Agile Trekker: Tour du Mont Blanc Day 5 - Courmayeur to Refuge Bonatti

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/26/2019	7.7	6 hours 38 minutes	3,323' ascent, 723' descent	1.2 mph	356.2

Tonight we'll be staying at Refuge Bonatti. The refuge has no road access, so we won't have our luggage transfer. We'll need to carry everything we need for the night in our backpacks. That isn't much extra - a sleeping bag liner, toiletries, sleep clothes, and crocs. We actually didn't need the crocs as the refuges provide hut shoes. We started our hike today with a constant climb up to Refuge Bertone. There was a parking area with lots of cars on the way up. We saw many Nordic walkers (or maybe they were trail runners) plowing up the mountain. They were in their 20's. Wow they go fast. I've heard that the UTMB recordholder is a runner from Courmayeur. I wonder if its something they train kids for in school, lol. Our mileage & elevation gain today was reasonable, so I finally felt like I had time to stop at the refuge for a snack. I got a yummy berry torte. We talked to a group of women who were on a guided trip. Some of them were from Colorado and they exercised together back home, and came together on this trip. How cool is that? One of them apparently named Glen "Mr. Downhill" because I mentioned previously that I hike faster than him on uphills, and Glen with his longer legs blows by me on the downhills. Glen has decided that should be his trail name, especially as it was given by someone else.

After Refuge Bertone, there was much less climbing, and lots of views. We took many breaks to just sit and absorb the scenery. What a beautiful day. This was also one of my favorite days! On our way up to Refuge Bonatti, we saw a cow in labor. Just wow! Glen googled to see how long cow labor usually takes, and we decided not to wait that long - though we did meet people later on who said they actually saw the newborn calf. The mother cow was not so pleased with us watching her.

I was enthralled when we got to Refuge Bonatti. In front of the refuge was a flat area perfect for lying down an staring at the mountains. We could see the gondolas that we had taken yesterday. We got there before they would let us into our room, so I got a beer and enjoyed the view. Dinner was served at big tables - where they put large platters of food on the table. There was actually another vegetarian at our table. There was plenty of vegan food for Glen. We had been worried about not enough food at the refuges that Glen could eat - but there was no problem at all. We had wonderful company for dinner - people from New Zealand, Scotland, Israel, Canada, and a man from France & woman from America who were currently living in Morocco. Two people at our table had actually climbed Mont Blanc (the Tour du Mont Blanc does not climb the mountain, it circles it).

After dinner, we went outside and we could see a headlamp on Mont Blanc - someone was descending. The climbers in the group said their location was not ideal for spending a night and were wondering why they were where they were this late at night.