Beyond The Blue Line
We hit the trail at 8:00, wanting to get a good start. The first bit of the trail continued the nice sloping undulations that we had followed before our arrival to Bonatti. Eventually we had to head down into the Italian Val Ferret, just to have to go back uphill to make our way to Rifugio Elena. Situated at the very end of the valley, Elena is perched in quite the picturesque and pretty spot!
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After eating our fill, we began our hike by climbing out of Courmayeur, passing the church and following some well-marked roads past beautiful homes with equally lovely gardens. The end of the paved road gave way to the familiar dirt trail, and we began our ascent up some serious switchbacks. At the top of the winding track laid Rifugio Bertone.
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We woke up to the hustle and bustle of everyone around us in the dorm getting dressed and ready for another day of hiking. Evan and I took our time getting up, knowing that we had a shorter day in front of us. Our plan was to hike down out of Val Veny to the small village of Lasaille, where we would then catch a bus into Courmayeur.
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Mentally preparing ourselves for a long day, we left the refuge at 8:30 am and made our way across some remaining snow fields. We followed the trail and groups in front of us up to Tête Nord des Fours. While not planned, we were glad that we went out of our way to hike the peak.
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We woke up to a beautiful morning – cool to start, with a few clouds hanging on to the mountaintops. After reading several blogs from people that had skipped the first stage of the Tour du Mont Blanc as described in the Kev Reynolds guidebook {Les Houches to Les Contamines}, we decided to follow suit.
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