Ensō : A Walk around Mont Blanc --- Day 1 of 9

Ensō: Day 1

It's three AM. I have been churning over the endless possibilities that could fulfill a 10-day span. Originally, my plan was to head toward Mont Blanc to embark on the Tour du Mont Blanc (or Tour of Mount Blanc). Classically, this hike is done in 10 or 11 days, and living in Germany, Mont Blanc is not too far away. In fact, I already had a round trip train ticket to nearby Geneva booked. During the 170km distance and 10,000m ascent, the hike circumnavigates, traverses, and summits large mountains and glaciers across three countries: Switzerland, Italy, and France. The nucleus is Mont Blanc. It is known as one of the greatest hikes in the world. I was curious to see if this was true.

Optimistic as I am, the weather made me second guess myself, and then second guess my second guessing. Thunderstorms; one after another after another. In total, the weather report had them spanning the entire 10 day period. Thoughts of awe-striking clouds and towering mountains peaking through came into my mind, as well as thoughts of being stricken by lightning, and being rained on... endlessly. Rain and camping do not typically go well together.

In light of this, the day before I was scheduled to leave, I found alternative trips to Croatia, and also Slovenia (also, coincidently, this day marked the last of 9 exams I had over a two-week period. Have you ever tried to plan an adventure while simultaneously hanging out with Neurophysiology and 8 of his friends? Oopf!). I planned these two backup trips to the point where I would be comfortable going to the destination and figuring out the rest there. However, being as it is three AM, and the ideas kept churning, the original apple of my eye kept bobbing out of the deep waters of my mind. 

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Mont Blanc.  I have spent now a decent amount of time mapping out the weather patterns, and in a worst-case scenario situation, where I could take refuge in refugios, or mountain huts. These shelters are peppered along the trail and serve as the typical and overwhelmingly common way to trek this circuit.  

I send a message to a Japanese / German lady named Tomoe, who I knew was driving in that direction come nine AM. I then went to sleep hoping that her "car full" alert on the ride-sharing website "BlaBlaCar" that I found her on was just a trick. My alarm awakens me at eight AM, or maybe I was already awake, I can't really remember now. I check my messages and Tomoe is there with a response, saying that she can take me on my journey. I am ecstatic! What great news! I scramble around furiously like a tornado gathering my last remaining items, packing and then unpacking my tent, and then doing it again and again. Are these 5-pounds (~2.3kg) worth taking if I will not camp? Do I know I won't camp? Camping sounds great, but my pack is already about 32-pounds. In my last second dash, I stuff the tent in my pack and strap the poles onto the bottom as I run out the door. 

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Tomoe is waiting for me in the parking lot with two others, Alex and Laura.

Briefly: Laura is a budding actress in Switzerland, going home for the holidays. While Alex is quite the character himself, studying super-conductivity on an internship in Stuttgart from Canada. He is in-between years of his university degree, taking life by the horns on his way to Barcelona. We talk from quite some time about lightning and electricity and about our individual work and goals. I hope to stay in contact with him. 

We drop Laura off first, then Alex, then it is Tomoe and I headed into the mountains. Currently, the weather is beautiful, wide blue skies with a sweltering heat. However, I can see towering clouds forming in the distance, growing wildly like the fog on a mirror from a morning shower. We were headed right into the heart of it.

I had planned out a rough day-to-day destination map, stating the distance and projected time I would have to walk, along with a rough outline of the weather for the hike in different places on the path. I had myself walking at minimum a solid 5-hours for this first day, but after dropping Alex and Laura off, I am staring at a GPS screen that reads Time of Arrival: 19:37. Simultaneously flipping through my guide book and my route planner, I decide that if Tomoe could drop me off in the town ahead of the one I intended to be dropped off in, I could make up the time. A bit later she makes a wrong turn, plays around with the GPS, and re-inputs the destination, and now the screen reads Time of Arrival: 17:50. I look at her, and ask in the best German I can what is going on. She explains that the first time was for her to drop me off and then go to her destination. I get a lift of optimism as we drive toward the misty mountains. 

Top Left = R: Rain, LR: Light Rain, AD: All-day, A->: Afternoon, Thu: Thunderstorms (but everyday really should have had Thu).
Bottom Left = Projected stages kilometers and distance.
Right = Potential places for refuge and © is official campground.

