Agile Trekker: Tour du Mont Blanc Day 9

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
8/30/2019	10.6 miles	9 hours 19 minutes	3,656' ascent, 3,652' descent	1.1 mph	400.4

We started out with a road walk out of town, then switchbacks uphill. Glen was tired. I did okay - I took small steps at a slow pace to keep my heart rate down. The views got better and better throughout the day. We hiked to Col Du Balme, where we left Switzerland and arrived back in France. This hike goes through 3 countries - France, Italy, and Switzerland. Even though I adore Switzerland, it was the least exciting part of this route. When we got to the col (i.e. France), you could see snow capped peaks again. This is after having fewer views in Switzerland for the past couple of days. It's kind of funny how immediately when you get to France the views are spectacular again. We stopped at the col and I had a Nutella crepe. Then we had lots of hiking above tree line - down to Col du Posettes. We then climbed up to Aiguillette des Posettes and walked along a ridgeline. Gorgeous! I loved today's hike. The photos don't do it justice. We took a break at the peak to eat and admire the view. Some clouds started to loom, so we didn't stay too long. I'm not a fan of hiking during thunderstorms, and we were on a ridge. It never did end up raining! Speaking of rain - we had zero rain for the entire trip. The week before we left, the weather forecast was for rain every single day! So, we ended up ignoring the weather forecast. It often called for afternoon thunderstorms, but the weather we had was perfect.

The hike downhill to Tres la Champ was steep. Then on to Argentiere. Our hotel is not in an ideal spot. It was in the center of town. There was a bar across the street and lots of car noise. It's a busy little town. It was too loud to keep the windows open at night. Sometimes our hotel rooms would feel too warm, so we liked to sleep with our windows open. The hotels on the TMB didn't have air conditioning - I think we only had air conditioning in Geneva. The windows here have no screens. We wondered if we'd have any issue with mosquitoes, and we never did have an issue. Not one of the hotels or refuges had window screens. Our hotel restaurant was so-so. Our waiter was a bit aloof, and didn't understand what vegan meant. They gave Glen cake. I asked if it was vegan, and he answered noisette, which I know means hazelnut. Umm...didn't answer the question. So Glen gave his serving to me. This was the only place where vegan food was questionable.