In which we cross the highest pass we have ever done in the Alps.
We shared a room at the refuge last night... and a liter of wine at dinner. Not a good mix. One or both of my otherwise charming hiking partners snored vigorously on and off during the night. Oddly, I wasn't that bothered... because I felt that I couldn't sleep anyway. First night in the mountains, or being overtired after the day's hike? I'm not sure, but although of course I must have slept, it felt as if I hadn't. Not a big deal... were it not for the hike we did today -- over the 2928m high Col de Malatra, the highest pass we have done in the Alps (even higher than the infamous Hohtürli in the Berner Oberland (2820m) that was our previous best).
Breakfast consumed, good-looking packed lunches received, we set off under partly cloudy skies. Whereas the day before the trails had been crowded (a beautiful day, a Sunday in August, a hike near Courmayeur, and, most importantly, a part of the famous Tour de Mont Blanc, which attracts tens of thousands of hikers every year from all over the world), today we saw exactly one other hiker between Rif. Bonatti and Rifugio Frassati (on the far side of the pass), where we stopped for lunch (I had forgotten that it had been built in the years since my map was made... not the only map error of the day...). It was a good example of something I often say to people who ask if the Alps are not perhaps too crowded: it depends where you hike -- there are plenty of beautiful trails where you will only see a couple of other hikers all day.
The climb to the pass was gentle, but relentless -- by the time we got to the top the sweatline on the brim of my H2H hat had advanced to the very edge... something that only happened a few times on the H2H. And I was only wearing shorts and a light short-sleeved hiking shirt. So I was really working... and Jean-Paul and Russell confirmed that they felt the same way. The pass itself was a jagged rock barrier, looking like something out of a fantasy novel, and the descent on the far side was extremely steep for the first 100m or so... partially secured with cables, but even so not something for anyone with even a trace of vertigo. When we looked back 20 minutes later it was hard to believe that we had been able to come down from the pass -- the slope looked completely vertical.
We stopped for lunch at Rif. Frassati, which was the most Italian place we had been to... meaning that no-one spoke anything other than Italian. Which is how we came to be sitting at a table at 11:30, ordering lunch, and then learning that the kitchen wouldn't provide food until 12:30. That was too long to wait, so we were ready to go with our packed lunches when we were made to understand that something warm could be done by noon... and that convinced us to stay. We had a simple bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan, which was heavenly -- it really is better in Italy, followed by a mixed plate of charcuterie and cheese (including one that Russell pronounced as being the most ammoniac he had ever tasted... not usually praise, but in this case it was also an excellent cheese!).
We left at 12:45, as a few drops of rain began to fall, triggering the usual series of raingear on, raingear off to remove underlayers that were too hot, raingear on, raingear off again because it was still too hot and had stopped raining, raingear back on because it started raining again, and so on.
It was a long descent into Saint-Rhemy-en-Bosses, over 1250m from the pass, a major test for my ankle. Fortunately, although I was very tired by the time we got down, the ankle was fine. I was also pleased to hear from Russell that he was very surprised at how fit I seemed to be, given that I had essentially done nothing for the previous 10 months. I shared, and share, his suprise. I think it must be that once you get really fit for mountain hiking, it takes a long, long time to lose that condition. Nevertheless, by the end of both Stage 1 and today I was really tired... more so, I believe, than either Russell or Jean-Paul.
And what I'd really like to write now is that we arrived at the hotel and all was well. But that's not what happened. We arrived at where the map says the hotel was, to find... no hotel. The map was just wrong. The hotel was about 1.6km and some +/- 100m away... a hike I was NOT happy to make at the end of the day (ahem... well, relatively speaking... we started at around 7:30 and arrived at the hotel at 3:20PM). And of course it started raining fairly hard about 10 minutes before we got there, so there was that too.
But then we finally arrived at the hotel, and all was well. We each had separate rooms and I think everyone did the same thing: took a shower, got into bed, and went to sleep. It is now 19:15 and dinner is at 19:30, so I think I'll go and find out if they are still asleep!
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