TMB to Col de Balme Tue 12 Sep 2023

Up at 6.30am. Breakfast at 7am. First cloudy day. Started walking around 8.15am from Hotel Col de la Forclaz (1526 metres). Richard stayed and caught a bus at noon, then a train to our accommodation for the night. Walk initially followed a beautifully constructed path which was originally a tramway for shipping glacial ice to Paris and other places. There was a channel taking water down the hill beside the path as well as wooden aqueducts in places to keep the water slope constant. When the tramway path ended we crossed the river coming off the glacier above and began a steep lengthy climb up a rough foot track. Morning tea was about 10.20am. Rain sprinkles at a closed refuge Les Grands (2113 metres). Arrived at Col de Balme (2204 metres) which is the border between Switzerland and France around 1pm.Read more