Tour du Mont Blanc #6 Trient, Switzerland – Les Houches, France (European Alps)

 

Leaving the small Swiss village of Trient in the early morning sunshine, I climbed up through the woods as the trail continued to an open meadow with wildflowers. The highest point of the wildflower hill, Col de Balme, (Balme Pass, 2,195m, 7,201 ft) is on the Swiss – French border above Chamonix Valley. My journey along the Tour du Mont Blanc trail 110+ mile (170 km) was approaching the end. I could see, in the distance, the picturesque mountain hut on the pass among the flower field. As I climbed higher, the massive Mont Blanc showed up again after a long absence!

I admired the white peaks of Mont Blanc at Col de Balme for quite some time… 

Unfortunately, the clouds over Chamonix Valley got thicker and darker so I packed up and got going, crossing the border back into France once again and it was all downhill through a flowery hill. The sky was overcast as I made it to the mountain refuge at Tre-le-Champ, a tiny village north of Chamonix, France for the night.

The last part of Tour du Mont Blanc trail was supposed to have the most spectacular views of Mont Blanc.  The trail climbs up high into the mountains across Chamonix Valley, and continues parallel to the Mont Blanc Range – the front view of Mont Blanc for the next few days… 

However, it was raining during the night, and it started raining again when I hiked up the steep trail through the woods.  When the trail opened up to the rocky terrain and approached the famous metal ladder on the vertical cliff, the rain got serious.  I had to climb up the sets of slippery metal ladders in drenching rain with a heavy pack.  If I slipped and fell, I would fall several vertical feet!  I was careful climbing up one step at the time… 

 

Strangely, I felt someone’s eyes on my back! An ibex (a kind of mountain goat that lives in the Alps) was hanging on the cliff at my eye level only several feet away! He was staring at me with his big round eyes! We were looking at each other, eye to eye for a moment. It was a great opportunity to capture him up close… but I was hanging onto the ladder on the cliff, there was no way to take my camera out from the backpack… I snapped a few shots with my point-to-shoot which was in my pocket. So, this image of ibex is not as good quality of my other images, but hey that was the best I could do.

After negotiating the rock walls with some ladders, I came up to the higher rocky trail… It was raining hard all the way to the mountain refuge for the night… and the next 2 days were non-stop rain…This last section of trail was supposed to be the most scenic view of Mont Blanc, and I planned to spend an extra day in order to photograph the front view of Mont Blanc at sunset. However, clouds and fog filled Chamonix Valley, and Mont Blanc hid behind it. I just had to finish my journey in the miserable cold rain…The image above is the last view of Mont Blanc before serious weather moved in…

The Chamonix town below...

 



Here are the ruins along the trail… Due to bad visibility, I missed a turn and took a wrong trail for 2 miles… an extra 4 miles round trip in the rain wasn’t fun with a heavy pack.

Day 15 of my Tour du Mont Blanc journey, I made it back to Les Houches, France (South of Chamonix) where I started.  I completed an entire 110+ miles (170 km)! 

Back to Chamonix the next day and the sun came out.

A church in Chamonix.

The evening before leaving Chamonix, beautiful sunset glow on the clouds over Mont Blanc and the glacier…

I'll post some more photos from Mont Blanc area on next update.  Please check back!

Tour du Mont Blanc #5 Champex - Trient, Switerland (European Alps)

 

I had been hiking the European Alps for a photo project in July 2014. Unfortunately, the first 3 days were miserable with rain and a surprising snow fall on the mountain pass... Crossing the French - Italian border, then into Switzerland, I photographed spectacular scenery along the Tour du Mont Blanc trail (110+ miles, 170km trail, which circles around the highest peak in the Alps; Mont Blanc).

 

Continuing from the last update, I left a beautiful alpine lake at Champex, Switzerland in the morning. This section would be the climax of the Tour du Mont Blanc trail which reaches the highest point of the entire trail with a steep mountain pass "Fenêtre d’Arpette" 8,743 ft (2,665 m).

 

Starting with a beautiful cotton grass meadow under a perfect blue sky...

 

Surrounded by high mountains, the trail ascends to the higher pass while looking down the Arpette Valley down below...

The easy part was over, followed by serious treacherous climbing... First, crossing through jumbles of boulders, followed by a slippery slope with small loose stones on all fours! My 30+ pound camera gear pack slowed me down... The highest point, Fenêtre d’Arpette towers up with an unbelievably steep angle! I doubted my ability to climb the trail up with the heavy pack on my back... This was supposed to be hiking NOT rock climbing! I wish I could post images of the pass but I didn't feel safe to set up the camera on the trail.

At least the slippery scree part was over, and a steep trail continued until reaching the pass... I just wanted to get to the pass, so I kept climbing...

Finally, I made it to the narrow rocky ridge of Fenêtre d’Arpette!

 

Looking down the Arpette Valley below, the trail I just came from was seriously steep. Many hikers rested on the narrow ridge. Some of them hiked up from the other side of the pass. We all met at the midpoint in the middle of the day. At last, I was able to set up the camera and captured the steep pass below...

Making it to the pass wasn't the end. Climbing to the top only meant I would have to climb down the other side...the trail was also very steep and slippery with sandy rocks. Trient Glacier cascaded down along the trail while more wildflowers cerebrated in the afternoon sun along the way.

The toughest 9 miles (about 14 km) was finally completed and some hikers jumped into the glacier melt river to cool off. I made it to the small village of Trient and settled in for the night. The stunning pink church located in the center of the village. When I first saw the picture of this church while researching the trip, I immediately planned to photograph it at sunset or sunrise, whichever offered better lighting, and crossed my fingers to have nice weather. My wish was granted, it looked like a great sunset that evening. I dragged my beaten up knees to search for the best spot before sunset, and set the camera up. When the sun lowered on the horizon a warm orange light glowed on the glacier covered peak above the church. That was perfect!

This story will continue on the next blog... Please check back!