TMB - Day 1 (Les Houches to Les Contamines)

Start of Day 1

We started late on Day 1 (10:30 AM) because Delta Airlines lost my luggage. I had to buy some new stuffs prior to the hike so it's a good thing our hotel (Hotel Chris-tal) is near some sports stores. And since we started late, we took the cable car from Les Houches to Col De Voza. The cable car station is about 15 minutes from our hotel. According to our guidebook, the trek from Les Houches to Col De Voza is a "steep and punishing ascent of 600 meters". Honestly, I am glad we took the cable car because Day 2 and Day 3 were, by far, steeper and more punishing! But more on that on my next post.

From Col De Voza, the route we took is via Bionnassay which is the easier of the two possibilities. We passed through a forest, walked along a dam, crossed a raging river, walked along many farmlands and saw many cows with bells around their neck.  Although it was a bit scary at first to be close to these huge animals, the sound the bells around their neck create was very relaxing and we soon forgot  our fear.

The beautiful wild flowers of the Alps!

One of the many water sources where you can wash your hand and get some water to drink. We never paid for bottled water during the trek. The free water here is better than Evian--straight from the source!

Still under the tree line. I did not like these parts of the trek -- good thing there were not many of them.

This was really cool! We passed by a dilapidated house which happens to be the birthplace of the astronomer who discovered Neptune (based on my limited French)!

River crossing -- one of the many that we did during the trek.

One of the many raging rivers we saw during the trek.

Thank God there was a bridge!

Day 1 - Completed! At the town of Les Contamines, looking for our hotel.

After 4.5 hours of hiking, we reached the town of Les Contamines. I like this than Les Houches because of the views from the town and our hotel, and the many stores that you can explore after the trek. Since we started early and completed the trek early, we had time to check-in our hotel (Hotel Christiana), take a hot soak in the tub and relax for a bit before checking out the town. 

For the hotel, we paid about $93 for our very nice room and additional $22 for a breakfast for two. The staff were very nice and one of them even stayed with me in the lobby until 10 PM while I wait for my lost bag to be delivered. I am glad we did not camp on Day 1 as I am not sure if my bag will ever reach me if we did! We also found a good pizza stand just right across our hotel. The prices, as you can see from the picture below, is not too bad. We bought the combo for dinner and it was really really good! 

We ate the pizza in our hotel veranda with a great mountain view. 

DAY 1 SUMMARY

Les Houches to Les Contamines 

Distance: about 10 KM (6.2 miles)

Time: 4.5 hours (with rest stops)

Highest Elevation: 1653 m (5423 feet)

Rating: EASY PEASY! :)