Today’s feature was the Col de Cambalès at 2700m. Just like yesterday, we started our day at 7am.I have been experimenting with different foods and sugar intake in the mornings to find out how to best fuel the 1000+ meter climbs of the HRP. Today I felt energized for the first 300m and started to crash afterwards. Many snack breaks were needed.Each going at our own paces, my friends and I got split up about 300m from the Col. Left to navigate the boulders on my own, I followed some stone cairns up a wrong path for about 100 meters of gain before checking my map. Not a costly mistake, but had I kept going I would have gone over the wrong Col! Later I would learn that Jacques had in fact followed this false path all the way into Spain.After fixing my route and losing some time, I made it over the correct col.In the next valley I had a quick swim in the Lac de Cambalès.I made it to the bivouac area outside Refuge Wallon around 5. Camille was already there, but Jacques was nowhere to be seen, even though he had been somewhere between Camille and me. It was not until 6:30 that he showed up. Miraculously, without a GPS he had talked to some Spaniards and found his way back to France via an alternate route after getting lost. Thankfully he was okay and we had a beer to celebrate the day.

Today’s lesson learned is to trust the map, not the cairns!

Refuge de Larribet to Refuge de Wallon - 19.73km and 1277m gained.