Trient > Champex

Stage 3:
We ate breakfast with Alex & Paul. Last night we had heard mention of snow falling. This morning we debated either going on the standard route to Fenetre d' Arpette (2665m) or doing a lower alternate route, Apage de Bovine (2000m). Alex asked some of the locals and the response was a lot of head shaking, finger wagging and something about going down on your ass. We decided it would be wise to go the alternate route. Before heading out we picked up some sausage and cheese to go with the half of loaf of bread Alex & Paul shared with us. We donned our rain gear and headed out in to the rain (it would rain all day). It was definately a great day for Gore-Tex. It was a 2 and half hour climb past For de la claz on our way to Bovine, at 2200 feet. Alpage de Bovine is a little farm (three stone buildings) surrounded by cows. You can get lunch hear and dry off, which we did. The onion soup, bread, cheese and hot chocolate hit the spot. After warming up a little Kevin and I headed on with out Alex & Paul (they were going to give the weather a little more time). We put our down vests on under our jackets and added fleece hats and gloves - it was now snowing. We would be headed downhill for the next 2.5 hours. The trail was wet but not bad at first, but then turned into a streambed that was very steep. It was like walking down stone & tree root steps. There were a couple of stream crossings (Kevin got wet on one of them). I am glad that I was able to tape my knee, as this was going to be hard on it.

We eventually made it to a gravel path and then a paved road. We stopped to verify directions when a car pulled up. He asked if we were going to Champex and then pointed in the right direction. He then offered us a ride, we must have looked like drowned rats -- it was still raining.

We headed up hill for our last 50 minutes of the day. We came a long a cow in the creek, just standing there. We also walked past a lot of houses and dreamed of being able to dry off.

Eventually we made it to Champex and our hotel. It is dormitory/bunk style. We have the two at the end of the room -- with the heater. I promptly got out the clothes line and cranked up the heat. We both fell asleep for a little while and then headed down to see if we could find someplace to do laundry -- no such luck. So, back up stairs to rotate clothes on the heater. Kevin was still dealing with his luggage, it appears to be stuck somewhere, maybe Geneva. Hopefully they can get it to us in Le Chable (the next stop), otherwise it will have to meet us in 3 days, as the two nights after Le Chable are mountain huts.

It looks like we won't have any rain on Friday, so maybe we will have some nice views. Evidently today we should have been able to see Mont Blanc and also down in to the valley to Martigny.

I don't know if we will have internet in Le Chable, so this may be the last post until Monday night.

Even with the rain and the luggage issues, the trip has been worth it!