometimes with the help of chains and wooden stairs along a very exposed section. Added to that was the dryness, and I don't just mean the weather. There was no opportunity to refill our water bottles along the entire path! Especially Jörg was running on absolute reserves. When we arrived at the Chalet du Glacier shortly after 6pm, we bought cold drinks. They were urgently needed! Afterwards, we continued to Trient to get something to eat. In hindsight, we should have gone to Col de la Forclaz, where there would have been a lot more going on. Eventually, we sat down at the pink church in Trient, where there was also a water source (nevertheless, Jörg treated the water with the Steripen as a precaution, which is a kind of UV lamp), and Janina contacted our Airbnb host. Fortunately, she picked us up, otherwise we would have faced another two hours of walking (vs. 15 minutes by car). After we showered, we got to slurp up delicious spaghetti and a vegetable soup that our host prepared for us. Then we fell into bed, and we slept well!