09 08 Le Brevent

Bionassay glacier descending from the Mont Blanc massif
Bionassay glacier descending from the Mont Blanc massif

8th September, La Flégère 1877m – Le Brévent 2526m – Refuge Bellachat, Le Brévant ridge 2152m, 4.5 h

From La Flègere the route takes leads across the rocky hillside on an easy but very scenic path, high above the forests on the North-West side of the Arve valley. When looking up at the hillside from the valley below, one wouldn’t believe this possible. The path follows the well-known Grand Balcon Sud route which I had walked with my wife some decades earlier. The many flowers which can be seen in July were of course no longer in bloom. On reaching the cable cars at Planpraz (2,000m), which connect to Chamonix, we turned away and up towards Col de Brevent (2,368m) as quickly as possible. The link from here to the summit of Le Brevent at 2,525m is interesting in that it crosses to the far side of the ridge, passes through a high rocky hollow and then along the steep hillside with a short section of ladders. The summit viewpoint is perhaps the best position of the whole TMB from which to look at Mont Blanc, as well as the Col d’Anterne area to the North. Since the Brevent has a cable car link to Planpraz and Chamonix, there are lots of tourists in fine weather and a large Korean group was there when we arrived. Two young ladies asked us to take their picture and of course reciprocated the compliment. It is hard to tear oneself away from this fantastic location, but the final part of the TMB was now beckoning, first down rocky slopes and along a fine ridge to the Refuge de Bellachat (2,152m), where we stayed for our last night.

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