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For once I slept pretty well, maybe 7 hours. Maybe I was finally getting used to the time zone change.
Breakfast was served at 6:30 and consisted of muesli, bread with butter/jelly, apple sauce, and orange juice (or coffee if you're into that). Nothing impressive, especially considering how great dinner was.
Auberge de la Nova
Mountains above Les Chapieux
We overheard many folks saying they were going all the way to Courmayeur today, which would be a monster 19 mile day…except most of them were taking the bus up to Mottets, and may have been taking the valley route into Courmayeur and taking another bus on that end. So it probably would end up being more like 12 miles.
We weren't taking any bus, though. We started off on the road behind Auberge de la Nova. Almost immediately we got passed by a shuttle bus, and Jerry and Tom were on it, waving as they passed.
The road from Les Chapieux
Hiking along the road toward Mottets
If the entire hike to Mottets was on this road, I can understand why people would take the bus to skip it. It was kind of annoying having cars and busses pass us as we walked on the road with no shoulder. We only saw one other pair of hikers on the road with us.
Thankfully, after about a mile, there was a nice trail to the right. The trail meandered next to a stream and had great views of the mountains. Wildflowers were present most of the way along the trail. I'm happy we did it and didn't take the bus.
Thankfully onto the trail
Hiking amongst the wildflowers
Cows near the trail
View of the mountains from the trail
As we went further along we saw more people on the trail. Later on we saw goats behind an electrified fence (we know this from experience, not because we saw a sign). Across the valley we saw cattle. We stopped at Mottets for a snack break (there are picnic tables outside). The bag lunch from Nova was almost the same as from Pontet. Except to be honest I liked the sandwich from Pontet better.
Bridge crossing
Mountain view
Road to Mottets
Cows on the hill
Closer view of the cows
Torrents des Glaciers (river)
Flowers and mountain
Sign at Refuge des Mottets
Refuge des Mottets
After our break we headed back onto the trail. Now we joined tons of other hikers on the way up to Col de la Seigne. The top is also the border with Italy. The slope was pretty gentle compared to yesterday's slog. There was one wide stream crossing where there was a snow bridge a week or two ago, but it wasn't hard to rock hop across.
Looking back down at Refuge des Mottets
View from the climb
Starting the climb
Switchbacks up the climb
Stream crossing
There were some snow patches near the top, but it was relatively flat so we didn't need our microspikes. Soon enough we reach the summit. And almost immediately want to get off it. As soon as we got there, the wind blasted us. There were tons of people there taking pictures of each other. I took a few pictures and we scrambled out of there and down the other side.
View from the climb
View from the climb
Col de la Seigne
Mountains near Col de la Seigne
Checking out the view from the col
View from the col
On the descent there were some snow patches and mud to deal with. Microspikes not required, but some of the snow was somewhat steep. At some point we missed a turn and ended up going left where we should have gone right. The kids were ahead of us and had taken the right path to the museum, but Jean and I somehow ended up far to the left. There was definitely some sort of trail here, and it eventually rejoined the main trail. Their radio ran out of battery, but thankfully they could see us waving when we passed and we met up further down the trail.
La Casermetta al Col de la Seigne (the museum)
The wind continued to howl as we descended. After going for a while we just stopped by the side of the trail and ate our lunch. Then we continued the descent. The path levels off for a bit before coming to Refugio Elisabettta. The refuge itself sits high up, away from the trail itself, and beneath glaciers.
Continuing the descent
Descending from the col
Rifugio Elisabetta
View from near Elisabetta
View from near Elisabetta
Glacier above Rifugio Elisabetta
Since the wind was still a problem, we just kept going. Next was a descent on a series of switchbacks on a gravel road. Unfortunately the wind blew sand into my eyes a couple times (and I was wearing sunglasses).
After the switchback descent we crossed a small bridge over a stream and started a long walk on an almost completely straight and flat gravel road. We had about a mile or so of this before we turned left to reach Cabane du Combal. Just as we approached the refuge the wind picked up even more, giving me memories of the wind in Iceland.
Waters near Cabane du Combal
Cabane du Combal (on the left)
Looking back up toward Elisabetta
The refuge also caters to day trippers who stop by. People can come from Courmayeur and probably take a bus not too far of a walk from here, and they stop to have lunch, etc. What this meant was that the refuge was too busy dealing with those customers to check us in. It was about 3:00pm. They said to check back in half an hour. We saw others were waiting as well. We sat down at a picnic table and waited. And waited. Finally, at close to 4pm they started checking people in. But they didn't check in using the order of arrival (which they hadn't kept track of). Some people who had just arrived were checked in first. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but check-in was taking forever. Part of it was special instructions to place backpack contents into a plastic container, and the backpack itself into a zipped plastic bag. The stated reason was to avoid problems with bed bugs. I can only assume they had an infestation problem in the past and needed to be extra cautious.
In any case, even with that, I cannot think of a more inefficient way to check guests in. We didn't get into our room until almost 5pm. One person checking in at the same time as us had it even worse - she'd been at the refuge waiting since 11am! I'm pretty sure with some simple changes they could make the check-in process fair and at least twice as fast.
The room at least was nice. I was hoping the dinner would make up for the hassle, but I would be disappointed. Pasta with red sauce, meager portions of sausage and vegetables with mashed potatoes, some very dry bread, and some flan dessert that was ok but that they wouldn't give to our kids because of allergy concerns. Instead they got nothing while they served everyone else. Then, they unceremoniously, without comment, dumped a bowl with a whole apple and orange in front of each. The whole way it was done was comical and sad. We ended up buying apple pie from the cafe (which they could have offered as an option, even if we had to pay extra). The portions were pretty small as well. Sadly, amazingly, this wouldn't be the worst refuge dinner on the trip.
After dinner I was thinking of heading up to the lake above the refuge, Lago di Miage, only about 10-15 minutes away. But I looked out the window and saw that it was still windy so I said forget it.
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