Friday 10 July 2009

Mixed weather but great hiking


Last week saw me hiking with a very mixed nationality group of women - Swiss, American, Belgian and Australian. We did the Tour of Mont Blanc, heading off backwards (clockwise) so as to avoid being on the same trail as the Chamonix Marathon which was taking place that day.




Really hot conditions lasted the whole week and whilst storms threatened every day we were lucky until the afternoon of the very last day and that only after we'd successfully descended the dreaded ladders at Les Cheserys - with some acrobatics along the way!


This week the weather has been very variable and we've had some wet and cold conditions. A week of local walking, taking in lots of non-glaciated summits, has taken us from the Mont Blanc region, to the Aravis, the Emosson dam and today over to the Italian Val Ferret where clear and cold condiitons this morning gave us perfect views of the whole of the Mont Blanc massif - and a great ascent of the TĂȘte entre Deux Sauts.

The Tour of the Matterhorn followed by the Tour of Monte Rosa are next on the programme - hoping for lots of sunshine.