We knew that today was going to be a big day. After researching our run in Kingsley Jones excellent book, “Trail Running Chamonix and the Mont Blanc region,” we planned for about 9.5 miles and about 4,000 feet of vertical gain.
The plan called for us to begin from a bus stop in Chamonix and head towards the Montenvers train station which is near the top of a mountain (though not near enough!).
From the train station, we were supposed to head towards Le Signal and then over to the Refuge du Plan d’Aiguille. Although the trail was very steep and technical to this point, it would get worse! Fortunately, we only had around another 1,000 vertical feet before the trail became “rolling.” Several times we were tempted to turn around due to having to cross snow fields clinging to the side of the mountain. Each time we would contemplate this idea, we would see someone coming from the other direction and decide that if they could make it, then we could make it! Plus, M, who is not partial to adventure at home, was a beast on this trail and barely even slowed down across the snow fields to wait for me.
When we reached the top (just kidding, not really the top yet!) and the trail did actually become more, “rolling”, we could finally see the Refuge du Plan d’ Aiguille. It did not seem that far away, maybe a little more than a mile and only slightly uphill.
This was a false impression. Not only did we have to cross multiple snow fields clinging to the side of the mountain, every time we came around a corner, the refuge was further away!
I kept telling M that we would eventually make it to the Refuge, if only it would sit still for a while. We finally made it and were glad I had filled up my bottle with glacier water as the Refuge water was not running yet. They had food and drinks for sale, but we are tough and cheap and did not succumb to buying anything.
We found the trail we were supposed to descend and immediately came to a stop as the snow field we needed to cross was not only very steep, there was no evidence of anyone else crossing it before us. There was also no obvious path across so we elected to find a different way down. Just on the other side of the refuge was a sign for Chamonix so we began our descent again.
Of course we were ready to be done and what happens? The town kept moving lower and lower down the trail and we thought we would never reach it. Finally, either the town got tired of running downhill or we just overtook it. I am in favor of the latter.
Our 9 mile run with 4,000 feet of vertical gain, turned into 12 miles and 5,000 feet of vertical gain. Next time we plan on being a little more sneaky so the refuges and towns do not run away from us. Now, if we just multiply our vertical feet by the number of miles, that should equal the number of calories we need to replace tonight!