Walking in the Alps. Kev Reynolds

spent high above the valley at the architectural curiosity of Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme, may do the trick. If not, try Refuge des Mottets on the way to Col de la Seigne.

      From Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme there are four ways of descending to the valley. The first is on a clear and obvious trail that descends directly to Les Chapieux. The second is a devious route that takes the path of the GR5 across the Crête des Gittes, and via Col de la Sauce to Refuge du Plan de la Lai overlooking the large Lac de Roselend on the northern side of the ridge, before descending the D902 road to Les Chapieux. The third route is a variation of the second, for it breaks away from GR5 without tackling the Crête and slants south-westward to join the D902 part-way down the hillside. But perhaps the best of all is the fourth option, a route that has been hi-jacked as a variant of the TMB; the crossing of Col des Fours (2665m), about 45 minutes above the refuge. The subsequent descent is a little difficult in places, especially when snow is still lying early in the season, and heads roughly eastwards to gain the valley at Ville des Glaciers.

      Refuge des Mottets has been converted from a dairy farm and has a pleasant rustic atmosphere. One-time cowsheds are now clean but basic dortoirs, and the main dining room contains old farming and cheese-making implements. Lying directly on the path of the Tour du Mont Blanc, it will be familiar to many. Above it the trail is badly eroded with deep trenches having been initially dug in the turf by countless boots, then scoured by the spring thaw and summer rains. But as you gain height towards Col de la Seigne, so the way improves, and on arrival at the col on the borders of France and Italy, a wonderful scene bursts upon you. There ahead the southern side of Mont Blanc dominates the Val Veni, first of the Italian valleys lying far below. Without question it’s one of the great Alpine views.

      Val Veni

      While the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc range have a single valley to perform the functions of a moat, the Italian side has two; of similar length Val Veni and Val Ferret complement one another across the south face of the mountain. The first drains north-eastward, the second south-west. Gently tilted, their waters flow towards the spur of land on which stands Entrèves, then converge above La Saxe as the Dora Baltea (or Doire Baltée), which then flows south-eastwards through Valle d’Aosta. Courmayeur acts as a counterpoint to Chamonix and is the main centre of activity. Built on the east bank of the river with the warm southerly light flooding its valley, it gazes up, not at Mont Blanc itself as does Chamonix, but at the big walls just to the east of the monarch.

      Approaching from the south the full splendour of the range bursts upon the eager traveller. Julius Kugy, who wrote such fine things about the Julian Alps, wrote too about this view on his way from Aosta to Courmayeur in 1887:

      At one point about half-way up, where this beautiful valley of the Dora Baltea makes its great bend, there was a sudden stir among the company. Something had arisen before us, and it filled the background of the valley. It was neither cloud, nor rock, nor ice. It was all these in one. A fabulous structure of cloud, rock, ice and snow, a picture great beyond the richest fantasy, a cathedral borne on giant granite columns ... a dome standing brilliant in the firmament.

      (Alpine Pilgrimage)

      If that approach rewards not only those who come on foot, but also the motorist with a memorable view, the scene which stretches before the walker at the Col de la Seigne is no less magnificent. Immediately below lies the great trough of the Vallon de la Lée Blanche which drops in a sudden step to Val Veni proper. Close at hand on the left the twin Pyramides Calcaires intrude. Immediately to their left a ridge slants up, first to the Petite Aiguille, then the Aiguille des Glaciers, and behind this the Aiguille de Trélatête. But above and beyond these, all become subservient to the crown of Mont Blanc, more rugged and masculine from this side than when viewed from the Vallée de l’Arve; a great mass of snow and ice perched above bastions of rock. And through the col that divides the Pyramides Calcaires can be seen the grey triangular wedge of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey, the finest of the upthrusting spears that stand guard round this side of the monarch. Impressive from the col, when viewed from the depths of Val Veni the Aiguille Noire is truly astonishing.

      Vallon de la Lée Blanche (or Lex Blanche) is bleak by comparison with the lush green valleys on the French side of the range. Scant pastures are skeined with streams, the Pyramides Calcaires form a stark northern wall, and at its north-eastern end on a rocky bluff littered with ruins sits Rifugio Elisabetta (2300m). Owned by the CAI, the hut was built as a memorial to Italian Alpine Troops, and as it’s easily accessible by a relatively short walk from the roadhead near Lac de Combal, it’s a very busy one, especially at weekends. Behind it the Glacier de la Lée Blanche pours from the east flank of the Aiguille des Glaciers and the south side of Aiguille de Trélatête.

      Below Elisabetta the Lée Blanche descends to a lower level where its flat bed gathers numerous glacial streams into a marshy area broken by the open pools of Lac Combal. A huge wall of lateral moraine bulldozed by the Miage glacier, blocks the eastern end of the lake, but its outflow squeezes to one side and then enters Val Veni proper.

      The Val Veni pastures used to ring to the clatter of cowbells. But a military road was pushed through the valley, and after the Second World War it was opened to public access. The valley is now a justifiable tourist haunt. Buses serve it, so walkers based at Courmayeur, La Saxe or Entrèves, can ride towards the head of the valley and then spend the rest of the day tracing some of the paths that provide exquisite views of the great mountains and their glaciers.

      Footpaths ease along the bed of Val Veni on both sides of the river. One climbs to the Monzino hut (2630m) on a spur of rock between the Brouillard and Fréney glaciers immediately below Mont Blanc de Courmayeur. Another goes through forest to the grassy saddle of Col Chécroui with its famed view into the armchair aspect of Aiguille Noire de Peuterey. But perhaps the finest of all is the high belvedere trail adopted by the TMB which climbs south from Lac de Combal, then heads north-eastwards on an undulating course, passing two or three small tarns on the way to Col Chécroui, where it forks. One trail descends into Val Veni, another winds down to Plan Chécroui, continues to Dolonne and crosses the Dora Baltea to Courmayeur, while yet a third climbs onto Mont Chétif, the 2343 metre promontory and splendid viewpoint that effectively blocks Courmayeur’s view of Mont Blanc.

      Italian Val Ferret

      The Mont Blanc Tunnel emerges near Entrèves and spills its heavy burden of traffic down through Valle d’Aosta on a major highway where once marched the legions of Rome. East of the tunnel at La Palud is the valley station of the Funivie Monte Bianco, the cableway system that swings thousands of tourists each year up and over the Glacier du Géant and the once-remote world of the Vallée Blanche, to the Aiguille du Midi and down into the Vallée de l’Arve at Chamonix on the northern side of the massif. There are intermediate stops at Pavillon (Mont Fréty), Rifugio Torino and Pointe Hellbronner (3322m) on the borders of Italy and France, where the close proximity of huge rock walls, glaciers and snowfields allows the non- mountaineer to enjoy a privileged high mountain experience at the cost of a ticket.