Day 4/5 : 09 September 2021
- Refuge du Col du Palet to Refuge de la Martin
- Distance: 19.44 km
- Vertical up: 830 m
- Vertical down: 1,259 m
You can’t beat doing a few yoga stretches in the cool fresh air at the top a mountain, followed by a nice cup of tea and a hearty muesli porridge breakfast (with melted snickers bar). And all this with Mont Pourri and its range of stunning mountain tops for spiritual company. This is what we wanted on our Tour de Mont Pourri !
They say that practice makes perfect, and whilst we are far from perfect, we were even faster packing up camp this morning. This was a good thing as the sky was covered with cloud. We have built in some contingencies to our planned route, and the morning sky, with its impending confirmation of the weathermen’s prediction, was leaning us towards our shorter option which included a night’s stay at the Refuge de la Martin.
Today, we hiked out and back in to the Parc National de la Vanoise. We have just spent three days without electricity and phone reception, so it was quite a shock to the system to see Tignes Val Claret and the Tignes dam.
The weather really closed in, providing us with the opportunity to use our wet weather gear and enjoy the more moody side of the mountains.
Tignes dam didn’t seem to want us to forget about it and it we kept seeing it as we hiked around ridges on our way to the Refuge de la Martin. On our evening saunter up the ridge to the Glacier de la Martin we could see both the refuge and the dam at the same time.
As planned, we had arrived mid afternoon at the refuge to give us plenty of time to take stock of our day and our situation. We decided to sleep in the refuge this evening and make good use of its warm log burning stove to dry our clothes and boots.
This option to dry everything inside prompted us to take advantage of our time available before dinner to hike up the ridge to the Glacier de la Martin in the cloud and rain. It was wet, it was moody, it was mountainous. It was fantastic!
Just below the glacier there was another ridge about twenty metres away, the other side of a small stream. I could see the ridge, but not beyond it. Three enormous ‘bouquetin’ ibex were walking down the ridge, silhouetted on top of it. It was the amazing thing to see.
Then suddenly, and with mythical agility, they leaped effortlessly down the ridge jumping twenty feet at a time. It was a stunning image which is still running through my mind on a constant loop!
Things I learned today
The Parc National de la Vanoise is the only Parc National in France to have refuges. It also has a set of very sensible rules and several parc guards to enforce them. Dogs are not allowed in the Parc, and for further explanation the signs inform us that this includes dogs on a lead or being carried. We are in France after all and I chuckle to myself that they forgot to further clarify that dogs in handbags are not permitted either!
Read about the other days of our hiking trip here:
- Day 1/5 – My front door to Refuge du Mont Pourri
- Day 2/5 – Refuge du Mont Pourri to Refuge de Plaisance
- Day 3/5 – Refuge de Plaisance to Refuge du Col du Palet
- 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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