Tough but magnificent hike through the Alps. The route starts at the beautiful Lac d'Anterne after which it climbs fairly quickly to Col d'Anterne at 2257 meters. At the top are the first views of the Mont Blanc massif. Then the route descends to below 1600 meters and then climbs to 2525 meters at Le Brévent. Again, there are stunning views of the glaciers and snow-capped peaks of the Mont Blanc massif. And there is a little restaurant 😉 But the devil is in the tail: after this highlight, the route descends over 8 kilometers to 972 meters to Les Houches near Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc. A beautiful but tough hike.
This morning the alarm clock rings at 5 am, today we have a long stage ahead of us, with it's meters up (1000m) and down (2000m) it will be quite tough. It's still dark when we take down the tent, but as we sit down to breakfast the sun rises and we can already enjoy the colors on the other side of the valley. While it's still quiet in most tents, we walk along the lake and begin today's first climb: 200 meters out of the valley to Col d'Anterne. As soon as we arrive at the col, in the warm morning light, we see the gigantic Mont Blanc towering head and shoulders above the rest of the mountains. This is truly magnificent! Amazing to stand here on thr col, all alone in the early morning and enjoy the impressive landscape.
We begin the descent and encounter so many people that it will probably have gotten busier on the col soon. The 3.5-l kilometer descent to Pont d'Arlevé 650 meters below is decent, but still nothing to compared to the descent we will make in the second half of the hike.
At the bottom by the wildly churning river, we take a short break before the second climb of the day begins: 800 meters up in about 5.5 kilometers. The scenery is stunning, we have a view of the valley with scrubland here and there, but mostly rocks and grassland. The small paths we walk on cross some streams of water. We pass an old abandoned settlement where only the remains are preserved in the form of ruins. It must have been an old summer residence of shepherds. The houses of stacked stones have evidently not stood the test of time.We walk on and get higher and higher up the mountainside. We climb up and know that somewhere we'll cross the mountain via a col, but have no idea where that will be. We follow the route up the zigzag paths and the passage turns out to be over the steep rock face directly above us. There is a allmost unrecognisable path through it, which is steep but well walkable with our large backpacks. Almost at the top, we pass a small valley with giant boulders, with a remaining patch of snow below us. Yes, we got higher than the snow after all!
We follow the last part of the way up, where we have to climb up the rocks with our hands and feet in some parts. Once at the top, we are one more ridge closer to Mont Blanc: the last one. From here the only thing separating us from Mont Blanc is the deep valley ahead, in which Chamonix lies. We are now right in front of it, the weather is magnificent, and the views are stunning. What a gigantic mountain and what a lot of snow! It's hard to comprehend that the familiar mountain opposite us is another 2,500 meters higher. The summit seems to be almost at eye level from here!
We are now on the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc. A popular route that is frequently walked in the summer and a bit further on is a cable car. And it shows. Hordes of people are enjoying the magnificent view. After a nice break we continue in hike to the highest point of the GR5 so far, Le Brevent at 2525 meters, where there's a little restaurant. This is also where the cable car arrives from the town in the valley. Even though it's slightly frustrating when you're bathed in sweat after such a climb to get to the top, standing among the selfie-taking crowd on sandals and sneakers, it's great that this kind of place is so approachable for anyone who wants to visit, and... we're very happy to have a cup of coffee and some (super overpriced) bottles of water to run for the descent! With our cup of coffee, we enjoy the view, the snowy mountains in front of us and the valley deep below. The latter is where we will descend to today: the campsite in Les Houches (village next to Chamonix) is 1,500 meters below. We haven't had such a descent before. Over narrow rocky paths we make our way down. From the barren high mountains, we see the landscape keep changing and becoming more forested. After 500 meters of descent we can't imagine that it's still another 1,000 meters down. The village below us already seems so much closer!
When we reach the tree line halfway down, we take a last short break. Still 700 meters of descent to go... By now it is 5 p.m. and we have completed some 17 kilometers of continuous ascending and descending and are zigzagging along the mountainside. With ascents, our shoes are ideal, but while descending over steep trails, Mark's toes turn out to have just a little too little space. During the descent this causes quite a few painful moments and unfortunately some blue toenails. Relieved and tired we arrive at the bottom. Fortunately, even an endless descent has an end... But we enjoyed the phenomenal views! Even in this last stretch. We pause at a large statue and chat with 3 American hikers we have passed a few times. They are here on vacation to trek through the Alps and it ends for them here. They are amazed when we tell them that we left Holland a few months ago and are heading to the Mediterranean. "Wow, can I take a picture? You're my heroes forever!" Surely that feels like a bit too much honor, now that we arrive here sweaty and all tired down, lol
We walk the last flat stretch to Les Houches and arrive at the most "unusual" campsite so far. This one is made on a roof of a shed built into a slope at the end of a ski slope. We have to take an elevator down 2 floors to get to the bathrooms. And the bare square "lawn" is packed with small tents, it looks a bit like a music festival campsite in the middle of the mountains. But we're happy to have a spot.
Mark's toes turn out to be quite discolored after taking off his shoes... Unfortunately there is no other option than to look for new shoes. And Malou's knees don't mind a few days' rest either, although today went a lot better than expected. We are getting stronger and stronger!
But what a contrast: waking up this morning, in the middle of nature high in the mountains, and now being here in the busy valley at the foot of the Mont Blanc. It feels unreal. What a tough, but incredibly beautiful trek this was. Once again we consider ourselves lucky to be able to do this...
