What a beautiful Saturday for hiking! We are having a stretch of warm, clear weather, so Derek and I are hoping to make a few long, high hikes before the season changes. Today we started from Le Tour and made our way up to the Refuge Albert. The boucle also took us to Col de Balme, Col des Posettes, and Chalets de Balme before the switchbacks returning to Le Tour.
First through a dewy pasture before a sudden climb and light scramble up to the long spine that leads toward the refuge and the glacier. We started in the cool shade while waiting for the sun to rise above the peaks and keep us warm on the steady march along the moraine.
Enjoying the view.
Getting close to the glacier.
Glacier du Tour.
We continued a bit beyond the refuge and decided to sit in the sun to watch a few groups of hikers and clouds pass over the crevasses. Great views of neighbouring summits: Aiguille du Tour, Grande Fourche, Chardonnet, Aiguille d'Argentière, and Aiguille Verte.
The groups crossing the glacier look so tiny:
Some interesting cairns.
The original Refuge Albert built in the 1930s by the Belgian king.
Two weeks ago we hiked to the summit of Mont Buet, the snow capped one (pic below). I'm glad we made it up there before the snow did.
After a good break, we started down the spine until the split towards Balme, and followed the trail to continue the loop. The spine up to the refuge looked so small as we made our way around.
We tucked into a lonely plateau covered in lovely greens and oranges and wispy white flowers.
Soon we reached the French/Swiss border with a view of new mountains to explore. Sound of Music moment...
Nearing the end of the day, we could look back at the route we had covered, and trace the narrow spine leading to the glacier.
Already the sun has sunk below the mountains, leaving us in the shadows, but illuminating Mt. Blanc and the trails we took earlier in the day.
