Hiking Tour du Mont Blanc Day 6: La Peule to Relais d’Arpette

If you missed the start of our Tour du Mont Blanc adventure - you can read about:

Day 1 - Chamonix to Refuge La Balme

Day 2 - Refuge La Balme to Refuge des Mottets

Days 3 & 4 - Refuge des Mottets to Courmayeur

Day 5 - Courmayeur to La Peule

DAY 6 - LA PEULE TO RELAIS D’ARPETTE

Not to give too much away before I jump into Day 6, but this was definitely a highlight of the trip for me!

I was shocked at the fact that I actually got a pretty good nights’ sleep in our big dorm room. I did wake up to a frat-boy neighbors snoring at one point, but I put my headphones on and fell back asleep until 6:45 am when I started to do my morning tasks - grabbed our boots and sticks (poles) from the storage shed and ate breakfast (they had yogurt which I was thrilled about).

We got a little bit of a later start, getting ready post-breakfast instead of pre because it wasn’t a high mileage day. We took an alternate route that was recommended by Moon Honey Travelers which you can read about here.

It was scenic, had some glacier views, and rolling hills where I finally forced Soma to record a video of me running and twirling around to The Sound of Music. I also gave him a play by play of the book I had just finished (The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell) as an experiment to see if it helped me remember the plot - writing this 6 months later I can confidently say the experiment…did not work. I still seem to forget book plots immediately after finishing them.

When we got into the town of La Fouly we stopped for a cappuccino and tiramisu but quickly realized that the bus we were trying to hop on was leaving in 3 minutes. It was a very expensive cappuccino (we were in Switzerland now) so I ran into the shop and had the hardest time communicating that I needed a to-go cup - thankfully two guys jumped in and helped tell the waitress what I needed and we shuffled our way to the bus stop and just made it on.

We took the bus to Issert because I was being stubborn and insisting that we not miss out on hiking any significant elevation, but looking back I definitely wish we would have just switched in Issert and taken the bus all the way to Champex-Lac.

Instead, we got off at Issert and did another hour and a half-ish of climbing through the woods - not at all scenic, until we finally came to the magical town of Champex-Lac. We grabbed a bench, spread out our stuff, and I immediately plunged into the chilly but amazing waters.

It definitely got more crowded throughout the day so I was very glad we got there when we did with our prime bench and grass location where we lounged for 2.5 hours.

I popped over to the supermarket and put together a picnic lunch, with a brewski, and we read and sat in the sun and watched the locals coming down with their inflatable stand up paddle boards and it was just so lovely and picturesque.

It was very hard for me to walk away from the lake but eventually we did have to make our way to our home for night. We did get a litttttttle off course but eventually found our way to a very nice trail winding through a very green, lush, mossy forest and following the very melodious creek.

Our stop for the night was Relais D’Arpette which was definitely one of the larger and more built up/popular places that we stayed but had unreal views to the distant mountains where we would be heading the next day. We were surprised to learn that we had another private room, and this one might have been my favorite. We had a little balcony and the views were so gorgeous.

Dinner at Relais D’Arpette was chili so I had to get the vegetarian version but it was pretty good - this was one of the few that was served as a buffet. We sat with a couple we had met a few other nights along the way which was nice. Then we went back to the room to play 500 Rummy and I of course forced a photo shoot becuase LOOK AT THE VIEWS FROM OUR BED!?

Overall, this day felt like SUCH a treat. We were way more relaxed at Champex-Lac than we had been on our “rest” day in Courmayeur. if you’re going to take a rest day - I would say do it Champex-Lac! And definitely don’t feel like you’re missing anything if you take the bus from La Fouly to Champex-Lac!

mileage: 8.8 Miles

elevation: 2,326 feet

trail: via ALLTRAILS

Tour Du Mont Blanc Day 5 -Courmayeur to La Peule

If you missed the start our our Tour du Mont Blanc adventure - you can read about:

Day 1

Day 2

Days 3 & 4

DAY 5 - Courmayeur to Gite Alpage la Peule

This was our most difficult day of the trek and it was definitely a doozy!

We were up at 5:15 AM and had coffee in the room - Soma took his Old Town like a shot!

I didn’t love our hotel in Courmayeur, but they were nice about making us a breakfast bag to-go because we were checking out early and missing breakfast. They made us a ham and cheese sandwich and gave us a banana and biscuits.

Our day started at 6:30 AM on the roads of Courmayeur (rudely also uphill) until we hit the trail and the uphill continued through the woods. This was one of the first major climbs that had us fully in the forest, and I actually quite liked it. There’s something great about climbing through the trees in anticipation of when you’ll get to a view. It’s not quite the same to climb when you’re already surrounded by jaw-dropping views (not that I’m complaining about the TMB’s insane time : views ratio!)

Partway up we saw two women guiding horses down the mountain that were completely loaded up with a tour group’s bags. One of the horse seemed like he was about to go on strike! It was actually kind of scary - one misstep and those horses could have seriously injured those women (and themselves!)

