Tour du Mont Blanc – Day 7

By Stephen M on August 10, 2016

Our first official late start, well maybe not late, but at least 9am is a reasonable hour to start walking!

Another great day for stunning views, we climbed out of the township of Courmayeur and when reaching the walking track from the dirt road, our first challenge was handed down to the group by our guide. Apparently a 26 year old from the last group set a record of 38min to reach the Refugio at the top of the 800m ascent. After getting approval from “she who must be obeyed” to join the challenge, I set my stop watch and took off after the others. After passing the others and a number of quick photo stop opportunities (although a lot less than usual) I reached the Refugio at 35:04min proudly setting a new time to be challenged by future groups. Arn, my main challenger came in at around 43min, not bad for a very fit 67 year old!

Once we’d recovered, we continued traversing along the high route with views of the Monte Bianco (we are still in Italy) Massif to our left. Whilst sunny, we had quite cold winds blowing up the valley making temperatures cooler than the past few days.

Towards the end of the day’s walk, a few of the blokes took on the optional route which added another 4-6km and continued traversing the side of the valley at approx 1200m until descending to the valley floor to the doorstep of our Refugio for the evening. Jenny and the others descended to the valley sooner and took a very short bus trip to the evening’s accommodation.

Another great day, weather again was kind and the views simply breathtaking!

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