CCO's Alpine Pilgrimage- pics of a day on the trail

Here is a snapshot of a day on the Tour du Mont Blanc. This was probably one of our hardest hiking days from Contamines Montjoie via 3 different mountain passes to the Refuges Des Mottets.


Getting ready to set out for the day.


A breather on the trail.


Leaving Col du Bonhomme on the way to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme. A little snow school lesson was necessary to prepare for this section.


Finally at the refuge-an old dairy farm. A home cooked meal with our closest 93 hiking companions! Heart food to prepare our tired muscles for tomorrow's climb over the Col de Seigne from France into Italy.


The old man...The Mont Blanc. Keep the mountain on your left and a 100 or so miles, seven valleys, 11 mountain passes, and 3 countries later you will return to where you started but you will have changed as Renee Dumal wrote:

When one has been to a mountain top
One has only to come down again
So why bother in the first place?
Just this....
One climbs...One sees
One descends...One sees no longer
But one has seen
There is an art of conducting oneself
in the lower regions
By the memory of what one saw higher up.