We went back this year to the Tour du Mont Blanc and hiked a piece of it we missed last year. Bill had a sore knee and this variant of the route warned of joint-crushing boulder climbing so we took the easier, though no less scenic, Bovine Route. This year, feeling better, we went up to the Fenetre from the pretty little town of Champex Lac and then back down to the town.
Here is the view of where we were going. The little dip in the skyline right above the road is the Fenetre. Doesn’t look so far, huh?
I think this was probably the hardest way to do this because the route on the other side looks less rocky from the pictures I’ve seen, but we had a great place to stay in Champex which made for a nice thing to look forward to after the hard hike. We also had a car which made it more difficult to do through hiking this time. As you can see this is a very rocky path, and this is after the harder part of nothing but boulders. If it weren’t for my trekking poles I could never have done this!
At the top, though, there is quite a payoff with an amazing view of the Trient glacier, and the world’s tallest dammed lake. I was amazed that it wasn’t very windy. Every other Col I had been to had been brutally windy, but it was calm and sunny this day. Really, we had perfect weather, lucky for September.
The gourmet meal at the lovely Hotel Alpina at the end of the day really hit the spot!
