More Courmayeur, Again

We spent a few more days in Courmayeur, enjoying the free wifi and nice people at the Biblioteca Courmayeur, and also the Feast of S. Pantaleone, patron saint of Courmayeur, which we saw also in 2005.

Cheese guy and cheese truck...fontina, beaufort, yum!

Memorable (to us) poster

Lines form long before the Feast begins

His Grace appears

The band plays on

The eating and drinking goes on

Thus

The way it works is you pay 20 euros and they give you
one of these plates to wear around your neck, entitling you
to unlimited visits to about 20 or so food and drink stands,
an Aostan culinary extravaganza

We enjoyed the festive atmosphere, but preferred sitting
down at our old favorite, Le Vieux Pommier, the Crepes
Mont Blanc, the veal, fontina, ham cholesteramas; twice we
ate there this time

Return To Courmayeur Again: Rifugio Bertone, Again

So we drove on, south and west through Switzerland, past old friend Champex and the eastern periphery of the Mont Blanc massif, under (!) the St. Bernard Pass, through Aosta, and up to one of our favorite places, once more, Courmayeur, on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. The weather was variable and problematic, but we resolved to hike up to the Rifugio Bertone, 2,000 feet over Courmayeur, and further up on the TMB, in order to see some of the views we missed due to weather in 2005. I had seen some of this from the vicinity of Rifugio Bonatti in 2010 and 2011, but not nearly so close to Mont Blanc's Brenva Face as at Bertone. We spent the night at the refuge, in the dortoir, enjoyed a dinner of mostly cheese polenta, some beef, some soup, etc., and the company of a Danish couple doing parts of the TMB in reconnaissance for a later trip with their grand-daughters. The next day we indeed climbed another 1,500 feet, saw what we wanted to see, and then did the whole 3,500 feet back down to Courmayeur. Vicki's knee passed another, more formidable, challenge.

Courmayeur below, from Rifugio Bertone

64x digital magnification: our camper at the parking lot a few
hundred meters south of the town center; it's the only
camper parking in high season, which is now

Aiguille Noire and Monte Bianco from Rifugio Bertone

Breakfast next morning: a bowl of strong coffee and assorted
sweet and grainy things

In the dortoir; we had the far, corner bunks, left; 40 euro
per person, including dinner and breakfast

Dining room

A couple miles across the Val Ferret, the Italian side of
Monte Bianco

Left, top of Le Geant, right, the Grande Jorasses

Val Ferret, looking toward the pass to Switzerland

The trail goes ever on, but we didn't this time

Rifugio Bertone, one of the better settings on the Tour

Vicki before The Disputed Rock, near where the trail rises
out of Courmayeur; she won that bet

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 4

And now, the exciting conclusion of "Tour Du Mont Blanc":

On the Bovine variant, the ugly city of Martigny, far, far below

Along the trail to Bovine; all through our trek, the alpine
wildflowers were everywhere, particularly the alpine azaleas
(alas, Vicki had the camera that day)

It gets to be a long story here; after Bovine, and en route 

to the Col de la Forclaz, it started raining; heavy rain; we

made it to the campground at the Col de la Forclaz, where a 

French couple from Lyons we had been leap-frogging

 (nyuk, nyuk, nuyk) helped us tent and shared their hot 

water (for our backapacka dinner); the next morning, with 

heavy rain predicted the next several days, they helped us 

find the train back to France, and then on to Les Houches, 

where we dried out in a nice little hotel; the next morning
we breakfasted on our bilberries and other goodies; we
would run into our Lyons friends another time, days later
and return the favors; "kindness of strangers" is truly one
of the best parts of travel

Back in the Valley of Chamonix; so from Les Houches we
trained back to the campground in Chamonix, established
a camp there and deposited our stuff, and rode back up
the valley to cover some of the ground we had missed; at
this point, we were beginning to ask ourselves "wait a
second, isn't this supposed to be a vacation?!"

The Great White Mountain

Chamonix from Plan Praz;  piecing together parts we had
missed, we rode up to La Flegere and walked to Plan Praz;
and then rode the cable-car up to Brevent; we left the great
descent from Brevent to Les Houches for another year...

From Brevent, parapentes sailing by

Spice girl: back in Chamonix, just in time for the Saturday marche

Poulet roti..the best; well, Costco's is pretty 

good, too

A Saturday afternoon repast at our favorite, Camping de
L'ile des Barrats    

Vicki waits for the bus while I do a bit more shooting and
shopping

Tenting area at Camping de L'ile des Barrats

Last minute shopping completed

And, after an hour's bus ride, we are back at the airport in 

Geneva, repacking, awaiting our flight back to Montana...

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 3

Our 2005 TMB continued:

The Grandes Jorasses as we climb up to Rifugio Bertone

Tenting near Rifugio Bertone

Looking back to Rifugio Bertone

Companions here and there; they're inquisitive and gentle and,

hey, they make fontina

The weather is always an issue; there are good days and bad;

if you're lucky, like us, you can go back and make up the bad

days later, maybe years later; if not, then you know that a bad

day in the mountains is worth two good ones anywhere else 

Trudging up toward the Rifugio Walter Bonatti; rain expected

My favorite, Rifugio Walter Bonatti; a double room, a great
meal, great wine, great views, interesting fellow trekkers,
hot showers, even a warming room to dry out boots and
clothing...

Tenting near Rifugio Elena; lots of weekend climbers here;
you can drive right up to Elena and climb Dolent 

The beautiful Val Ferret

More crazy bicyclistes, before Monte Dolent

Us, before Monte Dolent, nearing the Grand Col du Ferret, and

the Swiss border

At Camping Philosophes, in Champex

We had the Swiss version of cheese fondue in Champex; 

rather bland and uninteresting, I thought; needed more
garlic and kirsch; but the scenery was genuinely Swiss

Next morning, picking a quart or more of

bilberries, the Euro-equivalent of
huckleberries

After a morning hiking uphill, picking

bilberries, and in anticipation of the variant

around Bovine, it's time for another glass of

wine; European trekking beats all others!