Day 2/5 : 07 September 2021
- Refuge du Mont Pourri to Refuge de Plaisance
- Distance: 15.03 km
- Vertical up: 661 m
- Vertical down: 854 m
The grass was frosted this morning, confirming the chilly feel to the mountain air, even inside the tent. I had been toasty warm inside my sleeping bag, but that soon changed when I exposed myself the bracing chill of a new September day at 2,378 m before the sun comes up in the Alps.
We cooked up some muesli porridge and added our secret ingredient, a snickers, which we felt sure we would work off later in the day.
We then waited for the sun to come up and dry the overnight condensation off our tents, which was a bit of a hassle as the rules in the Parc National de la Vanoise stipulate that you can’t erect your tent before 7pm and you must take them down before 8am. The sun doesn’t come over the mountains before 9.30am, so we had to take down our tents and dry them flat when the sun finally got to us.
This gave us plenty of time to arrange our gear and check our route for the day. Our first stop was to visit the Ancien Refuge Regaud, which has been restored into an ‘écomusée’, eco-museum, to celebrate the first people to conquer Mont Pourri.
The first man to summit the mountain was Michel Croz in 1862. The first woman to get there was Miss Meta Brevoort in 1873 (see photo below).
. . . and the first dog to trot to the top of Mont Pourri was Tschingel, Meta Brevoort’s dog, also in 1873. It seems crazy, but in those days the women had to wear full skirts like the one she’s wearing in the photo.
We were soon back on the trail, enjoying the autumn sunshine and the first autumn colours as the myrtille bushes are starting to redden now. Myrtilles are at their sweetest in September after a full summer’s sunshine has fully ripened them.
Taking time to enjoy the views is all part of making the experience special, and we are lucky to be hiking in an area where there is no electricity, no phone reception, and no cables or buildings (other than the refuges).
Just before we reached the Refuge de Plaisance, we saw our first ‘bouquetin’, ibex, but we needed our ‘jumelles’, binoculars to see them properly.
Things I learned today
Pragmatism is a good option. Whilst we could have gone for big hikes everyday, we also wanted to give ourselves time to enjoy the trip and explore our surroundings, to stop and enjoy the moment, close our eyes and listen to the silence, watch in wonder at the the chamois and bouquetin, the vultures soaring in the thermals, and just chatting with the marmottes,
Read about the other days of our hiking trip here:
- Day 1/5 – My front door to Refuge du Mont Pourri
- Day 3/5 – Refuge de Plaisance to Refuge du Col du Palet
- Day 4/5 – Refuge du Col du Palet to Refuge de la Martin
- Day 5/5 – Refuge de la Martin to my front door
You will also find other articles about Sainte Foy on the Time to Ski blog page
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