Once the snow has started to melt around Bourg St Maurice it opens up another world of walking tracks and roads that are otherwise unreachable in the winter. I wanted to check out an area behind Bourg that looked great for some split board missions, i had been wanting to scope it out all winter but never had the chance. Its a road that in summer links Bourg with the Beaufort area and offers easier access towards Chamonix. It always blows my mind how close we are to a lot of big areas here! Along this road is a hotel that was abondoned in 1938, I've heard a lot about it but never seen it for myself.....so i thought i could kill two birds with one stone. It was about a 2 hour walk to the hotel, it felt like i was walking right into the heart of the mountains.....which i was! Just before reaching the hotel i managed to get a good look at the peaks for touring and how to access them by road On the left was the 'Pont de la Terrasse' and on the right was the 'grand Aguilles' and 'Mont Miravidi'.....just a shame that i will have to wait until next winter as there is no snow up there anymore, but the peaks looked amazing from what i could see. Strangely enough i sat down on a rock and under my foot was a Voile tool used for splitboards, it must be a sign, and proves that there is touring around that part of the valley. Now, the hotel....one of the creepiest sights I've seen. Its on the main road, but you feel like your in the middle of nowhere, like there is no one for miles.......which makes this shell of a building feel strange. The hotel is on one side of the road and on the other is the swimming pool complete with a diving board and slide still there like they have been frozen in time. The swimming pool used to be fed by spring water which is why the hotel was built, it was supposed to be a spa. There's something about old buildings that i like, especially ones in the depths of the mountains as they feel like they have a story behind them.....some kind of mystery. The building was never finished due to the owners running out of cash during the war, but apparently the swimming pool was used by the locals until the 70's. I was tempted to keep walking to see how far i could get, but the thought of walking back to Bourg quickly put that idea on the back burner, but maybe next time as there looked like a lot of good backcountry goodies down there.....save it for next winter.
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October 2017
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