Today we left Switzerland and hiked to France.

And it was a doozy. We hiked straight up to Col du Balme, a high mountain pass that sits on the border of Switzerland and France. We were up about 7,200 feet.

We left charming Trient on a relatively warm morning.  But, as anyone who hikes mountainous regions knows, that means nothing. The weather can change by the hour. And we were going to be climbing in a big exposed area, meaning not under the cover of trees. Which means if the wind were blowing, we would feel it. 

And the wind was certainly blowing on this day. 

As we started up the road, the layers started to come off. Some of the group were in shorts. (Not me!) After taking the previous day off, Stephanie was back in action.  

And just like every other day, the path was full of rocks and tree roots, but mostly rocks. Just. . . rocks. Lots of rocks.

In the woods portion of the trek, it was nothing but switchbacks. Go up, make the turn, go up, make the turn. Sometimes you walked over a menagerie of big tree roots, sometimes it was a maneuver over a pattern of flat rocks.  To distract myself, I started singing Italian folk songs. Another hiker, a woman from Brazil, joined me in a few choruses of “Faniculi’, Fanicula’.” 

No bikers today on the trails. Instead, runners from the Ultimate Trek Mont Blanc, the absolutely crazy fit people who run these trails, passed us. If they’re in the big race, they’ll go all around Mont Blanc and cover 171K. These are ultramarathoners and they are crazy!   

They certainly garnered my applause. I was all geared up, moseying along with my trekking poles, boots, day pack. They came by dressed decidedly in much less clothing than I had on. But they were moving! That’s some kind of training regimen and I salute them. 

Anyway, back to our trek. I asked Neil where our first stop was and he pointed to the refuge where we were headed for lunch. It was very far away, way up on top of the hill. It was just this tiny building in the distance, waaaaaaay up there.  No biggie. We’d been at this now for four days.

But this out in the open and we were exposed on the side of the mountain.

Then the wind came and it started to get cold. I took off my hoodie, which was damp with sweat, and put on my heavier hoodie. Plus the windbreaker. The wind picked up and both hoods went up! But – let’s be thankful here – it was not raining. 

At one point, I looked up and saw fellow hiker Kareem’s red jacket. He seemed so far away. It was pretty daunting. Back and forth and back and forth. 

Stephanie and I stopped to admire the view and she even saw some Alpine Ibex along the side of the very steep mountain alongside us. These are the mountain goats with the split hooves allow them to climb steep, smooth rocks sideways.  

At one point, I started to hear applause and cheering. “Are they cheering for us? Can they see us?” I asked Stephanie, thinking it was our group motivating us as we got closer to the top. 

Not quite. It was the crowd cheering the runners. The refuge was a check-in point and we even saw one guy that definitely needed a break. He was a little out of it.

Once inside, it was nice and warm and jovial. It was fun to be there with so many people. The day before we were outside enjoying the camaraderie. Today, we were inside getting warm. 

Our location was the Col de Balme, the mountain pass I mentioned earlier. The border of Switzerland and France was behind the building, and because of the geography, we were basically in the middle of a wind tunnel.

Now – knowing that the next day was our last day and we were going to be walking along a pretty fabulous balcony path that parallels the Mont Blanc massif, I decided to not finish the day’s trek and took a chair lift down the mountain to the town of Argentiere, our stop for the night. I knew there was going to be a big descent and I just decided to rest up for the last day.  So Stephanie, Kareem and I took a ski lift down, hopped on a bus and hopped off five stops later at our hotel. 

The rest of the group continued the hike to a place called Aiguillette des Posettes, up 7,221 feet, that offered an incredible panoramic view of the area. Then they hiked down to Argentiere. Tammy said it was tough. Beautiful, but tough.

After listening to their stories about the very long descent, I felt pretty good about taking the afternoon off.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I was struck by the parking lot of what looked like a bunch of used mini-vans and trailers.  But then we walked inside and everything was better. The four-star, upscale Les Grands Montets is a gem. There’s also a spa with a whirlpool outside on the back patio.

After a most delightful hot shower, I planted myself outside with my notebook with Mont Blanc to my left. Stephanie and Joyce were already in the lobby relaxing and she bought me a spritz. For a quick snack, I ordered that very familiar French appetizer, chips and guacamole. (Not kidding)

Dinner was a five-minute walk away at this nice restaurant. We were the only ones there which makes me think if they opened it just for us.  

Back at Les Grands, some of us hung out in the lobby for a bit and there was even some hot chocolate to be had. Nice end to such a big day.

Next: Our last day, sunny and warm, takes us to Chamonix along a path that parallels Mont Blanc.