[Removed user]

21 June 2018 at 11:06:05 #816797

My sons and I will be hiking the Tour des Combins the last week of July.

We have booked our places (demi-pension) in the cabanes along the tour, so we are covered with regard to evening and morning meals. I wondered if someone could tell me if there are places on the trail between hostels to buy lunch food and get fresh water. (Since at least one of the cabanes says on their website that they don’t provide fresh water, the issue of restocking water along the trail is particularly a concern.)

Many thanks in advance for all advice!

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[Snowman]

21 June 2018 at 16:08:32 #888993

Hello MalvolioUVa,

Welcome to MySwissAlps. I would advise each of you to have 2 liters of water at the beginning of each day. And grape sugar tablets. You are of course well trained and in good condition.

Then, it depends if you are with a group (and thereby obliged to keep on the trail), or if you can make some diversions. Which one is the cabane that doesn’t provide drinking water? Do they sell bottled water?

Maybe you have already found out, but broadly it looks like this:

Day 1 Bourg-St-Pierre – Mille: In BSP, otherwise unlikely to find water

Day 2 Mille – Brunet: unlikely, but maybe at the hamlets towars the end of the trail

Day 3 Brunet – Panossière: Unlikely

Day 4 Panossière – Chanrion: at Mauvoisin, a little distance off the trail

Day 5 Chanrion – Champillon: At Vaud and Ollomont

Day 6 Champillon – St Rhémy: At St Oyen (if that is on your trail)

Day 7 St Rhémy – BSP: at Grand St Bernard Pass.

Good luck! Should be a fascinating tour!

[Removed user]

21 June 2018 at 17:28:07 #888994

Thanks for that information, Snowman! And thanks for the advice about grape sugar tablets — probably a bit wiser energy boost than my usual trail snack (peanut M&Ms).

Chanrion is the cabane that says it doesn’t have potable water. At least, the website says “Eau à Chanrion
Elle a été déclarée non-potable par le service d’hygiène du Canton du Valais et la commune de Bagnes. Il est donc recommandé de ne pas la consommer.” We each have some water purification gear, so I guess we could just use the water they have and purify it. I don’t know if they sell bottled.

We are not in a larger group, so we’re free to go off-trail to get stuff — though I imagine we’ll want to minimize side trips to have plenty of time to complete each stage. We’re actually doing a 6-day starting and ending at Mauvoisin, so Chanrion is our first overnight, and Panossiere our last; and we’ll be opting for Hospice du Grand Saint-Bernard rather than St Rhemy in the middle.