With my $12 map I had just purchased at the visitor center, a pack full of trail mix, a rain jacket, a camera, and a baguette, I decided to visit Lac Blanc in the upper mountains of Chamonix, France.
My day started out fairly early. I awoke at 7 AM, practically dawn since the sun was still rising, and went over everything I had laid out the night before. I had 2 water bottles, a packet of recently purchased iodine, high protein granola bars, a baguette I had transformed into a sandwich with tomatoes cheese, and a peppered salami, a pair of pants, 2 shirts, my rain jacket, a hat, and my trustee knife. I also packed an emergency pack, flashlight, and heat packets. While my roommates in the hostel room slept soundly in their warm beds, I repacked and checked my camera gear to ensure it was fully charged. Once everything was in order, I loaded my pack and left the room quietly.
After a short talk with the concierge at the ski lodge's reception desk and a brief glance at my newly acquired tourist hiking map that I had purchased the night before, I set off. My path for the day is marked out in red sharpie. A 7000 vertical gain with over 1.5 miles of traversing across some pretty steep mountain faces.
I had hoped to reach the lake by 3PM and return to the valley for dinner. Unwilling to hike up an additional 4000 feet to get the start of the trail, I took a series of Gondolas to reach Le Brevent, the mid-summit of the slope behind the lodge. Yes, you can call me lazy. Still, I was hiking solo and wanted to avoid getting caught after dark.
At the top, I was met blast of spine-chilling cold air. I tossed on my layers and started off. The trail for the first portion was reasonably easy to follow. Kerns indicated the path to follow, and the footprints of others were easy to follow in the mud. However, after following the trail for a way, I soon had a problem. The landmarks were all there, but the trail wasn't. Instead, a miniature glacier had taken over the hillside. Unwilling to turn back and determined to get across, I decided to cross like every great adventurer before me. The only thing was I did not have any snow gear to properly cross. Armed with only Nike tennis shoes and several large sharp sticks, I jerry-rigged poles and crossed.
I successfully booty-scooted across the ice pack and found the trail resumed on the other side. Glad that I managed to survive, I decided that it might be wise to keep my trustee "poles" in case I ran across any other unplanned snow packs, which I did.
Fast forward, and I was at the base of the biggest ascent of the hike, Tour des Crochues, and decided it would be a good time to stop and eat lunch. It was here that I met a father-daughter duo, and we struck up a conversation. It turns out that we were all hiking in the same general direction. After chatting with them, I decided to start and keep trudging along. I stopped to take some photos of the flora and alpine landscape.
This ascent took the most amount of time. My legs screamed at every step, and I was down 1 bottle and had not seen a clean water source to refill my empty second. I had blisters all along my feet that even moleskin didn’t relieve.
Eventually, I found a water source clean enough to refill the bottles. There are plenty of small streams. You need to be picky. When filling your bottle, make sure you choose from a clean fast flowing stream and make sure to drop in water purification tablets. I have never tasted water as good. It was cold and pure; it even had a hint of sweetness.
After a few more steep slopes and several scrambles over rock slides, I reached the last traverse of the hike. Luckily I kept those “poles” from earlier. Rounding one of the many corners, I came across several small snowpacks. This lasted several miles. The trail would surface and then disappear again under the snow. There were several points where the trail dipped next to the edge or a large crack in the rock. At these points having ice spikes or better shoes would have been ideal, but it was doable in my tennis shoes so long as I took careful steps.
At last, I reached a point where it looked like a large meadow, or open space sat. I practically sprinted the last bit. As I rounded a snow bank and climbed the last rock ledge, Lac Blanc glistened and reflected the sky in its icy blue waters. It is an absolutely stunning hike, but not for the faint-hearted, especially if you traverse as I had across the top.
I stopped for a much-needed rest break at the Lac Blanc Refuge and ordered a cup of steaming hot chocolate while looking at the map. I had 2 options for the downclimb. One on a new portion of the train winding away to the left or back across the mountain the way I had come. It was getting later in the day, and the rain clouds were starting to roll in, so I decided to try and get to a lower elevation by taking the new path. I am happy I did.
This path winded through meadows and flower fields, densely populated with mountain goats! It was so fun to stop and sit amongst them while snapping away on my camera!
As it grew later and darker, I continued my descent. The trail ended at the border of the Golf Club de Chamonix. I was about 2 miles from the ski lodge, but the walk was through neighborhoods and flats.
If you want to replicate this hike, I recommend picking up some Silver Nitrate or other water purification tablets from one of the outdoor shops in central Cham. I packed two 32oz water bottles and drank from one while the other processed since it takes 30 minutes for the tablets to work. This was such a lifesaver, and knowing I could refill my water instead of carrying it was nice.
Bring lots of snacks and layers. You get cold at the top, so having food and warm clothes staved off exhaustion.
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