TMB Day 6: Des Mottets to Les Contamines - June 2023
Strong winds throughout the night reminded us of our proximity to the mountains and the reality of the nature we had called home for the past 5 days. It didn’t take much to wake us, as we were anxious to tackle our first of two remaining “easy” days.
Logistics
We hiked following the AllTrails TMB Loop from mile marker 26.1 to mile marker 10.7 on this day. We accumulated over 3,400 feet of vertical gain over roughly 16.5 miles. Our moving time was 6.5 hours. We greatly appreciated cutting our vertical gain in half this day and being able to move relatively easy!
Hiking
We agreed yet again to forego breakfast at the refuge and had hoped to stop in Les Chapieux. The night prior we didn’t have cellular or WiFi reception, so we were hoping to use that time to check in back home as well. The first few miles into Les Chapieux were beautiful, downhill miles in the valley. With an overcast morning, we were able to enjoy a relatively easy hour or so before arriving in town. Once in town, we searched out a breakfast location, before finally settling on Refuge de la Nova where the hosts were kind enough to extend their morning breakfast buffet to us. We took this time to fuel up before embarking on our one and only major ascent for the day to Col du Bonhomme.
The start of our day descending towards Les Chapieux
It wouldn’t have been a day on the TMB without a challenge and the 3,500 feet in around 4 miles proved to be our challenge for the day. It took us some time to work our way up this ascent, but thankfully breaks were welcomed given the views surrounding us! As we approached the Col, we entered some steeper and snowy terrain, which reminded us of altitude we had achieved. Yet again our plan was to use the upcoming Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme as our waypoint and rest stop, which was much appreciated given a quick turn in the weather as well! We enjoyed coffee and cake from inside the refuge as we awaited the weather to break in our favor.
Looking back on our ascent from Les Chapieux towards Col du Bonhomme
After deciding the weather may not be getting too much better anytime soon, we decided the best thing to do was start our initial descent anyway. We quickly realized we would be hiking in the rain for some time as the cloud cover of the past turned into showers shortly after restarting our hike. Fortunately, the majority of our initial descent wasn’t very exposed. There was snow to contend with, but time and patience were on our side. This stretch may have been our slowest mile of the entire week, but there was really no way around it given the conditions. Over time, as we continued to descend, the prevalence of snow and magnitude of incline gradually decreased. After about an hour of hiking in these conditions, we started to loosen our focus as the terrain became much more navigable.
The hiking from here became pretty straightforward. We would descend down into the valley and eventually hike into Les Contamines. Our only major stop along the way was for a final coffee break at Refuge de la Balme. From here, the terrain was very manageable, albeit steep descents at times. We eventually made our way adjacent to a fast-moving river and into forest terrain again, which was a nice reprieve after having spent time exposed in the mountains.
Passing Notre Dame de la Gorge as we finished our hiking for the day following a rural hiking trail from village to village before arriving in Les Contamines.
The last few miles of the day were mixed with time spent using our recent cell connection to check in with loved ones back home, as well as, reflecting on the day’s journey. We all agreed we were excited to wrap up the hiking for the day and find food. We fortunately didn’t have much road walking to finish up the hike, and our final destination, La Cité Montjoie was right on the trail!
Accommodations
We arrived relatively early again this day given our early start and lessening mileage and vertical gain. We actually ran into some logistical challenges due to our arrival as the hotel wasn’t open yet, and then later we found we beat our luggage to the hotel. Nevertheless, we used the time and proximity to local stores to eat, shop around, and take in the sun (while we could). Once checked in, we crashed pretty hard and laid around for some time. Our bodies had been through a lot over the last 6 days and it felt good to lay down for a while. Thankfully, we had another private room tonight and knowing it was the last night on trail, it was a very appreciated surprise! We contemplated going out to eat that night as there were a number of local restaurants nearby, however the afternoon brought the strongest, harshest rain storm I had ever witnessed in my life. We all agreed staying in the hotel for the night was the right choice as the forecast didn’t show any change in conditions for the remainder of the evening.
This night was special for us and for me specifically. The hotel was mostly empty aside from one other group of three and the person running the hotel was incredibly friendly (she was running the whole show by herself too!). To top things off, the host and the other group did not speak English, therefore it felt like my final test for the 6 months I had invested in learning as much French as I could ahead of the trip. I felt proud of myself navigating the logistics of our luggage, dinner, breakfast the following morning (she made our breakfast early specifically for us) and translating between groups over dinner. It’s these small moments where I am able to connect with others through foreign languages that really motivate me to stick with this pursuit. Needless to say, the combination of having safe shelter for the night, an incredible meal, and sharing the time with a few others in an intimate setting is an evening I will never forget!
Cherishing our last homemade dessert of the trip!
Photos
All of the photos on this trip were taken with my phone at the time, the iPhone 12 Pro.
