A TMBer

How much can we cram into one day?
I am now an official TMBer as we finished the course about 4:30 this afternoon.  The day was so eventful the finish was almost anticlimactic.  We started out from Buet with the Mont Blanc range just peeking out at us and we started with what we have started to referring to as "up, up, up.". The trail was steep and the sun hot but we had done hotter, steeper and longer something we reminded each other of as the sun and heat hit us with the temperature unseasonably in the 90s. The trail was largely forest until we got up into the rocks and there we scared a pair of ibex.  An ibex is a mountain deer,  it has horns and is very small and agile.  We startled a pair and they ran up into a crevass, out of reach of all but our cameras and we took dozens of pictures of these two animals generally trying to avoid us.





Finally we moved on to the brilliant views of the mountain range (sorry coworkers, I just had to share the great day.). After a snack stop, one eats seemingly nonstop when hiking, we continued our climb accross a boulder field.







I only like boulder fields that one goes across - having once been tramatized by climbing down a steep Welsh one. Boulder fields require balance,and coordination (see earlier face plant entry for reminder of how much of these abilities I possess)and often a bit of scrambling. This one we crossed on a simple downhill climb so it came under the fun classification.




When we finished the climb we came across the most beautiful mountain lake where you could see the Mont Blanc range in the background (sorry again coworkers, but just had to share).  I think we all snapped dozens of pictures just in awe of the snow capped mountains and their reflection in the mountain lake.




We ate an early lunch and prolonged it as much as we could, then we took off on another minor "up, up, up" and came to four mountain lakes where we were the only hikers around.  Although able to constrain ourselves on a major trail, the boys jumped in off some high rocks and the girls took off their boots and waded in.  





The water was crystal clear, deep and very cold but felt wonderful on my hot feet.
The picture stop at the lakes became a longer swim stop but eventually our guide roused us and tried to drive us down to the trail's end.  They wanted us to hit the cable car for the final descent before the day hikers.  We started to go down the trail and a mountain rescue helicopter flew into the area, obviously looking to locate a hiker on a peak above us.  We stood and watched until they found the hiker and lowered the rescue team.  Our guide finally told us we could watch or hike but not both (or the helicopter would be making a second stop after we injured ourselves) and managed to move us a bit along the trail as we kept stopping to watch more; the chopper circling being unable to hold position in the wind, etc.
As we started to move again, we heard the words "hiker back" often used to denote a fast moving hiker or this week, an elite runner.  This runner was an elite one but even more than usual, a pair of runners including a blind fell runner holding onto the pack of the lead runner.  The pack had straps similar to a regular backpack on both the front and back and the blind runner held onto the back straps and ran the trail.  It was inspiring to watch, especially as they disappeared into the distance.
The final part of the hike was a balcony descent and we finished at the spot of our toilet spot on our first hiking day looking down into the town of Chamonix.



A,K,H,and I celebrated with fondue, with me proudly wearing one of my TMB shirts.
Tomorrow the crazy part of the crew is going parasailing.  I am joining the older folks for a hike of the north ridge and weather permitting, a trip to a nearby summit.