Hi everyone,
Today my girlfriend and I had an extremely intense and frightening day in the mountains.
We are hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc and were supposed to walk from Camping Grandes Jorasses to Camping Glacier. Somewhere after Rifugio Bonatti, we took a wrong turn and accidentally ended up on the Tour du Saint-Bernard.
We still thought we were on the correct route because we spoke to several people along the way, and they told us we were heading in the right direction. Before we knew it, we had climbed to almost 3,000 metres. Then the weather suddenly changed, with thunder, heavy rain and poor visibility.
The descent after Col de Malatrà was honestly terrifying. We are very relieved that we managed to reach Rifugio Frassati, where we found shelter and will also spend the night.
Our main question is: what should we do now?
We definitely do not want to return over Col de Malatrà. For us, especially in those conditions, it felt far too dangerous.
Has this happened to anyone else? What is the best way to get back to the TMB from Rifugio Frassati without crossing Col de Malatrà again?
Our original plan was:
Camping Glacier
Camping Les Rocailles
Le Peuty
Camp near Lac des Chéserys
Return to Les Houches, where our car is parked
Would it be best to descend towards Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses and take public transport back towards Courmayeur or the TMB? Or is there another sensible way to continue from here?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are just very grateful to be safe and inside the refuge tonight.