The Mountains are Calling, We Must Go!


Finally in Chamonix, France.  The entire reason for this trip was to make it here for a full week of trekking around the Mont Blanc massif.  We finally make it to the chalet around 6pm after a very short and very expensive cab ride and enter a very warm, very cozy atmosphere.



The chalet is called Chalet Chocolat and faces the mountains (not that anything doesn't face the mountains here it seems).  We are in a valley and so we are surrounded.  We are greeted by our hosts Zoey and Ben who take us to our very cute, room with a deck facing the mountain side.  This is definitely a view you would never get sick of.  The chalet has a lovely living room area with sofas and our own kitchen/bar area as well as a patio with a hot tub, also facing the mountain.  We can see a glacier from here as well - Bosson Glacier - and Mont Blanc itself is a little off to the right, but you can still see it.  We start to meet all of the other guests - 6 Australians, 2 Americans, 2 from Signapore and 1 from the UK.  The median age of this group of guests is around 65.  Cat from the UK, she's 78!! Egle is our mountain leader and she's from Lithuania and we all meet in the living room for our orientation before dinner. 



This is basically a full board deal for most of the days.  Breakfast every day, lunch and dinner on hiking days and dinner on the day we arrive.  Dinner is always a 3 course meal.  Our first night we are treated to a lovely salad with a spanakopita followed by Greek meatballs and roasted potatoes and finished with a dark chocolate mousse with candied orange peel.  WOW!  This is amazing!  Zoey makes all the food and Ben is the handy one and together they are fabulous hosts. Turns out Zoey did go to culinary school and her mom was a chef... So I definitely feel better about it looking and tasting so good.  Everything is so nicely plated and smells so good. After dinner it was time to settle in and get ready as the hikes start tomorrow.



Day 1 starts with about a half hour drive to get us to a place called Les Contamines valley.  From here we hike and work our way back towards Chamonix.  The initial climb is very steep and I'm huffing a bit - yes, I'm the 32 year old fitness instructor hiking with a group of seniors and I'm wheezing and woozy?  I guess the altitude is getting to me more than I thought it would.  We make our way towards Passerelle de Bionnassay, a suspension bridge that hangs over a rapid glacier stream.  On we go to the Col de Voza (1653m / 5360 ft) that looks over the Chamonix valley.  It was a very steep up and down, but the views can't be beat.  We got to picnic at about 1800 m facing a glacier.  It was over 11 km and took us about 7 hours with a few stops along the way.  This is NOT just a walk in the park.  The climbs are steep and the downhill is hard on the knees.  We are so incredibly impressed with the endurance of this awesome group of 65+, it's truly inspiring.  I'm exhausted and sore... I can't even imagine how they feel.  The weather way perfect.






We took the "city bus" back to our chalet.  There was a beautiful cake waiting there for us.  Some of us dove for the cake, others ran to the showers (we have a bit of a hot water shortage issue) and others to the hot tub.  It was almost 6pm by the time we got back and you just want to relax, so before you know it it's dinner time again and you're served a delicious French meal of French Onion Soup, some other delicious potato, cheese and pancetta bake with salad and glazed pear torte with French vanilla ice cream.  I may never come home!


Everyone is exhausted and so it's early evenings for pretty much everyone.  Tomorrow is another hike. A bigger hike and given the toll this one has taken on us, we're not sure if we're excited or afraid... HAHAHA



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