European Road Trip Day 14

Thursday 14 July 2022

Today we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel Pointe Isabelle. We were nervous, but of course excited for what was to come. After breakfast we packed the last of our bags and left the rest in the storage room. After that we got to meet up with the group and got some information about the course, about the terrain, about what we might expect etc. We also got some gear. Then we all went back to our bags, started to repack them (mainly taking out as much unnecessary weight as possible) and left the rest again in the storage room.

At 10 o’clock we left Chamonix to go with car to Vallorcine. From there we took the cable car up and started to hike uphill. It was a very easy start, and Lukas carried the rope. Everything went good and slow. We stopped to rest among some cows, and the bells almost made us dizzy. But it was nice with a break. After hiking a while longer, the path got more narrow and at the second break we got some information about glaciers. What they are like, how they move etc. Really interesting! Especially the part that they act like water, just a lot slower. It really stuck. Then we moved on and crossed the moraine, and what from a distance looked like a ridge. Then we got to have a third break and also change footwear (for all of us who didn’t walk solely in alpine boots) before going down the ridge to the Glacier du Tour just beside the hut Refuge Albert 1er. Even here, Kim was struggling so much to walk in the boots.

Out on the glacier we put on crampons to practise how to use them. Kim was again struggling so hard to walk in them and not fall over, but still managed to do that once. Lukas was just naturally good. We walked a bit on the glacier until we reached a part that was a bit steeper. Here we got to practise how to properly walk uphill and downhill on the ice with crampons on. After a while, the ice axe was added as well. Again, Kim was struggling while Lukas was doing great, and somewhere here Kim twisted her ankle and every step from there was quite painful. Kim often twists her ankles, but this was a bit worse than the other times and she could feel it straight away. We were soon done though, and walked up to the hut where we got our rooms, and later we met up for a fika. We were all rather hungry and couldn’t wait until dinner with eating. During fika we talked more about glaciers, rope teams and just general safety out on the glacier and in the mountains. Meanwhile, Kim kept worrying about her foot and how she will be able to use it tomorrow. We then had some rest before the dinner. Kim tried to rest her foot as much as possible at the room and tried not to be bitter and sad about the whole thing. Why did this have to happen when we just started? A while later we had dinner together, a “three course meal”. We didn’t complain as we were all quite hungry, you get what you get in the mountains. We got a very transparent soup as first meal, as second meal we got chicken with some vegetables in a soup together with couscous and then a dry cake as third meal.

After dinner it was time to get to bed to try to get as much sleep as possible, because tomorrow would be an early start.

Start: Chamonix, France

End: Albert Premier Hut, France

Via: Vallorcine, France

Distance hiked: 7.84 km

Time: 4 h 23 min

Ascent: 803 m

Descent: 39 m