THE WILD SIDE
Clockwise from left: Lunch at Cabane Panossière, one of the stops along the Tour des Combins; Lago di Braies, around 60 miles from Bolzano; enjoying a view of the Julian Alps
to the TMB. “But we’re not in competition. We can be complementary, and, of course, people can walk both tours if they desire.” Eloi may sound modest, but there are big plans in
store for the Tour des Combins, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. A longer version — the 80-mile, eight-day Grand Tour des Combins — could be ready for its first hikers as early as next year. It will take in a night at Rifugio Frassati, which was built by volunteers in Italy’s Aosta Valley, and a hike past the trio of Alpine tarns at Lacs de Fenêtre, a Swiss lake. Meanwhile, a promotional push is underway for the
original route. It has much going for it: the length is perfect for a week-long trip, and there are convenient public transport links to Geneva. Although steep, the terrain is more than achievable for any competent hillwalker, and the route itself has all the ingredients to make it a bona fide trekking classic — suspension bridges above glaciers, Tolkien-like moonscapes and water bodies, flowing and frozen. Once word gets out, stemming the flow of visitors may prove trickier than selling the dream. “We want more visitors,” Eloi says, “but not too many. Definitely not too many.” For the time being, I’m alone on the trails, and by now,
I’ve settled into a routine. Each day, I climb up brutally steep saddles: I spot a horned ibex silhouetted atop a ridgeline; wispy clouds embracing the tops of giants; and icy-blue meltwater gushing from a glacier outflow. Each night, I share tales and mountain grub with fellow hikers
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met in yet another Alpine hut, each with a location as picturesque as the last. A particular highlight is Hospice du Grand-Saint-
Bernard, which I visit the following day. This historic refuge is best-known for accommodating Napoleon Bonaparte’s 40,000-strong army in 1800 — a visit that saw the kitchen serve up an incredible 21,724 bottles of wine and some 3,498lbs of cheese. I feel I could consume a similar amount of food the
next day, on the last leg of the trek. After a rocky descent of the Pas des Chevaux, a narrow old mule path weaving over craggy ground and fields of boulders, I loop back to Bourg-St-Pierre. “La boucle est bouclée,” says Sophie Dorsaz, one of my mountain instructors for the trip. “The circle is complete.” As I look back at my time on the trail, the days as hazy as the dawn horizon, I reflect on another journey — that of the Alpine destinations that were hungry for attention, then bent under the influx of visitors and now want to find a sweet spot. It seems I’m not the only one to have come full circle.
HOW TO DO IT Fly direct from the UK to Geneva with Swiss in around 1h45m, then transfer to Bourg-St-Pierre by train and bus in around 3h30m.
swiss.com
sbb.ch A seven-day guided trek with Horizons Nature costs from CHF 1,480 (£1,314) per person, including half-board accommodation in mountain huts, picnic lunches and most luggage transfers .
horizons-nature.ch
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