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The mountain road winds through forest, runs parallel to a river, and passes through a small town with a few buildings which look as though they have weathered many storms themselves. Then I see the sign, Ferret (fair-reh).  We are here.





I step out of the car, and for the first time with meaning, I lift my rucksack containing my supplies and the burden I have chosen to bear for the next 10 days. I shoulder the pack, and then go on adjusting the straps for my chest, shoulders, and waist. With a deep breath, I look back about 30 meters to a sign we had passed, I believe this to be the start, and after a short goodbye and well wishes, I walk toward the sign.

Tomoe in Ferret

I look the guidebook, I look at the sign, I look at the map. 

This is it… the start of the trail. 

The start of my walk. 

The start of my adventure. 

The trail descends shortly via a series of man-made rocky steps and then it transforms into steeper steps made through time and the roots of trees. Only moments from the start, I stand on a bridge over a beautiful flowing river while the cover of the trees shields the small town from view, intensifying the effect of feeling the treks beginning. There is a mild and tame drizzle, but the sky looks ready to burst. 

Following the trail onward, it briefly winds through a forest and then traverses across a grass covered hill wherefrom the valley that Tomoe and I drove through comes into sight. A group of three passes me in the opposite direction, and the last of the three inquires in French the direction of Ferret. I simply heard Ferret and pointed him in the right direction. The trail continues upward and comes to a small crossroads next to an old shed, built from stone from another time. The rain cleans the weary shed, and the wind pushes me along in the direction of Le Peule.

After a short but steep climb, the elevation change steadied out for now.  I have taken a few moments to drink water, or eat an apple, but I mostly have kept a steady pace in line with the trail. Some time later, I come across a sheep-herding dog, who is happily prancing about in the tall wet grass. His owner, wearing a full yellow rain poncho, walks after him calling his name. I pause to inquire about my location, and I find I have made it to Le Peule, a small place to spend the night, containing a few yurts and a small wooden hut. 

Despite both the weather and my first-day body pleading for me to stop, Le Peule is not where I intended to go today, and so I tackle the next ascent toward Grand Col Ferret.

Climbing more than several hundred meters, I eventually find myself in a quell, the rain has ceased as I approach the Col, which can also be known as a pass, or a small plateau area between an uphill and a downhill. The landscape consists of rolling green hills to the left of the trail, which then flow into a large valley with steep slopes on the other side.



On the right side of the trail, I can make out through the fog the outline of a series of mountain tops, some draped in snow, and even fewer, proud owners of glacial ice.


Inspired, I take several longer strides up the final stretch to the Col and upon reaching it the entire other side is exposed to me. I am taken, such beauty seemingly endlessly unfolding in front of my very eyes. I look forward to the journey that lay ahead of me, but for now, having only a short time of daylight left in combination with the change in weather, and having also spotted a lone tent down on a lower level of the rolling green hills behind me, lead me to set up a tent just below the Col so that I may make this pass again in the morning.

My tent is in the bottom right corner of this photo

—

I find a nice flat spot on which my tent will rest on grass. I managed to construct my shelter without being rained on, which gave me some great positive feelings. Next, I noticed that I was running low on water; remembering that small streams had formed in-between each of the rolling green hills, I took out my 1L water filter-bag and approached the water flow. It was not deep enough to submerge the pouch to fill with water, and none of the water flowed strongly enough to make a steady pour off a rock, but I was able to find a small flat rock with which I placed against the small cascading stream-bed, which wore the water like a tight fitting dress. This small diversion allowed the water to flow off the flat rock and into the bag like a small spigot. Soon enough, I had my water.

The first thing I did was make a pot of tea, and with the water boiling, I poured it into my thermos mug. Now, back out for more water. I took a moment here to grok the beautiful area where I stood, to admire the ridge lines against the violet sky, and the water which ceaselessly cascaded down into the echoing valley below. Satisfied and content, I headed back into my tent where I meditatively prepared quinoa, my primary fuel source for the next 10 days. 

Lightning flashed against my tent throughout the night, with thunder following no later then 5 seconds thereafter. The storm was close, the air was electrified. The night was passed with reading and writing, and then cocooning in my sleeping bag, I drifted off to sleep.


This is the first post of a series of 10.
I did this hike in August 2015.
Check back within the week for the next post!

For more adventures, writing, photographs, and even video go to my website:
www.InTentsAdventure.wix.com/Explore

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me!

Thanks for reading,
Eric