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TMB Day 6: Rifugio Bonatti to La Fouly
Distance: 13.06 miles (21km) Ascent: 3,020 feet Descent: 4,403 feet Highest Point: 8,457 feet Today we left our idyllic Italian mountain refuge behind, and crossed into Switzerland. Clocking in at 13 miles, it was the longest day of our trek so far. First, it was down the splendidly beautiful Val Ferret and then up the aptly named Col Ferret. At the top was the “border.” The crossing, as ever, was very official: a pile of rocks with the letter “I” on one side of the rock and an “S” on the other. I did pull out my passport and showed it to the rock just in case 😉 It was…
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TMB Day 5: Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti
Distance: 7.86 miles (12.64 km) Ascent: 3,300 feet (1,005m) Descent: 784 feet (238m) Highest Point 6,953 feet (2,119m) Not going to lie. Today sucked. Like big time. Until it didn’t. The first two hours out of Courmayeur can only be described as my own little corner of hell. Climbing shockingly is not my thing. And yes, I get that if you’re trekking in the Alps you’re always going to be going either up or down. But steep climbs at the beginning of the day, when I haven’t had a chance to warm up are always bad for me. The day before yesterday was the same. And just as then the…
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TMB Day 4: Chapieux to Courmayeur
Distance: 8.53 miles (13.72km) Ascent: 2,534 feet (772m) Descent: 2,704 feet (824m) Highest elevation: 8,234 feet (2,509m) Leaving France behind, crossing the border into Italy and peach pie. This is pretty much all I remember. OK. Not quite. I’m writing this five days later, which makes it easier to block out the tough bits, and remember just the good parts, which usually is how it happens. In reality this was one of our easier days. The beginning and end felt like we were cheating as there were bus rides involved. The first was necessitated by a change in the refuge normally used by our travel operator (which as a result…
