Today would be one of our toughest days yet. There were two passes to cross over to make it to Cabane de Prafleuri. Col Louvie was the first pass to tackle at 9,583 feet. The morning’s hike was familiar because it was back out along the same path we came down to Cabane de Louvie. We crossed an ice field and decided to take the camera out to get a few pictures of us walking in the snow.
Gator setting up camera
As the trail climbed, we saw marmots playing in the rocks above. Pausing again to get a few pictures of the marmots, we spotted an ibex above us. It was the first real wildlife we had seen. The trail rapidly gained altitude and we came to a large boulder field. There was no clear path through except for randomly placed spray-painted flags on the massive boulders. They were placed far enough apart to make them difficult to locate. This would be a common trend for the day.
We had been climbing all morning – 2,267 feet to be exact. Getting to the top of the pass consisted of more boulder hopping. The last push was all of the
Once we reached the top, we looked down to see the Grand Desert, a barren desert of rock that lies below the glacier Rosablanche. After a big sigh, with seeing what lies ahead, we continued on. We reached a steep patch of snow and decided to skip the walk and glissade down. Glissading on the snow is one of my favorite things about hiking in higher elevations! It is similar to sledding, only on your butt and brings that childlike thrill. I had Gator assess the terrain, and clear a path down the mountain before glissading down myself. Reinvigorated, we continued on. At the bottom, we ate lunch at a lake before hiking up to the next pass.
The Col de Prafleuri sits at 9,728 feet. The trek up seemed to be nothing but crossing and climbing over boulders. We paused to catch our breath where a young couple from San Antonio, Texas was eating lunch. They pointed out in the rocks above more ibex. As Gator was setting up the camera, the ibex seemed to be curious and were looking down at us from the rocks above. The wildlife we got to photograph for the day validated the worth of carrying the camera equipment.
Ibex on rocks while climbing Col Prafleuri
View of Cabane de Prafleuri from top of pass
Our accommodations were dormitory style, with the beds lined side by side across the floor with a total of 30 beds in our room. There were only about eight people in the room, so we didn’t have to sleep too close to strangers. We chatted with others for a while then fell asleep to the sound of rain.
