The Original Plan
| Estimate Mileage | 16.1 miles |
| Climbing | 3,146 feet |
| Descending | -6,827 feet |
| Highest Elevation | 8,159 feet |
How It Actually Went
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| Chilly departure |
After a traditional refuge breakfast of breads, jams, cheese and croissants we would depart Croix de Bonhomme around 7:30 am. It was one of the coldest mornings we'd experienced thus far but as we'd found out on previous mornings, you might be chilly for 30 seconds and then you'll start climbing. And we did just that.
Our initial miles would take us up through the mist and to the eventual border of the the Les Contamines-Montjoie Nature Preserve on our way up to Col du Bonhomme (7600'). A sudden "sushing" made its way through the group as we had stumbled upon a herd of ibex who were grazing on the mist-covered grass. Quite lucky we got to see these guys!
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| Ibex herd |
After that, we went down. And down. And down.
Descending 5,000' over almost 8 miles was CRUSHING. Hours of downhill through some of the most pristine mountains and fields I've ever experienced does help take your mind off things however, it's a long day of putting on the brakes. We would see sheep dogs chilling in the field. We'd stop at Refuge de la Balme for a short break. Deep flowing glacial water carving up the rocks. It was an amazing day working our way to Les Contamines where we came upon a lot of day-hiker traffic on the local trail system.
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Rolling into town, at least one person said, "Hey, there's a bus stop!"
We knew (like most days) that it would end with climbing up to our next lodging choice...today was no different. The best part of the bus (shuttle) is that it was free. We just wanted to get from one end of town to the other so that we were closer to our eventual climb.
We navigated through a small village (La Villette) before connecting back to the trail that would lead us up to the Bionnassay lodge. We wound our way through homes, fields and eventually would hug the trail through a forested section, down to a suspension bridge and back up into a little town where our lodge was located.
It wasn't the toughest climbs we've experienced but the day had grown warm (by comparison) being between 3-4,000' elevation and it was just a gradual continuous grade. I think it just felt hard after doing such a long day of descending. We would eventually check into Bionnassay around 3 pm which left ample time for cleaning up, showering and having a few beers before dinner time.
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This was one of the few places we stayed where we had private rooms. It was extra of course but not by a lot. Meaning 1 room with 4 people and another room with 3 people...we nearly had the place all to ourselves until a bit later in the evening. The showers, toilets and lodge was overall very clean and modern - we hand-washed some clothes, took showers and air-dried the gear we would need for the next couple days.
Dinner time came and we were expecting more of the traditional refuge food (in the form of breads, pasta or cheese) but what happened next floored everyone. It was like we had unknowingly checked into an undercover Michelin-star restaurant. We started with a tabbouleh salad with fresh vegetables and a light dressing...delicious. Our host then informed us that tonight's entree would be a leg of duck (confit?) with potato cake. The duck was covered in some sort of reduction sauce - salty and sweet (maybe cherries?). I don't remember. I DO remember lifting my jaw off the table long enough to take the first bit...what an amazing treat in the middle of France after huffing a backpack for 13 miles.
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By now, the wine had started to flow as well. 2 (L) carraffs later, with full bellies and perma-grins, we leaned back in our chairs only to be brought dessert. A wild berry yogurt of some kind. It wasn't overly sweet. In fact the yogurt was bitter but complemented the fruit well. After making short work of dessert, our hostess would bring back a tray of digestifs...on the house! We were fat and definitely happy.
We headed to bed around 9 and were able to leave the window open in our room and listen to the rain fall all night. It was both soothing and helped dry all our clothes for the next day!
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| Fine dining at Bionnassay |
This was by FAR my favorite place to stay 😍
Amenities - 9/10
Food - 10/10
Location - 8/10
Looking Ahead
Our final day on the trail was here. There was an air of relief mixed with more trepidation of the long miles we still needed to cover in order to get back to Chamonix. There was also a sense of "where the hell did the time go?" I had a difficult time comprehending that those 5 days had already passed us by...
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