Vanoise – day 10

22.7.2023 Saturday

Pralognan-la-Vanoise – Refuge de la Femma

→ 27, 62 km ↑ 2212 m ↓ 1287 m

Alarm’s at 6am, but we really don’t feel like getting up. There’s low cloud cover, so we don’t know what it’ll be like in the higher mountains. Breakfast is hearty, sausages with baguette and a tomato-onion salad with olives. We really overate this morning. Good thing too, since the first climb is over 1000 m over 4.5 km. We start after 8am and go slowly up through forest. The wind blows the clouds through the mountains, it’s kind of magical.

From about 2200 m the views get really nice.

We manage the first pass, Col du Grand Marchet (2490 m), in 2 hours 20 minutes. We take a photo up top and eat peaches.

Next comes a steep, unpleasant descent. First over sharp shale, then over smooth rocks worn down from lots of tourist traffic. We drop 500 m and right after that climb to another pass, Col de la Vanoise (2522 m). We meet almost no one on the trail. When we cross the dried-up Lac des Assiettes, it’s dead silent.

We only have a short way left to the pass, where there’s also a hut. We cross one last small hill and suddenly dozens of people appear. We’d taken the harder route. We’ve been walking 5 hours since morning so far.

We have a lunch break, baguette with brie cheese. Under 15 km left to our destination. But with little elevation gain, 350 m up and over 500 m down. The trail runs very nicely through a wide valley with lakes, surrounded by tall mountains.

It’s a fairly busy trail. A river from a melting glacier is winding through the middle. We need to go down a few switchbacks when, suddenly, we spot an ibex, finally. It’s a protected species that mostly lives in this park. There are about 400 of them.

We take photos and continue down. We’d originally planned another route, but since we ended up at a campsite yesterday because of the weather, we had to adjust it a bit today. We have a bivouac spot booked next to Refuge de la Femme. We’re in the middle of the park, where a lot of trails cross.

We turn onto the yellow trail leading to the hut. We walk about 4 km on an asphalt road used by farmers. A path then joins it, leading us all the way to the hut. I really enjoy this walk, blooms are everywhere in the meadow and beautiful views of the hills.

There are marmots too, so Jozef doesn’t mind that I’m walking slowly. We reach the hut around 5:30pm. I go ask where we can pitch the tent. With hand gestures and a few English words, we somehow understand each other. Right now there are two older women singing, surrounded by cows. Tents should only go up after 7pm. So Jozef goes to buy a liter of wine for €15, since it’s much cheaper than beer, and we have plenty of time. We go grab a good tent spot. Soon, other people start pitching the tents, so we do it as well.

Then we go wash up in the stream. Maybe it’s day 10 talking, but it actually feels nice and refreshing now. Everyone else goes for dinner while we cook outside, chasing cows away from the tents meanwhile. They’re especially interested in the tarp. Dinner is mashed potato. Today’s an extra special version, so here’s the recipe.

1. Chop a lot of garlic into the mess tin and cut up some dried tomatoes from Lidl.
2. Pour in oil from the tuna can (if you happen to spill it in the tent, use the one you still have from home).
3. Put it on the stove and fry the garlic until it smells great and starts sticking to the titanium bottom.
4. Add a splash of white wine and let the alcohol cook off.
5. Add water (adjust the amount to how much instant mash powder you’re using).
6. Add one stock cube.
7. Once the stock cube dissolves and you see the first signs of boiling, take it off the heat (to save gas), wrap the pot to keep it warm, and stir in the mashed potatoes. Mix well.
8. Stir in the tuna and it’s ready to eat.

Tip for connoisseurs: add a heap of parmesan.

Tastes best with a nice view after a full day of hiking. Then we just sip wine, watch marmots, and shoo away the occasional cow.

Last year we followed Matúš Lašan’s trip online, and cows nearly ate through his tent, so we’re a bit nervous about tonight. Each of us keeps hiking pole ready on our side.

I try to write the blog in the evening, and Jozef’s still watching marmots running around the tent, but it knocks us both out completely. I wake up at 11pm and ask Jozef for water. We hadn’t even brushed our teeth yet, so we handle that now. I pour the rest of the wine into a spare bottle, for tomorrow. I go take a few photos of the tent with the night sky and quickly back into the warm sleeping bag.