Day 11: Champex-Lac to Argentière

Awake at 5am and out of Champex-Lac campsite by 5:45am. A short drop from the village quickly turned into the familiar TMB reality: downhill only as a prelude to something steeper.

The climb began in cool forest, zig-zagging upwards past alpine pasture and cows with bells. They stood across the path in the usual way, not aggressive, just calmly refusing to acknowledge that a trail exists.

Above the treeline, the Bovine mountain hut came into view, sitting high above the Rhône valley. Martigny lay far below.

At the Col de la Forclaz we contemplated a drink at the more polished-looking café, but crossed the road to the smaller one instead. The price of a coke confirmed we’d made no saving, just changed scenery.

We dropped down towards La Fouly, sitting under a small picnic shelter looking across a treeless campsite and mentally preparing for the familiar late-afternoon ritual of turning a tent into a solar oven.

At this point Gaby changed plans and decided we should continue. I may have been gently suggesting this idea since the descent began, which no doubt helped.

Gabys decidecision was partly influenced by the sight of the campsite facilities, especially the toilets.

The forest section was reasonably cool. Higher up, the shade disappeared and the sun took over. Progress became a pattern of stopping, dunking hats in cold streams, and occasionally adding snow to the neck when it could be found lingering in shaded patches.

At the Col de Balme the view opened out across the Chamonix valley and surrounding massifs. Mont Blanc dominated the skyline.

After roughly 1,600 metres of ascent for the day, the chairlift felt like a sensible option for most people. Gaby took the obvious decision. I briefly saw it as a challenge and an opportunity to save €31, handed over my bag to Gaby, and ran down on foot.

At the bottom we regrouped and discovered we had changed plans without actually deciding where to sleep. Later, we jumped on a local bus and made our way to Argentière, where the campsite was full but, as is often the case on the TMB, “full” doesn’t seem to apply in quite the same way to passing trekkers.

We finished the day falling asleep to the sound of cow bells from the field next door.