Waking Up At Montfort/Cabane Tortin

Sunrise at the top of Montfort, 3000 meters

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, it's cold up here!  The evening went well, in spite of not having any running water.  I didn't want to drink too much bottled water and have to brave the elements to get to the outside toilet but at the same time tried not to get dehydrated.  Fortunately, I did not suffer any altitude sickness symptoms which bodes well for Nepal in twelve days time. In fact, I felt great, no aches and pains, slept like a log, and felt quite well rested and fresh.

Also, because it was freezing, I slept with all my clothes on.  This is very convenient in the morning since all I had to do was bolt out of bed and put on my shoes! Of course, I had to purchase many more $10 bottles (it takes helicopters to deliver supplies) of still water to brush my teeth and wash my face. I had lathered on so much factor 50 sunblock yesterday, nothing seems to shift it!.

Speaking about the heat, for those of you in the Pacific, you cannot believe how hot it can get up in the high mountains.  I look almost Nepalese (maybe it's good to look local in Everest?!), since my face and neck are now quite tanned from the intense sun, even with sunblock and a hat.  Its so warm that yesterday, I saw a girl skinning up with her skis in what looked like a two piece swim suit.

Girl in her two piece clothing in Gentianes.

She nearly caused several male skiers to collide as they saw her in the slopes.  A couple literally stopped in their tracks. It gets terribly warm in the mountains, even if there is snow all around you but I would hate to think how sunburnt she got!

After Cherries and I had breakfast, chatted and said our goodbyes to the English family staying in the cabane, we were off to explore.  The world seems quite different early in the morning when the weather is beautiful and there is no one around you.

View of the mountains coming down from the Montfort.

As we were trundling along, we noticed groups of men doing the haute route.

See the small figures of the men in the middle left hand side.

Cherries suggested we follow them for a bit of fun. So down we went, over the avalanched area of Montfort (very hard large icy bits) onto the Col de la Chaux and it was very enjoyable. Hot and sweaty, but fun!

Bec Des Rosses, where they have the Extreme skiing.

Near the top of Col de la Chaux

By this time (mid afternoon) , the weather and snow had changed to being very slushy, unstable, and quite difficult to navigate downwards. It was very warm.  We decided to play it safe and call it a day and head to Dahu and have a pizza.  

What a great way to get acclimatised and train!