Make it count: Day #9-10

Day #9 - #10 - TMB Trek

Friday-Saturday, August 11-12th

Hiking Day #4 - Courmayeur to Refugio Bonatti- 7.3 miles, 3,471’ ascent, 853’ descent

Hiking Day #5 - Refugio Bonatti to LaFouly - 12.3 miles, 3,034’ ascent, 4,425’ descent.

Well - life doesn’t always workout the way you have it planned. The 2 days listed above would have been what I hiked - but I had 2 consecutive sick-days instead. This post is really hard for me. It’s so difficult to not achieve what you set out to do But - I’ve been digesting this all day. Sometimes failing/not achieving your goals can make us better. If you never fail - then maybe you never pushed yourself to that uncomfortable place - where you can grow. I don’t know - that’s what I’m telling myself right now. Hey - if I can hike 8/10 days on the TMB - that’s not too bad. And who’s stopping me from coming back to Europe and completing my missed days at some point in the future.

It’s 1pm local time - I am on the first bus of a 4-bus combination that I hope will take me from Courmayeur, Italy to LaFouly, Switzerland by around 7pm tonight.

I woke up yesterday completely out of it - with pretty bad fever. I got all my hiking clothes on, packed up my gear to be dropped off, and went down to breakfast. I got a little food on my plate. I took 1 bite of an egg - and just couldn’t stomach another bite. Absolutely zero appetite. I was there with Greg and everything in the world seemed against me at that moment.

OK - What do you do? First off - I’m not someone who likes to fail - and I’m definitely not someone who wants to quit or give up. However - I can’t be foolish and reckless to make something happen.

The situation- I was faced with a steep 3,400’ climb right from the start of the hike out of Courmayeur. We were set to go to the single location where transportation is not accessible on the entire TMB - Refugio Bonatti. Because of this - I was carrying a lot of extra weight in my pack because our main duffles were being transferred to LaFouly (the next day’s finish). I had fever & chills, I had a painful and sore throat, I couldn’t stomach any food, I wasn’t thinking real clearly, and I wasn’t walking great - stumbling around. Conclusion - I had to take the day off.

I ended up getting a hotel room in Courmayeur - laying around and sleeping all day. I finally got a bit of an appetite back around 7pm. I walked out and got a slice of pizza.

By this time - fever was still present. I hadn’t made much recovery over the course of the day. Conclusion - I decided to take the next day off as well from hiking. I was going to sleep in until 10am - get breakfast and checkout from the hotel by 11am.

That brings me to where I am right now - somewhere on a bus in Italy headed to a small town in Switzerland. If successful- I will be back with Greg and Korby tonight - and depending on how the night goes - it gives me the option to hike tomorrow or take transportation again to the next town. The nice part of the TMB - minus the night in Refugio Bonatti - you really have options if you can’t hike for whatever reason (sick, injured, etc).

Since I’ve already paid for all these hotels along the way - I might as well use them. Greg and I had been sharing a room and Korby typically has his own room. I could stay in the single room and let them share to avoid my sickness. I’ll keep my mask on if I have to share a room with Greg

…….Well - I’m on bus #2 of the 4- bus combo today. It’s 2:15 pm - still heading in the right direction.

…..I guess I’m doing play by play today - because I have a lot of down time - in areas I really can’t sleep. It’s 4:15 pm local time. I’m sitting at a cafe drinking hot tea, about 20 yards from my bus stop. My 2nd bus took me to the Italy/Switzerland border - at a place called St Bernard Hospice (pretty amazing place by the way - incredible views in all direction. These may be my only pics from today). After departing the bus - I walked across the Italy/Switzerland border. No immigration or passport needed. Kind of cool I guess. In coming on this trip, I wanted to walk into three countries. I thought I missed my chance with Switzerland- but I got it done anyway - just not on the TMB. My 3rd bus departs at 4:50pm - this takes me to some arbitrary destination in Switzerland. Hopefully, from there, I’ll get a bus to my final destination.

……….It’s 9:15pm - I made it to my hotel - Hotel Edelweiss in LaFouly, Switzerland. My final 2 bus trips went well - arrived around 6:15pm. Perfect timing. Dinner was being served at 6:30pm. I ate dinner with Greg, Korby, and Jack - it was really nice to talk with those guys - who have been extremely supportive of me.

I’ve only taken 1 ibuprofen since 8am and the fever appears to be suppressed. I still have swollen glands and major sore throat and congestion. Tomorrow is the easiest leg of the TMB - I’m going to give it a go unless I wake up with a lot more problems. It should only be a 4-hr day — but I plan to go really slow. I’ve asked Greg and Korby to plan to go ahead of me.

Keep the Faith! Hopefully just a sinus infection that needs a little time. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.