July 28, 2024

Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti (then bus back to Courmayeur)

7.6 miles 

Today is an easy day, and we’re slackpacking, and we’re staying in the same place tonight. So there isn’t much of a rush this morning to get up. The ability to spread out in my own extremely comfortable bed after the horror of Rifugio Elisabetta is a luxury in which I revel. Grace and I both have slow coffee in our respective beds and wake up in a chill manner. 

Eventually, though, it’s time to hike. But we don’t need to carry anything except what we need for the day! I load up my snacks, water, camera, rain jacket just in case, and not much else. There’s a big climb, and I’m grateful not to have to bring the full load.

We follow the TMB out of Courmayeur and uphill into a forest. It’s lovely here, nice wide trail and conifers all around. It keeps the climb shady and feels so much more comfortable than having to go uphill in the sun. I put on some Chappell Roan and absolutely crush the hill. Between that, the lack of serious weight in my pack, and the gorgeous weather yet again, I’m in such a good mood and really feeling the hill today, which is not a feeling I experience often. 

At the top of the climb, we take a short break in the shade to graze on our snacks. They are all so fresh because we had an actual refrigerator last night and so my salami is not sad and witty! I finish off the snack time with an apple, which I consume luxuriously while lounging on my back in the grass. 

“What is this?” I muse aloud. “I’m just lying in the grass on the side of the mountain in Italy eating an apple.”

“I feel like little things like eating an apple are just so enjoyable on this hike,” Grace replies.

“Yes! That’s my favorite thing about hiking. It enhances all other joys!”

“It’s one hell of a drug.”

We finish the climb, passing by Rifugio Bertone—no stop for us now; we’re on a mission—and at the top Mont Blanc pops into view again. 

The rest of the day the trail is basically flat and so very cruisey. We’re passing the massif on our left again and once again, the glaciers are glowing in the bright daylight. 

This is clearly a popular section, because today is a highway of hikers. It’s absolutely packed with people and we’re continually zooming past, trying to avoid leapfrogging. This is one thing I really don’t like about this trail. I wish there were fewer people and more space. But I guess I should have expected this given that I knew it was the high season. It’s worth it for the weather and the wildflowers, but man, it is annoying dodging the crowds on this portion.

It doesn’t take long for us to arrive at Rifugio Bonatti. This refuge is huge, perched on a hill overlooking the massif. Grace has it in her notes that Bonatti has excellent hot chocolate, so we go inside for some in addition to lunch. Both the lunch and the hot chocolate are excellent. When I say “hot chocolate,” I literally mean a cup of melted chocolate. It’s not liquid exactly. It looks exactly like a bar of melted chocolate. How is this country real? 

After our meal we lay out in the sunlight in front of the refuge and take a nap while facing the mountains. This is the end of our walking for the day, and all we need to do is take a trail down the hill to the bus stop and go back to our Airbnb. All the chores are done, all the planned miles are complete; all we need to do is exist in the mountains and then go back and lounge in the apartment. 

Eventually we decide to get moving. The trail down to the valley is not as long or as steep as I was expecting, and before we know it, we’re at the bus stop. These shuttles are free during the summer, courtesy of the municipality of Courmayeur. What a nice amenity! The bus takes us back down the valley towards town. 

I watch the mountains zoom past, from below this time, their summits and solid rock walls towering above us. I am mysteriously and suddenly filled with this warm, desirous feeling for the world. I want to go to all of the mountains, I want to go to Bhutan, I want to go to the PCT again, I want to stare up at the Italian Alps until I go blind. I could spend my whole life in one mountain range and not understand even a fraction of it, and there are hundreds of mountain ranges in the world. I am dazzlingly small but wow wow, what a privilege to exist in the same time and place as these mountains. 

Back in Courmayeur, we pop into a couple of shops, get some gelato, and head back to the apartment to chill and shower.

Dinner is takeout pizza eaten while sitting on the couch and watching YouTube. Today contained such contrasting pleasures: the big pleasure of being in the mountains, and the little everyday pleasure of eating food while watching video content. 

Bedtime. Sofa bed goes out again. I flop hard and try to consciously appreciate the amount of space and comfort I have here. Tomorrow we will move on and stay in another refuge, but tonight, I have this wide open space all to myself.