TMB 13: Champex > Col de la Forclaz

/ alliwanders

Last Day on the TMB! And what a day it was. I guess Mother Nature didn’t want me to miss out on any experiences so she threw me a day of rain, mist, rocks and mud.

I knew I wasn’t off to a good start this morning when I looked out my balcony and I was in the clouds…. It stayed dry until I was just past town, then it started steadily raining for a good hour & a half, then it alternated between a heavy mist and drizzle for the rest of the hike.

The first 4 miles were on road or forest track, which was easy walking. Good thing as I had to make time today to catch the 12:54pm bus to Martigny as the next one wasn’t until 6pm! I skipped breakfast and set out at 7:05am which should give me time enough if I didn’t dawdle. My book said ~5 hours but I read accounts of people taking 6-8 hours!

@ 4.35 miles the climb started and basically it was like climbing up an avalanche.

@ 5 miles I hit a plateau where I caught a glimpse of a view (and my breath) before the heavy mist/rain socked in again (and the trail climbed again).

There’s a river in my trail!
No respite
No views today
Enough already!

Once I got above the treeline the mist eased a bit and a little sunshine teased through and I thought the worst must surely be over.

Until I reached 6.5 miles & 3h10m, pushing through without a break with the goal of a nice hot drink at Alpage de Bovine.  The whole way I was judging how fast I went, how long I could break for, how long till the bus.  “Ferme”. Closed. The worst word for a weary hiker to come across.  No cappuccino, no blueberry pie ;-( So I sat on a rock in the sunny rain and ate my granola bar.

Another 1/2 mile and I was over the top, and descended into…..rain and mist and trees and rocks. And it was cold, maybe 30°’s? I had to stop to put on two more layers.

And busy! All of a sudden hikers appeared from both directions and I had company for most of the rest of the way
A muddy plateau at 7.5 miles
Still a technical descent
After 4.5 hours a view! Martigny in distance

And then it was just a mud fest the rest of the way. I’m glad today’s the last day as I need a mental break from all the mud, rocks and roots!

Dairy farm/cafe/cheese shop literally on the trail as it reached Col de la Forclaz. Pretty much every hiker stopped here to dry out & warm up.
The Col here is the only one on the Tour that has a road going over.

Yippee! I made it. Not only had I 45 minutes to spare for the bus, I completed my Tour du Mont Blanc!! (Technically I started in Trient, but if I dropped a stone over the cliff I’d hit Trient so this was close enough for me). I bought a souvenir TMB t-shirt at the gift shop, then took the bus down to Martigny where I’ll spend the night. Tomorrow I begin a week’s stay in Italy before joining a tour of the Caucasus region.