We wanted to do a 3day trek, the usual friday to sunday format by only taking one vacation day, somewhere around Mont Blanc. That’s how we found the Tour des Fiz, which ended up giving us a lot of surprises and it was also a great opportunity to try fly fishing in high alpine lakes.

Day 1

We drove down from the Vosges, going around Lake Geneva. We thought we could see Mont Blanc in the distance, but we weren’t sure. Once we entered the valley heading toward Chamonix, it was covered in clouds, but we could kind of make it out. We followed the road up and parked at Plaine Joux. We decided to do the loop counterclockwise, heading east. We quickly reached Lac Vert and decided to walk around it a nice warm-up, as the lakeside trail is a bit “freeride” style.

We continued climbing toward Lac de Pormenaz. The trail had several chains and ladders quite a sporty ascent. The lake itself was stunning. We circled it and sat down on a small bank. First cast with the fishing rod: PaulT caught a 3 cm fish the rod was officially “christened.” But with the wind, no bigger fish were in sight. However, a flock of ducks was hanging around the lake.

We had dinner and went to sleep at sunset. In the middle of the night, I woke up, heavy rain was hammering the tent. I turned on my headlamp and saw the light from our neighbor’s tent also on. We did some fake Morse code back and forth for 10 seconds just to say “Let’s hope this tent holds through the night.”

We kept going toward Refuge Moede Anterne, approaching the final climb of the day to cross over onto the plateau on the other side, where Lac d’Anterne is located. On the way up, we looked up and spotted some ibex incredibly majestic animals. You can really feel their presence. At the top, we overlooked Lac d’Anterne below, with a thick layer of clouds above it. We crossed our fingers that it wouldn’t rain.

We set up camp on a small hill above the lake. We did a loop around it, it’s by far the largest of the three lakes we saw that day. It takes about 15 minutes to walk around. We tried fishing again, but the weather and wind made it tough. Great for photos, not so great for results, haha.

Day 2

We woke up to more rain. No signal to check the forecast, so I hiked a little higher to see if I could get network. Success — we got reception, and the weather showed that the rain should ease in the afternoon. Down at camp it was still pouring, and we hesitated about turning back. But soon, the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped. We got really lucky. Even our tents had time to dry a bit before we packed up.

We left the lake and immediately entered the mist. We spotted a large flock of sheep guarded by patou (mountain dogs). Again, these animals have such an imposing presence. We descended toward Refuge Alfred Wills and passed a group who had camped nearby one guy was hiking literally barefoot in the mud. Unreal. At the refuge we stopped to recharge batteries.

We kept moving and reached the northern side of the Fiz massif, which we circled to enter the valley further west and then loop back south. We soon came across a waterfall in the forest, then began climbing again. The higher we got, the fewer trees there were. We arrived at the Sales waterfall breathtaking! The whole valley, completely green and untouched, was amazing.

Day 3

We woke up to sunshine! The night had been cold because the sky was completely clear. We climbed up to the Dérochoir pass, expecting a panoramic view over the Mont Blanc range, but the summit was entirely in the clouds. There is a descent from here, but it’s rated T5, very technical, requiring sure footing, no room for mistakes. With 15 kg backpacks, we decided not to risk it and instead continued contouring west around the Désert de Platé.

We reached Refuge de Platé, super nice spot. Quick stop to recharge batteries, then we began descending via Col de la Charbonnière, a bit technical, but definitely safer than the Dérochoir route. Some sections were very impressive. Soon after, we were back in the forest, and the final stretch to the parking was easy.

Tour des Fiz: completed!

We kept climbing to the grassy plateau after Refuge de Sales, where we set up our second bivouac. We were surrounded by marmots.