Val Veny

When we did the Tour du Mont Blanc in 2005, we tented near the Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini, just down from the Col du Seigne, the French/Italian border. The Elisabetta lies at the base of three glaciers, the Petit Mont Blanc, the Estellita, and the Lex Blanche, and even during a wild Alpine thunderstorm that night, we could hear the ice calving, the rocks falling. Or so we thought. Then, about midnight, we were attacked by the red fox, first a jab at the foot of the tent, then a terrible rip at the head, and our food bag being pulled away. (Hey, it's not grizzly country). I held on to the food bag, and we suffered the rest of the night with a 3 foot tear in our little tent. We resolved the next morning to head straight into Courmayeur, for repairs and relief. Ultimately, we repaired the tent with "American tape" purchased at the hardware store. But we took the low road into Courmayeur and missed some of the more spectalcular scenery of the higher "official" TMB route. Tuesday I hiked back up nearly to the Elisabetta, then climbed up to the high route, and followed it back to our campground, via the Rifugio Maison Vielle and the Rifugio Monte Bianco.

Looking up the Val Veny toward the Col de Seigne and

France; the Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini is right center

Other people have been here...

Monte Bianco from Val Veny

Looking up to the Innominata Face of Monte Bianco

Glacier Miage, I think

Blue gentians; flowers all around

Miage Glacier and its huge moraine

Monte Bianco and the Aiguille Noire

The Grandes Jorasses through the trees, and

some of the trail

Dining room of the Rifugio Monte Bianco; time for a cold

Birra Moretti

Courmayeur

Courmayeur is sometimes called the "Italian" Chamonix--in many ways, however, we prefer it. It is more compact, less developed, less touristy. The Chamonix valley on the north side of the massif is broader, longer, the slopes less steep. On the south side of the massif, in Italy, there are two valleys, the Val Veny (west) and the Val du Ferret (east), meeting at Courmayeur. The slopes are much steeper, precipices mostly. And, from the Val du Ferret, Mont Blanc looks like the the monarch it is and not merely the super-sized snow hill one sees from Chamonix. Plus, the cuisine in Courmayeur is fontina cheese-based, which is lovely, if possibly not very good for your health, except in moderation, which is ridiculous. The only draw-back we observed is that the retail shops all take a 4 hour lunch break, noon to 4. Seriously.

After negotiating the one-lane mountain road

of Vicki's worst nightmares, we arrived at the

Campeggio Aiguille Noire, where we stayed

3 nights; the Aiguille Noire is sort of the

Italian Aiguille du Midi, except far more

steep and no cable-car; maybe two miles

from Courmayeur

Our camp-site; 15 euros a night

In Courmayeur, the Penzione Venezia, where

we stayed three nights in 2005; after a week

in refuges and the tent, horribly cold and

windy and wet weather, the incident with

the red fox, we thought the Venezia was

paradise; price for a double has increased

from 42 to 50 euros

I have a favorite liquor store in Courmayeur: it is the one

that sells the wine in bottles with little historical vignettes

--dozens of them--the owner avers there is nothing political

going on here; apparently all the FDRs, Trumans,

Wilsons, et al., have sold out; not to worry, however,

plenty of Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Che, and

others remain

I wonder what Churchill would have thought of being

displayed with Lenin and Che

We also have a favorite restaurant in Courmayeur, the

Viele Pommier, which features fontina extravaganzas

View from our table, gazing up at the

massif, the Dent du Geant, and the

Grandes Jorasses

First course, for me, the crepes du Monte Bianco (crepes

in fontina cheese, cream, ham); for Vicki, the canneloni

with wonderful red meat sauce; the second (veal, ham,

fontina; frites) and third (myrtille mousse for Vicki,

lemon gelato for me) courses are not pictured because

we were too far into gluttony for photography

On the Piazza del Monte Bianco in

Courmayeur