The climb up to Bertone was about 3,000 feet, and I guess I was getting used to the fact that our morning’s started with immediate hours long uphills because we made great time, peering down on Courmayeur from Bertone just after 8:00 AM.

We only stopped to put on sunscreen but as we did, a girl recognized us - we took the same shuttle from Chamonix to Les Houches at the start of our trek! We might finish the same time too. She recognized our matching tie-dye sun shirts, shocker (hi Ana from the Netherlands!)

The stretch from Bertone to Bonatti was nice and easy as promised by the blogs I had read. There were some parts with views and other parts that were woodsy and shaded which was nice because it felt soo much cooler than we were in Courmayeur the day before.

When we got to Bonatti, it was buzzin’! We were there around 10:30 AM and got ourselves some cappuccinos and cake. I went to go to the bathroom and was sad to find a literal hole in the ground that I had to squat over. My legs were NOT happy about this situation.

While we were enjoying our snack break outside, we heard two American guys and were cracking up over their Dad jokes.

“Most people know where the Big Apple is, but does anyone know where the... Minneapolis?"

And something along the lines of, “I went to the bathroom and saw a sign that said ‘Employees must wash hands’ I waited as long as I could but nobody came, so I just washed them myself.”

One of them still had a tag on his REI bag, was wearing Lifetime fitness shorts and giving off serious frat vibes. We spend the rest of the day refusing to slow down enough where they would pass us.

The mile or so after Bonatti were some of my favorite views up to that point of the trek - you really got it all. Huge, towering mountains, rolling hills, 360 degree views, easy trail. I just felt very immersed in the scenery during this part. Maybe it had something to do with Bonatti being so busy and then getting back to solitude.

The descent to Chalet Val Ferret was just rude because then we had to climb another 1,000 feet back up to Elena!

This was definitely another popular refugio - it’s the point where all 3 countries (Switzerland, France and Italy) meet! It was also our lunch stop and it was poppin’. They had a buffet for lunch, but honestly the hot food did not look all that appetizing and I went with a sandwich instead. Tomato and mozzarella for Soma and the second ham and cheese of the day for me.

The views from Elena are insane - and I had the thought that I was maybe becoming desensitized to the views as I sat there with the Pré de Bard Glacier sprawling out in front of us just eating my sandwich.

We could tell that rain was coming, so we put our rain covers on our backpacks and moved our rain gear to easily accessible spots in our packs and set out for the final climb of the day. Another 3,000 feet up to Val Ferret, the border of Italy and Switzerland and the highest point of the TMB!

This final climb of the day almost broke me. It was so difficult, so steep, never ending, and then, so close to the very tip top, HAIL! We barely got to take in the view at the time but did see a lot of green rolling hills below and luckily an easy, chill downhill winding its way down to La Peule. At this point we had on our rain gear (I went with just my jacket, and in retrospect, pants wouldn’t have hurt!) and I boooooked it down to La Peule. It was one of the few times I was ahead of Soma. The motivation to be dry and warm and done with the longest day was strong.

We had about an hour in full on hail, thunder, and lighting. It wasn’t ideal, but it was one of the first times we weren’t sweating on the trip! Apparently things got super sketchy for some people who were behind us. The trail was getting very loose and puddly. I wasn’t surprised to hear it had turned into a bit of a mudslide situation.

For awhile we couldn’t see GIte Alpage la Peule even though we knew we had to be getting close, but eventually we spotted it nestled in vibrant green hills below us.

When we got to Gite Alpage La Peule, I was prepared for the “rustic” nature of this stay. We tried to change into something dry in the tent that was packed with other hikers (mainly just stopping to try to wait out the storm - but it just kept on going!) We stashed our sticks and boots in the appropriate tent and took one of the many pairs of camp shoes/crocs they provide. There are no private rooms here, so we were shown to our bunk bed in a giant room filled with everyone else staying for the night!

Thankfully, the shower was warm, though the bathroom in general was incredibly smelly. Not human-made-smell but cow-horse-farm animal made smell.

Of course, the two guys in the bunk beds next to us were the two frat bros from Bertone! Small world out there on the TMB!

After we had both showered and laid out what we could to dry all over our bunk bed, we headed to the dining area to read / journal / drink LMNT hot chocolate (not bad!)

Dinner was fun because we chatted with two guys from Michigan - Ben and Levi. Ben saved the day with Lactaid to accompany my THIRD ham and cheese sandwich of the day - raclette! It was good, but the bread was pretty hard and difficult to cut and I was tired and lazy and made Soma cut it for me. They also gave us homemade ice cream for dessert!

Getting ready for bed was yuck because of the smelly, tiny bathroom, but it was a beautiful spooky sunset after the storm and surprisingly slept pretty well for a room full of like 40 people!

mileage: 16.12 miles

elevation: 7,215 feet

trail: via wikiloc