Day 8: Off to Les Contamines!

Sunday morning, July 28th, it is raining heavily. We are supposed to hike from Les Houches (1000m) via Bellevue (1800m), Col de Tricot (2120m), Chalets de Miage (1560m), and Granges de la Frasse (1500m) to Les Contamines-Montjoie (about 1200m) to Hotel Gai Soleil. According to the hiking guide (H. Eberlein, 'Mont Blanc'), it will take about 5 to 6 hours for the route.

Our backpacks (Deuter Futura 32 AC and Cullmann Ultralight Sports Daypack 300) each weighed between 8-9 kg, depending on the amount of water in our bottles. We mainly had Merino clothes with us, that means two sweaters, about four t-shirts, two shorts, one or two long pants, and underwear for about 5 days (Janina has a little more, but her things are also smaller ;-) ). We also had hiking poles, hats, a pair of slippers or sandals each, a tripod, a rain jacket, and a hiking umbrella (hands-free), some snacks, and waist bags with us.

Since the weather was predicted to improve in the early afternoon, we postponed our hike; we started at 11:30 am from the hotel towards the cable car 'Les Houches - Bellevue'. Yes, we decided against the ascent (3 hours or 800 meters of altitude gain) by foot, especially because of the weather :)) We had never been on a cable car before! By the way, we didn't miss breakfast today, yuppie!

We arrived in Bellevue at around 12:30 pm. The view from the cable car was initially beautiful, to see the city from above. Unfortunately, clouds joined at higher altitude. It was drizzling and relatively cool, perfect hiking weather for our first day (irony intended). The visibility was practically below 50m all the time. But we often discovered snails on the paths, sneaking away with their dry shells. In addition, the river crossing at Pont des Places was exciting; the Bionnassy Glacier and the rain caused strong currents. The ascent to Col de Tricot was quite manageable (initially steep, but then through flower meadows), and so we mastered it without any noteworthy incidents! The descent, on the other hand, was sometimes tricky, as the rain had made the ground very muddy. The visibility was even worse as it was raining more heavily, and there was also a cold wind gently caressing our sweaty backs... When we arrived at Chalets de Miage, we were asked by a group if we had crossed Col de Tricot and how the visibility was... In fact, we encountered very few hikers on the trail. However, we were still happy to have hiked the route. Oh, the ascent and descent of about 200m between Miage and La Frasse (the high point being the 'Chalets du Truc') went through greenery and bushes and was exhausting as we were quite wet. At the end of the day, the rain stopped; the weather was going to improve! Dinner (we arrived before 7 pm) was excellent at the hotel (for example, there was 'Pea Cappuccino' as an appetizer with various delicious tidbits), and the room provided enough space for us to hang up our clothesline :))