So I was up on Plan Praz Sunday morning in order to fill in one more gap in our 2005 Tour du Mont Blanc: the final day, La Flegeres to Les Houches, one of the longer days on the Tour, which weather had forced us off. We had already done La Flegeres to Plan Praz, more than once, so I resolved to climb Brevent, which towers over Plan Praz, and then walk on to the end of the TMB (and the beginning, if you're going counter-clockwise), Les Houches. It turned out to be a 17 mile day all-told (some more walking in Chamonix), with a 6,000+ foot gain/loss, but was actually fulfilling. Of course, Vicki reminds me that we didn't do the stretch to Champex, taking the bus like everyone else does through the boring, warm Swiss valley. But maybe I'll do it too someday. The bilberry (what they call huckleberries hereabouts) picking at Champex was our best ever.
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Chamonix from Brevent
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From Brevent you get continuous full frontal views of the French side of Mt. Blanc
and especially the Bossons Glacier |
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Up closer
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Summit dome
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The parapentes are much closer
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Looking back to Brevent
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The trail down, a 4,500 foot descent to Les Houches
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Of course the beautiful thing about hiking in the Alps is that you are never more
than a couple miles from the next glass of biere or vin chaud--here, for example, at the Refuge Bellachat (I could add to the list of beautiful things: e.g., no horses, no dogs, no trash, no bugs, no predators, no jerks, etc.) |
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On the occasional rough patch there are iron rails and,
in this one spot, these interesting little footpads |
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Excellent signage; even I couldn't get lost
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At last, 4PM, Les Houches; "our quest is at an end"; the TI; I had a cold one
down the road; unfortunately it was a cold red wine (!), a matter of some cognitive dissonance; and then caught the bus back to Chamonix |
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