We had decided ahead of time to take the train from Chamonix to Argentiere because the Haute Route trail follows the road pretty closely and just didn’t sound that exciting.\u00a0 It meant that our first day wasn’t very strenuous, but we definitely made up for that the next day.\u00a0 We were able to take the train for free, using the transportation pass provided by the hotel.<\/p>\n
Here is the journal account of the day:<\/p>\n
Well, we thought we were leaving the UTMB behind – not so fast!\u00a0 When we arrived in Trient (the 140 km mark on the UTMB), we discovered that around 30 runners had come through the town already.\u00a0 The rest would be arriving ALL NIGHT LONG!\u00a0 And they have all their supporters arriving and leaving, so we expect a noisy night.\u00a0 I guess that will be the story for tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Today was a blissfully easy day, although Barry started crabbing about hiking all the way up something and then all the way down just to get up in the morning and do it again.\u00a0 And my knees were kind-of saying the same thing in their own special way. [Note: this kind of up and down is what this trek is all about, so be prepared!]<\/p>\n
We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast buffet again, then took the train from Chamonix to Argentiere, avoiding an easy but supposedly boring section of the route.\u00a0 We arrived in Argentiere and had our first test of Kev’s route description.\u00a0 It was perfect!\u00a0 We even ran across an old couple with 3 grandkids in tow who offered to take our “starting the hike” photo.\u00a0 We hiked the easy 45-60 minute walk to Le Tour (not La Tour, which we learned means “the tower,” particularly the Eiffel Tower if spoken while in France).\u00a0 From there we paid for the telecabine lift up to Col de Balme.\u00a0 It was cloudy and chilly at the col.\u00a0 We celebrated entering Switzerland again – taking photos kissing across the boundary rock, then began the descent.\u00a0 We kept leap-frogging down the path with a couple from Flagstaff – Cindy and Peter – who were headed to La Forclaz.\u00a0 At first the hiking was beautiful; we could see all the way down into the valley where it was green and lush.\u00a0 But when we entered the forest, the serious switchbacks began: less fun and when Barry started complaining.<\/p>\n
It was goofy – as we got closer we could hear what I knew had to be cowbells, having read about them in the book.\u00a0 But really?!\u00a0 Would they make that much noise?\u00a0 When we finally arrived in La Peuty, we found that in fact, they do make that much noise – they are snug around the neck and quite sensitive to movement.\u00a0 And they are sized to match the cow.\u00a0 The bulls have big low-toned bells and the cows have bells that are somewhat smaller and higher.\u00a0 The one calf we saw had a very small, high-pitched bell.<\/p>\n
Trient is quite beautiful – but somewhat different from usual because of the UTMB.\u00a0 A town of 100 people with that many volunteers, 2000+ runners and 10,000+ supporters isn’t quite the quiet Swiss village we thought we’d encounter.\u00a0 And on top of it, our dortoir is right where the runners descend from the hills into town – so they are greeted with cheers and applause (all night long).\u00a0 And there is a ton of traffic as family and support teams arrive to care for their runner and then leave to catch up with them in Chamonix.\u00a0 AND our dortoir owner is a volunteer and runner himself.\u00a0 He has done this race twice before!<\/p>\n
We have found ourselves in the company of Roland, a German-speaking Swiss (who knows English and French very well) and a mom\/daughter duo from France – daughter knows English and has forced mom to speak it all of the way (because they are traveling with the daughter’s Finnish friend who doesn’t speak French).\u00a0 We are grateful for all the help with translation because the wife doesn’t speak English and the husband speaks only some.<\/p>\n
We had a great dinner at the family table (the 3 kids came and went, eager to take part in the race activities, I think).\u00a0 Lovely local wine and French cheese!\u00a0 Conversations flew, moving from French to English and occasionally German, as we talked and then they attempted to translate what had just been said so that we could participate.<\/p>\n
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We stayed at Gite la Gardienne<\/a> – which is basically the lower floor of the family’s house in Trient.\u00a0 There are three rooms of varying sizes, a small entry\/sitting room, kitchen and shared bath.\u00a0 Note that this means that there is ONE toilet and ONE shower for ALL visitors – which could be as many as 16-18 people!\u00a0 I chose not to try to take a shower when there were just 6 of us there because it was too hard.\u00a0 We ended up sleeping with all of the women in one room and the 2 men in another, just for the sake of privacy.\u00a0 I think the two of us were originally supposed to sleep in the smaller back room, but that meant bunk beds.\u00a0 The situation was pretty relaxed and the husband was busy dealing with the race, so we figured things out on our own.<\/p>\n
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