Tour du Mont Blanc Day6

Japanese version is after English 日本語は英語の後にあります。

Trail Day6 17.5 km, +620m, -565m (10.9 miles, +2034ft, -1854ft)

 We started in the small town of La Fouly in Switzerland. The ultratrail race was held on this day from La Fouly. The race is called Ultra Trail Verbier St-Bernard. 

The names is St-Bernard because the course is near the Great St-Bernard pass. St.Bernard is a dog bred in Swiss, Italian, and French Alps as a rescue dog. In iconic images, dogs carry the barrel containing brandy to warm lost hikers up until rescue arrives.

Most runners were participating in the race of X-Alpaine which is 111 km and 8400 meter elevation change (68 miles, 27600 feet). The course is really challenging and tough. I admire the runners. Some portion of the race course was overlapped with TMB, so we saw around 20 runners on TMB. Because trail was narrow, we yielded the way for runners. What impressive thing was that they were very polite. Almost every runner said, “Bonjour” then “Merci” for us to let them pass. It is not an easy thing to be polite during such a tough race. AND most runners were on the steep uphill when we saw them. 

This area has a lot of athletic events. Not only this race, there was a full marathon trail race near Chamonix on the day before we started TMB. Also the most famous ultra trail race in the area is UTMB (the course is almost the same as TMB). The elite runners at UTMB finish the course around 24 hours. It is unbelievable.

 

This day’s hike was unique, because the first half was walking in the villages.

It was interesting to walk in the cute houses and cottages. Because this area is cold in winter, every house had a bunch of logs for winter (or 

leftover from last winter). Mr.N said it was the same as East Glacier Park.

 

One of the houses had two cats and they were playful. When I stopped, the cat who was sitting under the chair came to me (left picture). She was really cute and friendly. Mr.N said that she was very fat (rude) but I thought that she was only a little chubby.

 

 Another cat came while I was petting the first one and she was looking at me as if she also wanted to be pet (picture in the right). So I pet her as well. After this village walk, there were two ways of TMB. One is 742 meter, the other is 1199 meter elevation gain. We choose the harder one, because it is supposed to be much more scenic. At the junction, almost all people went to the easier route. Somehow TMB hikers always choose the easier route when there are variants. On the way to the campground, the trail was a little confusing, but one French hiker helped us. We camped at the grass field in the back of a hut.

Trail Day6’s campground was in the yard of the hut Arpette.

There were cows and goats at the hut. The goats there were really cute, especially babies were adorable. In the evening, I saw a mother goat gave birth. There were total around 20 goats and half of them were babies.

It was fun watching the babies, because they were excited and jumping a lot (left picture).

This hut was selling official TMB T-shirt. I wanted one but I didn’t buy it, because I didn’t want to increase weight even 1 gram. Now I regret it, because I can’t find it online.

I looked at food menu at the hut, but there was no hot chocolate since it was in Switzerland. It is interesting that the moment you go outside of Italy, hot chocolate disappears. For example, Rifugio Elena in Italy had amazing hot chocolate, then at the next hut which wasonly a couple of kilometers away from Rifgio Elena in Switzerland didn’t even have normal hot chocolate. During TMB, you can clearly see three different cultures. It is very interesting and nice to have such an experience. 

TMB　６日目 17.5 km, +620m, -565m

この日はスイスのラフーリーという街からスタート。この日はこのトレイルでウルトラトレイルのレースが開かれていた。ウルトラトレイルとは距離が１００キロ以上のレースだ。ここで開かれていたのはウルトラトレイル・セントバーナード。 セント・バーナードという名前はスイス、イタリア、フランスのアルプスでブリードされている救助犬、セント・バーナードから来ている。

マスコットとして見たことがある方も多いかと思うが、首に小さなワインの入った樽をぶら下げている。このワインが山で遭難した人を暖めるのだ。セント・バーナードの犬、今では世界中で見かけるが、可愛い。

トレイルで出会ったランナーたちはほとんどが１１１キロのレースに参加していた。コースは８４００メートルの上り下りがある。すごっ。TMBとレースのコースが一部被っているので２０人ほどのランナーとすれ違った。もちろんトレイルの端によってランナーを先に通す。すると、、、ものすごいことに彼らは登りを駆け上がっているのに、 きちんと”ボンジュール”と挨拶し、そして”メルシー”とお礼を言ってくれるのだ。すれ違ったランナー全員が。うわー。やっぱりスポーツマンシップってすごいな、と思う。やはり強い人ほど礼儀正しい。

そして程なくして山から出て村の中を歩く。この日のハイキングはやや違った醍醐味がある。山の中に囲まれた小さな村を歩く。村の中の一つの家の庭で猫がくつろいでいた。立ち止まると猫たちがやって来た！もちろんナデナデした。猫が大・大・大好きな私にとっては最高。

村の中を抜けると再び山の中へと入っていく。ここでは２つのTMBのルートがある。ほとんどの人は平坦な簡単な方へ行くが、我々はもちろんハードな山を越える方を選択。

この日はアーペッテの山小屋まで行き、山小屋の庭にテントを張りキャンプ。この山小屋ではヤギを飼っていた。この時期は赤ちゃんが生まれる時期でたくさんのヤギの赤ちゃんと小さな子供を見ることができた。しかも１匹のヤギはこの日に赤ちゃんを産んでいた。子供ヤギはジャンプしてすごくエキサイトしている。かわいいーーーー。

この日は次の日に登るアーペッテのパスを見ながら夕食（キャンプフード）。アーペッテは高く聳えたっている。夕焼けの中のアーペッテは荘厳で美しい。

そして就寝。