Mont Buet – APASSION https://www.apassion.com Live life with APASSION Fri, 10 Nov 2023 14:50:42 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8 https://www.apassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-Mountain-Motif-Grey-32x32.jpeg Mont Buet – APASSION https://www.apassion.com 32 32 Mont Buet – A Bigger Challenge https://www.apassion.com/mont-buet-a-bigger-challenge/ Fri, 16 Aug 2019 14:20:40 +0000 https://www.apassion.com/?p=6111

Being the highest mountain in the immediate vicinity, Mont Buet (3,100m), has always been on our ‘to-do’ list and finally with the collective courage of a few friends from the valley we decided that this was the week to give it a go!

There are a number of routes up but we decided on the least vertigo inducing but with an ascent gain of nearly 1900m and a total hike of 19km it certainly still warrants the categorisation of “Very Hard”.

Starting from the village of Le Buet (1,323m) in the Chamonix valley the first trail marker rather worryingly suggests an ascent time of 6 hours with the first stopping point at the Refuge de la Pierre Berard (1,924m) being 2 hours into the hike. 

The trail (part of the Tour du Pays du Mont Blanc) initially climbs through a forested valley but once above the tree line you are rewarded with magnificent views back down the valley towards Vallocine and beyond. 

After reaching the refuge in a little over an hour and a half we realised that the guide times, much to our relief, were definitely on the generous side!

Beyond the refuge the walk turns into a serious mountain hike as the gradient increases, the trail becomes less defined and the lush vegetation is replaced by a mix of scree and boulder falls.  The landscape above 2,500m is very much otherworldly especially when you finally see what looks like a lunar vehicle perched on top of what you hope is the summit! 

At around 2,900m the trail hits the Arête de la Mortine and you are rewarded, rather suddenly, with the most specular panorama of Mont Blanc and the Chaîne des Fiz – a perfect photo opportunity whilst resting our legs!

Following a particularly tough stretch up to around 3,040m we found that our ‘lunar-vehicle summit’ was actually a satellite communications tower and that the actual summit was another 10 minutes further on – but at least it was now insight. 

At the 4 and half hour mark we finally made the 3,100m summit to find some of the most breath-taking 360 degree views you can imagine taking in the Massif du Mont Blanc, Le Chaîne des Aravis, Le Grand Massif, Les Portes du Soleil and the Monts du Jura. 

Unfortunately, after a well-earned picnic lunch (and an obligatory swig of celebratory single malt) we had to push our somewhat stiffened legs to take us back down the mountain which proved to be almost as tough as the ascent and not an awful lot quicker!  Our descent was, however, interspersed with several sightings of inquisitive bouquetin (Alpine Ibex) which made for a real added highlight of the hike. 

At 17.45 we finally made it to the very welcoming Cascade de Bérard café for a large beer; Needless to say it didn’t touch the sides! 

So, after 8 hours of hiking if the question is “ Was it worth it?” then the answer is, “Absolutely!” 

Whilst certainly not a hike for the faint hearted the views both en-route to the top and from the summit itself are truly breath taking mountainscapes and you may just be lucky enough to be treated to encounters with the friendly bouquetin!

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