The ridge before dawn
Sunrise over the Lachat de Thônes
It is still dark when Agathe and Hugo tie their shoelaces in the Entre Deux Nants parking lot. A coffee gulped down standing up, against the car door, while the headlamps turn on one by one. It is 4:30 a.m., the Sentier des Millières disappears into the darkness, and the only thought in their minds is to be up there for the first rays of light.
Millieres Trail: Climb Before the Sun
The trail first winds through the undergrowth, passes by the hamlet of Les Fours and its oratory dating from 1807, a simple standing stone that the day's run barely brushes past. The legs are still cold, the breath is searching. Hugo keeps the NAGALAKA windbreaker jacket zipped up until Les Fours, giving his body time to find its rhythm on the first switchbacks.
The Lachat ridge of Thônes, a terrain for technical strides
Past the Mont chalet, the trail leaves the forest and opens onto the alpine pasture, then onto the ridge. Here, the terrain changes: scree, limestone pavement, a path winding between the rocks up to the iron cross of Lachat. Seven kilometers, over a thousand meters of elevation gain, and a wind that never really lets go of the ridge. Agathe keeps the TANKTREK tank top under her jacket, just enough to avoid freezing without overheating during the effort.
At the summit of Lachat, the Aravis mountain range is revealed
The sun finally arrives, shining directly on the Aravis. From the cross, nearly 1950 meters up, the view stretches over the Bauges massif, the Tournette, and, on clear days, all the way to the Glières plateau. Agathe and Hugo pause for a few minutes, allowing the light to fully rise, before beginning their descent in the same silence that made them leave so early.
