Another glorious blue sky day with abundant sunshine. Down for breakfast and over to wait for a bus to La Tour at the bottom of the Col de Balme area. A hop, skip and jump from the Swiss border and part of the Tour de Mont-Blanc. I have some miscellaneous TIPS for you:

- The Chamonix buses will only stop if someone is actually waiting (or waving it down) at the bus stop and you must push the buzzer inside the bus for the bus to arret (stop). Otherwise, the bus will blow right on by;

- There are very clean toilets with toilet paper at the bottom and top of every lift;

- Not only does the Chamonix Tourist Information Office have a strong WI-FI signal, but they also set out lounge chairs in the sun every day for tourists to use. Free!;

- Check and recheck lift opening and closing schedules; and

- Trains and buses DO NOT operate on a daily basis. There are Sunday schedules, holiday schedules, school vacation schedules. We’ve learned the hard way. Ask and ask again…

Glacier des Bossons from our Chamonix hotel 

Le Tour-Vallorcine map section, France
La Tour is the end of this particular bus line. Off the bus and the first stop is always the toilet. Poles out and up, following trail markings paralleling the Charamillon Gondola…View image..(1453m/4,767′ at the base) to the top of the gondola (1,856m/6,089′), through wide open meadows and forests. Not only my kind of trails but fantastic skiing in the Winter.

wide open expanses in the Chamonix area, France 

the Alpage of Col de Balme, France
Signs indicated another hour uphill to Col de Balme and its Refuge on the border of France and Switzerland (2,197m/7,208′). The Autannes Chairlift runs from this point up, and stops a 10-minute walk away from the Col de Balme. By now, we were breathing heavily from the altitude.

You could see the Col de Balme Refuge in the distance that looked so close. It wasn’t. It took another 1:05 before, voila…a rock with one side that said “Switzerland”…View image, and the other side, “France”…View image. Experienced hikers (us) knew even without the rock that we were standing on Swiss soil because all Swiss trail markers are solid yellow. Completely different from the French white and green trail markers. Through hikers on the last portion of the Tour du Mont-Blanc would approach Col de Balme from the Swiss side, come up, over and down into France to complete their journey in Chamonix.

ex-Marine on the border of Switzerland and France
Mountain bikers…View image… joined us at the top. They took the lifts up with their bikes and then come flying down, sharing the trails with hikers. The chair lifts are unique and have a slot every few seats for the bicycles to neatly fit into. I loved this wide-open area with nary a vertiginous drop anywhere to be seen. An excellent day and one that deserved…ICE CREAM back in Chamonix.

everyone eats ice cream in Chamonix, France 

Fastest Passport Processors on the Net!