Daily Archives: 6 July 2015

July 6th

We had not thought far enough ahead.  The way over Col Valsorey into Italy would take us down over 1000 metres; the passage via Col du Sonadon was very dangerous because of frequent stonefalls (and accidents) on the Plateau du Couloir.  The only escape was to descend to Bourg-St-Pierre and use road transport.  This we did: we covered the 5 km to the trailhead in 1 hour 40 minutes.  Yves Stettler kindly picked us up and took as to the next valley where he had organised a taxi to take us past the Mauvoisin dam and lake. This road is only allowed for taxis and takes about an hour.  I had hoped to go up to the Fenêtre de Durand and possibly climb Mont Avril in the afternoon.  However, we were dropped close to the Chanrion Hut at about 1 p.m. and supper there was announced for 6.30 p.m., so there was not enough time for this sortie.  A bad day for the frontier!