Pralognan, Vanoise

The journey here was a bit fraught. We had no idea where we were headed at the start, but found a real gem of a place. We reckon we made a mistake with the choice of the 2 campsites in the town but ours wasn’t bad at all.
The town was high, close to 1400m but stinky hot when we arrived. There were a few holiday complexes that seemed to affect the atmosphere but this perhaps was a false impression as we got to like it more as we stayed.
Pralognan is on the edge of the Vanoise National Park, at the end of one of the Trois Vallees ski area. I guess the town is not one of the busiest in the winter season, with no huge impact of ski paraphernalia.
Our first route was to take the town’s cable car then head across a few cols over what were in fact spurs on the face of the higher hills. These were loose and steep in places, with the mist down it was the worst weather we had in the whole of our Alpine trip. It did brighten up as the sun managed to burn off the clouds and ended up another hot day. We made it to the Col de la Vanoise, crossing the Lac des Vacher and up to Col de la Vanoise. We then headed down past the Lac des Assiottes towards the valley before climbing again to the Col du Grand Marchet before dropping down to the valley and the campsite. There were obvious extensions to this route, but I guess I was just too lazy. 20km 1500m would just have to do.
Our second day was influenced by the ultra event that was taking place. The Tour du Grande Casse I think. This was 62km and 3000m climb. We decided to do a bit of spectating. This took up back up the the Col de la Vanoise and along the valley before returning the same way.
The leaders were impressive – not running as you would expect in a fell race, but still covering the ground well. The winner did the whole reoute in 7h 50m. The last competitor we saw was as we were eating our dinner in the town, some 14 hours plus. All were heroes! Very inspiring. (23km 1300m).
The last day in the Alps. We packed the car and drove up the valley as far as we could. We realised this was the first time we had used the car to support our walking. The chosen route was an ascent of the Petit Mont Blanc, white in colour as it is a limestone hill with lots of bare rock. We set a good pace on the way up, but near the top I noticed a pair of walkers behind us. I wasn’t used to being overtaken so tried harder on the final stretch and managed to keep ahead. Whilst recovering on the top these two arrived, giving no real impression of exertion. e soon realised they were English and started chatting. The woman was a keen ultra runner, here for one of the TMB ultra events, a mere 105km and 6000m. More inspiring for us to keep on trying with some longer days, perhaps aspiring to one of the formal events in the future??
We had to rush, so suitably inspired we headed down at a bit of a jog.We managed an average for the climb and descent of 11m30s per km for 12km and 970m. We just need to be able to do this for another 50km then we might be able to compete!
Please don’t hold me to this as a concrete target!

Argentieres

Sue & I had a trying journey through Chamonix and up the valley. We recalled our first visit, staying at the Biolet – an unofficial campsite, now a car park and Luge. The traffic was much quieter then, our ambitions were greater and experience so much less. If some of the attempts on the bigger routes had been successful then I could see that it could have changed my life! As it was, the experiences kept me interested in purer rock climbing, but with a continuing love of the mountains but no fight to get to the top. It was during one of these early visits (mid seventies) that Sue climbed Mont Blanc. At the time there was no question of using guides – a concept that today seems crazy to some. Risks were taken out of ignorance but the success was greater doing it without such support.
Back to 2009. The target was Argentiere, keeping to the Tour de Mont Blanc theme. We went up above the town to Le Tour to the campsite there, a 20 minute walk above Argentiere. The site was OK, but without the defined pitches we had some late arrivals pitching there tents just a few feet from ours. This was sorted the next day.
Day 1 (19/8/09) took us into the Aiguilles Rouge via Col des Montets then up the Tour Pedestre du Pays de Mont Blanc (TPMB). This took us to the Index, Col de la Gliere, Col Lac Cornu, La Flagere and down to Argentiere. A longer day with 27km and 1900m with fairly tough going on the stony paths – must be getting fitter?
Day 2 started with a walk to the cable car which we took up towards Col de Balme. We went up to the Albert Premiere hut with a great view of the glaciers then back down to the col. Another excursion to Croix de Fer, Tete de Balme, Aiguillette des Posettes and down. A day of great views. (26km 1450m).
There was more to be done but we felt it was a good time to move on. A good place for a visit.

Les Contamines

Summer Holidays in the French Alps have been a bit damp in recent years but in 2009 it was a scorcher. Sue & I had 6 nights in Les Contamines, a few miles to the West of Mont Blanc, in one of our favourite places.
As in previous visits we camped at “Camping les Pontets” – at least that’s what I think it was called. This is about a mile up the valley from the town, just next to the Parc des Loisirs. This part of the valley is relatively flat, making it good for the odd short run should you be so inclined. This year we didn’t need to resort to this form of exercise. The walking was enough.
Day one (13/8/09) Contamines campsite to village to Chalets du Truc, Col de Tricot, Col de Vosa, Bionassay, Champel & return. This took in the 2 alternative routes of the Tour de Mont Blanc from Col de Vosa. The stats for this were 20km and 1250m climb done at a good pace.
Day two was a shorter day. I didn’t want to get too knackered too quickly. We went up the valley then across to les Lacs Jovet for a restful contemplation on the shore. Sue of course went higher, but that gave me some peace and quiet. Daily stats 18km, 1100m.
Day three was a climb through the woods on the Eastern side of the valley to the Refuge Tre la Tete, along the Chemin Bernard and then to Lac Armancette. From a distance this didn’t impress, but once we got there is was a lovely place. There was so much frogspawn in the lake it could well be overrun with amphibians within a few weeks. (20km, 1250m)
On day four we took the lazy option up the cable car and chairlift to Le Signal. From there we crossed into the head of the valley, up to Col de la Balme then higher to Tete des Fours at 2756m. Superb views all round. We could see down to the valley to the North and the climb taken bt the Tour as it heads towards Courmayer. We had a good fast (but not running) descent back down – a satisfying day as you felt you had got up high. (25km 1200m)
Day five didn’t sound too bad in concept. We climbed to Refuge de la Balme, then across to Col de la Fenetre and Col Joly before a leisurely descent to town. (24km 1300m)
Despite the continuing good weather we knew it was time to head on, with much debate as to the our next base.