Stage 8 – Champex to Trient

Start: Hotel Mont.Lac in Champex
End: Hotel La Grande Ourse in Trient
Time: 6.5-7 hours including a long lunch stop
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Route: the tradition route via Bovine

A friend had strongly recommended the variant for this day, the Fenêtre d’Arpette. However, the almost universal consensus was that the variant was not yet safe for hikers. Apparently a few attempted to do it and turned back 3 hours into it. So, I was a bit disappointed to do the normal route at the beginning of the day, but it turned out to be a nice one.

I started hiking with two people from Israel who were also staying at the same hotel as me. This was one of the three days that I hiked with strangers I met on the trail. It works out well when you meet people with a similar pace to you, and in all of my cases they were.

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The day started out with descent for the first hour or so, until coming to some farm buildings called Plan de L’Au. They had refreshments and bathrooms available which was nice.

The ascent today, while it felt a bit long, was not too bad. There were many opportunities to take a break in the shade. There were quite a few wet waterfall and stream crossings!

Eventually after what felt like quite a while, we made it to Bovine, a farm that also sells food to TMBers. This was possibly my favorite food of the entire trip. It was so incredibly good. Get the pie and the fondue. Unlike most places they sell fondue to a solo person!!! It was also in an incredibly beautiful place, with wonderful views of the valley below. It was a highlight of the day and also probably trip!

The descent was forested and pretty standard. I slipped a few times on the roots. Eventually you get to Hotel du Col de la Forclaz, which has food and (I hear) good burgers. There was also a souvenir shop next door, which was useful because I lost my favorite sunglasses on the hike somehow. It was probably when I tripped, so that was sad. Luckily I was able to buy some replacements at the shop.

Then for those of us staying in Trient, there was an additional descent of about 45 minutes. This was the only period where it rained while I was hiking, which was incredibly lucky weather overall. However it was necessary to be careful because those tree roots get pretty slippery when wet.

I arrived at Hotel La Grande Ourse which was a good place to spend the night. They had a nice bar area. Trient itself is pretty quiet and has a Scandinavian vibe to me. It doesn’t even have a grocery store so make sure to stock up earlier if you need stuff.

Previous: Stage 7 – La Fouly to Champex
Next: Stage 9 – Trient to Argentière