The highest point
A short climb to the top, and then all the way down to Modane and home
I’m up super early, just as the sun is coming up! I decide to get outside and enjoy it from the super sweet cliff overhang, from there you can see the entire valley and the mountaintops in the distance. a guy from the English team is also out on the cliff to capture the suns first rays on the mountaintops.
We have a nice breakfast and a lot of coffee, as i enter my room i can hear a german couple talking about my backpack, something like “it felt like paper” i explain about Dyneema, the weight and the brand, they seem impressed 😉 i’m getting tired of my food so i decide to try the lunch-bag they are offering at the chalet (turns out to be a bad choice!)
daybreak, you can just spot Pralognan way down in the valley
as we start our way up toward the Col, we can see the English team is allured up there, they must be in a hurry, i think they have to catch the train from Modane at 1’ish. it slow going but very beautiful, the last stretch is a muddy, steep slope with almost no trail, i’m very happy for my trekking poles! for traction and balance.
We hit the Col, and it’s the best view ever! there is a col a bit further up from the trail, so we ditch the packs and climb to the top of Col de Chaviére at 2796hm – the pictures should speak for them selves at this point.
After 30min of totally bliss at the Col, we are finally ready to start the long 13k descend to Modane, the trail is nice and smooth, at a plateau we notice a’lot of big holes, or craters? and shrapnel! looks like this whole area has been bombed to pieces at some point.
The trail keeps descending and after an hour we enter the forest and then the small village Polset, where we decide to take a break and have some coffee at a Chalet, the owner tells us about the bombing at the plateau, it’s form World War 2.
What’s up there?
Polset, yep it’s a small village
Malcolm is planning the trip up to Mont Thabor
the descend is brutal and very long, we stop for lunch and i discover that the lunch is made up of this and that, like a bag of mashed apple, and some raisins, dry bread… argh and i actually paid for this! i must have looked pretty disappointed for Malcom offered med a nice red apple, damn that guy have everything in that big backpack!
Malcolm is planning to head up toward mont Thabor, so we stop at a supermarket in Modane to do some resupply, it’s super weird to be in town again, but we are hungry and just buy whatever we want… still no gas for Malcolm. At the center of Modane lies the train station and we just barely get to say goodbye to the English team as the train arrives at the same time we reach them.
Malcolm and I say goodbye, it’s kinda weird to be alone again after spending the last couple of days with him!
I don’t know where to sleep tonight so i start checking the hotels for the best price, 40€ for a room is ok, tomorrow i have to catch the train to the airport.