All we would do to day would be drop down the Trient glacier, cross over to the Arpetta valley and down to Champex ... supposedly down hill all the way.
Straight out of the hut we put on the skis and gently dropped down onto the Trient glacier to the right.
It is 7 am and the glacier is icy and rutted, the second day in a row we had to go through the boneshaker.
The glacier started off gently, but got steeper as it went over the edge and dropped down. The crevasses appeared and we had to ski carefully between them.
Eventually we could ski around a corner to get to the start of the route up to the col.
The route was not what I expected, and was actually, very lose scree and boulders, without any snow in sight. Time to put the skis on the pack and find a way upwards .. two steps up and one back.
It was with great relief that we got to the col, however this was tainted by the fact this was in the clouds and we could not see much at all. We had a few moments to recover and see if we could work out where we should go.
Luckily plenty of people had been over here and we could use the tracks to head in the right general direction.
I was glad as we dropped out of the clouds and could see where we were going again. Here we started to cross a lot of avalanche debris trails and now understood the early start.
The snow was now getting easier to ski as it softened as the day wore on.
Then we started to see the end of the snow, and concentrated on trying to pick out a route that would get us down without taking the skis off.
Eventually we reached the end of the trail, and our packs got much heavier, and we set off on Shank's pony.
We reached the meadow by the Arpetta hut ... more like a mountain hotel, and very much catering to the summer traffic on the tour de Mont Blanc. From here the whole descent was in focus behind us.
Now the bit we had not thought about .. the descent from here to Champex, and we followed the track in the general direction and came into the town along the water way, in hind sight we should have walked down the road. Many years later we would come here for the skiing and realise where we had gone wrong.Arriving into the town of Champex, there was no signposts and we generally followed our instincts - luckily we turned the correct way on the road. As we came down into the town we met the first of the shops, and dived in for some liquid and a couple of rolls for lunch ... just getting there before the lunchtime closure.
We then strolled down the road past the lake looking for the bus stop - the guide suggested we took the bus down to Orsieres, where we could catch the train. Others would catch a bus to Bourg St. Pierre, or the train to Verbier, to continue the Haute route.
We found the bus stop outside the post office, and checking the times we had around an hour before the next bus. As the hour passed and no bus... I also realised that the bis would have to come up past us and it had not done so ... at this we started to think .. it was may day... a public holiday, and the bus were not running. We called a taxi, which came up from Orciere and got us. As we were getting into the taxi another group came along for the bus and we offered them to come with us ... sharing the cost.
The taxi dropped us all at the train station, and we bought a ticket back to Argentiere and the van, via Martigny.
Finally getting on the train we could relax as we knew we would get back today.Not sure the skis should be there, but they would not fit in the corridor.
Arriving at Argentere we had to walk down to the ski station car park and pick up the van. Then back to the Mer de Glace camp site for a another night or so.