Les Chapieux to Cabane du Combal

7 September – Les Chapieux (1554 meter or 5100 feet) to Cabane du Combal , Italy (1970 meters or 6460 feet) : 13.57 km

We followed Blanka’s suggestion and started our hike at La Ville des Glaciers where she dropped us which is around 4 km ahead of Les Chapieux in the trail and around 200 meters higher. Many hikers skip the beginning of this stage by using the shuttle service of the refuge in Les Chapieux.

We started our hike uphill on the side of the valley and after 2 or 3 km we saw Refuge de Mottets down below the trail. We didn’t bother to go down for a coffee break as we were not tired yet.

Then the trail got harder with steep switcbacked sections – a though but scenic climb. Finally we reached the high point of today, crossing from France into Italy going over Col de la Seigne (2564 meters or 8412 feet). There was a very cold breeze blowing across the west side of the pass so we spent little time there. The view from the col was absolutely spectacular but it was cold!

An English guy was sitting at the cairn marking the border waiting for his wife. He had left her behind on the way up the mountain. While taking a picture of another hiker he said “say fromage” which made a good laugh.

At one point Russ was preparing to take a picture of a caterpillar crawling across the trail when the wind caught him and tossed him around – he just made himself upright and took off crawling again.

There were quite a number of mountain bikers we met along the way and at the top. At Col de la Seigne everyone rode up but the last three. Two were pushing their bikes and the last guy carrying his.

From Col de la Seigne it was generally downhill to Refuge Elisabetta.

  

At one point we saw a number of marmots. As they watch us and scramble around they whistle to communicate with each other – pretty!

After we reached by Refuge Elisabetta we started to look for our place, Cabane du Combal which should be next door as we were told! To get to the next door we had to walk 4.4 km more, still mostly downhill. Anyway, we have started the day with an advantage of 4-4.5 km distance and 200 meters of elevation. In the end of the day we lost it totally. So no gain no loss situation.

Cabane du Combal (www.cabaneducombal.com) turned out to be quite nice. Behind the refuge there is a high wall of stone – looked like a freeway but was just moraine left by the glacier – an impressive wall!