It's our ten year wedding anniversary today! Derek surprised me with a hike to spend the day together, and I asked him to marry me again on the mountainside. After a short ascent, I picked a small bouquet, handed him a tie, and said, "we still do," before we climbed into the clouds and continued our journey.
The 12 mile loop: parking by the church in Montmin, Charvet - Bajulaz - La Tournette - Chalet du Casset - Chalet de l'Aulp - La Cote - Montmin.
Our next stop was a high pass, overlooking Lac Annecy and low clouds.
We continued and soon found ourselves at the foot a huge rock. There were chains and a ladder, so up we went.
As we started to descend, we realized that that was La Tournette, the summit. With all the fog, we thought there might be another climb ahead, but that was it. I suppose we were moving faster without the weight of our huge packs, but we didn't intend to reach the top so quickly. We weren't ready to head back down yet, so we stopped to enjoy the partial view a little distance from the crowd around the summit. Clouds blocked the high Alps, but the changing view was lovely though the opening. We spotted part of the Aravis race course below us leading back to Thônes, and ate mirabells beside the friendly bouquetin.
The more technical descent was fun, a few chains and more rocky. Although it was a busy place to be in the peak of August hiking, Chalet de l'Aulp had a nice patio and cold beer, an easy hour walk from the car to burn it off before the trip home.
