This stage of the GR5 leads from 2590 meters at the refuge, over the Col du Palet at 2652 meters to Val d'Isere at 1850 meters. The trail starts in the middle of nature in the high mountains. But once the Col is passed and the descent begins, the route soon passes through ski areas, past cable cars and a golf course with a view of the ski resort village of Tignes. Then follows a stretch of descent through forests toward Val d'Isere.
When we wake up, the sun isn't up yet. In the tent we pack as much stuff as we can. As soon as we unzip the tent, it starts to get light a bit. Later, when we enjoy our coffee and breakfast, we are treated to a magnificent sunrise over the mountains.
Around 8.15am we are on the road again. From the refuge we climb via small zigzag paths to today's highest point: Col du Palet at 2,652 meters. A magnificent view this early in the morning and for a moment we imagine ourselves alone in the world (amongst all the mountain marmots). From here it's almost all downhill to Val d'Isère, where our next campsite is located.
The descent begins beautifully along rocks and meadows with a nice little lake. Because we are so high up, the landscape is barren, at times resembling a moonscape. When the descent starts to get a little steeper, we soon see the first ski elevators. We've just walked out of the Vanoise National Park and the natural view we had in the park couldn't be more different from this. The slopes are mostly cleared by bulldozers and there are wide dirt roads and cable cars everywhere. What a contrast... But the mountain marmots don't seem to mind. They have found their dens in these slopes as well and move over the mountains in large numbers.
We descend and a bit further on we get a better view of the valley in front of us, in which the village of Tignes lies. It turns out to be a huge, newly built ski resort with lots of high-rise apartments, a large water reservoir and a chain of attractions. It's hard to swallow, when you come out of such a nature reserve where you can barely pitch a tent and have to stay strictly on the paths. But judging by the crowds, many people are quite taken with it. And the advantage is that in a town like this you do find a Sherpa supermarket and boulangerie, so we have a tasty break in the middle of the village. Delicious after such a long descent and welcome since we've run out of provisions again.
As we walk out of the ski resort, we still have a little bit of climbing to do, then we gradually descend along the flank of the slope through grasslands with horses, in our way to the busy valley below us. Once there, it's about 5 more kilometers to the campsite. We follow the river for a bit and walk through Val d'Isère to the other side. Nice to be here and extra special that we arrived on foot. We once unexpectedly came out here by car during a summer vacation a few years ago and even then we were amazed by the mountains around us. It's still magnificent!
A lot of rain is predicted for tomorrow, so we will stay here for a day. We plan to do the laundry and some good shopping for the next part of our trip in the mountains. Then we'll cross the highest pass of the GR5: Col de L'Iseran!
