Day 3 - Champex Lac to Le Chable

We had a great dinner at Hotel du Glacier (our hotel) in Champex last night. Everyone was quite tired after Day 1 but better by morning. 

Here, Laurie is pointing out where we were headed, a cute little Swiss village called Sembrancher:

Bucolic views over farmland at lower elevations today, less than 5,000 feet:

Pretty butterfly (moth?) we spotted on the walk:

Typical view during our morning hike as we approached Sembrancher:

Walked by this establishment which made cowbells that we have been seeing:

Valley view between Sembrancher and Le Chable:

After a good snack of cheeses, breads, dried meats, fruit, and chocolate (bien sur), we made our way to Le Chable where we grabbed a gondola for a ride up to the town of Verbier. Note that the gondola is conveniently located directly adjacent to the train station. Some day I hope to ski here and this is how I'd get here, by train from Geneva. 

View from our gondola looking up at the village and a small portion of this massive ski area:

The next three days will be about the toughest of the trip as we are headed to higher elevations win a lot of vertical up and down. We will be staying at mountain huts for the next two nights. The first is Cabane de Louvie and the second is Cabane de Prafleuri. Anyway, let's hope we survive the next few days and that there is another blog post after this one!

Wish us luck.