Glacier Haute Route Hike: from Chamonix to Zermatt

7/1 Stage 4: La Fouly – Bourg St. Pierre

7/1 We caught the 8:30a chair lift from La Fouly (1592m – 5223ft) up the hillside to the east of town to the top station at 2122m (6961ft). From here we followed the path steeply up the hillside through several rock bands protected with cables to the col at Le Basset (2765m – 9071ft) (10:55a). From this viewpoint we could see our route down through the Combe de l’A. Leaving the col we traversed near the summit of Le Basset and then down across numerous snowfields into the Combe. At 12:25p we reached the stone farm house at Vouasse (2393m – 7851ft). After a 10 minute break we continued on down the Combe to the farm house at La Tsissette (2002m – 6568ft) (1:20p) where we had one of the best lunches on the journey. On leaving La Tsissette we followed the farm track north, to the end of the valley and then, southeast into the Bourg St. Pierre valley (3:15p). A short time later we came to the apparent end of the track at a utility station (3:35p) of some sort and found a trail leading steeply down to the power station in the valley at Palasui (1335m – 4380ft). From here another track lead up the valley toward Bourg St. Pierre. It was a long 2 ½ hours following the river before we reached Bourg St. Pierre (1689m – 5541ft) (6:00p). We checked into a hotel after a very long day and wolfed down pizza and beer before turning in for a well-deserved rest. As a further reward we decided that the next day would be a day of rest before continuing on.