Col de la Forclaz - Refuge Les Grands - Col de Balme - Le Tour - Tre-le-Champ
- Distance: 18km
- Duration: (with breaks): 8h 00min
- Elevation gain/loss: 870m/980m
Today we decided to take the alternative route via Refuge Les Grands as it seemed to be more scenic and less crowded. It turned out to be absolutely true. We met only a few people (3 to be precise), walked with a view of at least two glaciers and had lunch in a super cute refuge.
For almost half of the walk we had great views of Glacier du Trient and the hike went pleasantly up, so by the time we reached Refuge Les Grands (2113m), we felt pretty chill.
This refuge is occasionally manned and is probably the cutest refuge I’ve seen. Small and cozy kitchen with a dining area, children’s pictures of the mountains hanging everywhere and a few sleeping spots in the attic – this is how a truly simple refuge is all about.
It felt very homey up there and I would definitely consider staying there next time. We even saw how supplies were delivered by a helicopter as the refuge is pretty remote, cool.
After grabbing lunch, we left the refuge to scale a rather rocky section and cross numerous water streams. The path seemed very pleasant: grass, flowers, sun – what else can you ask from a mountain? Until… we came across to what I call my terror path – long patches of snow on a steep slope of a mountain.
The path was very narrow and slippery as it was basically the footsteps of previous hikers. I think I walked slower than a snail – that’s how scared I was to slip and slide 20+ meters down. At some point I had a cheering team of Finnish trail runners who were behind me and obviously not able to pass me. They had to make me inch forward while I was fighting the tears and fear of slipping down.
Did I tell you there were two of those sections? Yep, lucky me. Anyway, I’m alive and Edo made some great video material on me sweating through that bloody snow. The perks of hiking early in the season.
Soon after the terror path we made it to Col de Balme (2191m), which was super windy. We got some warm soup in the Refuge Col de Balme, but did not linger too long as the clouds on the French side did not look great at all. We said a brisk goodbye to Switzerland and crossed back to France.
To be honest we did not spend a lot of time enjoying the views as we were afraid of a storm looming above us and Tre Le Champ was still 3 hours away. Besides, most of the path descends below a ski lift, which is not too impressive and helped us to keep up the speed.
At Tre-le-Champ we were meant to camp in Auberge la Boerne, but decided to check if they still have 2 spare beds as we didn’t feel like camping during a storm and the prospect of a soft mattress was too tempting. We got not only two beds, we got an entire attic!
The whole gite is like a small Hobbiton with cute rooms/sleeping areas in the most original places. For example, our suite was to be reached by a ladder only. This one was definitely the cosiest place we slept in.
By the way, the storm did not come. Whatever, no regrets.
Day 7 tips
- There is a lift close to Col de Balme going down to the valley, an option in case you cannot easily make it down on your own. It is a gradual descent though, one of the easiest we had so far.