Chamonix > Argentiere > Trient

We were able to replace most of the "required" gear for Kevin, in Chamonix. I picked up a jacket too. We shoved every thing into Kevin's new backpack and headed for Argentiere in the rain. It was a pleasant hike, about 1/3 of the way in we headed up hill and started trading the pack back and forth.

Stage 1: Chamonix to Argentiere
"Well, its 7:45 and we just woke up in Argentiere. Its pouring down rain so we are not very motivated to get started. Dana is on the phone dealing with British Airways and the courier that is supposedlz bringing us her backpack. It would be nice to get her pack this morning because it has all of her rain clothes in it. My pack, meanwhile, is still 'god knows where'. My new gear will suffice I guess. Last night we hiked into town soaking wet and found our hotel. A young woman brought us straight to our room (and made fun of us for taking up so much space in the elevator). We didn't have to sign any paperwork which seemed weird to me. We then found a pharmacz and some dinner. Porkchops, potatoes, green beans, and beer. I'll let Dana tell you about the strawberries" -- Kevin.

Kevin is right, the strawberries were excellant, I don't think that I have ever had ones that tasted that good. The hike was a nice start, luckily my new shoes didn't give me any blisters on the uphill part. After dinner, I took a hot bath (which I promptly fell asleep in).

Stage 2: Argentiere to Trient
As we were hiking along, we worked on my french, which really meant numbers and a song about plucking the head, beak and eyes off of a bird. The walk to Le Tour was pleasant enough. No rain and we traded the pack every 30 minutes. Once in Le Tour we headed up the ski slope to Charamillon. Ski slopes were not made to be walked up. At Charamillon (a ski lodge) we stopped for lunch. We donned our "rain gear", or at least as much as we had, and headed up to Col de Balme. I can only imagine the views that you get on this when there are no clouds. Needless to say, we had clouds....and rain ---and i had no rain gear (I did pick up a pair of pants in Argentiere). At Col de Balme we had hot chocolate and coffee. When we started we headed out in to the cloud break and no rain. Down we went. When we leveled out I took the pack from Kevin (he carried it on the down hill to save my knee). It was raining so hard that we walked into town with our heads bent over, into the rain.

Once at the hostel, we each called about our baggage. Kevin's was finally found. We need to call them back tomorrow to confirm the delivery location. Mine was supposedly signed for here at the hostel. The host does't know anything about. We met an English couple (Peter & Alex). Alex was able to translate for us for more information on the bag. We had several beers and then dinner. Right before dinner, someone walked in with my bag. I have never been so happy to see another bag. It was missing my trekking poles (british airways will be paying for those). We made it to Trient in 4:45 minutes (according to the guide book it should have taken us 5 to 5:30 hours). Not bad for being a rainy day.