Tues. 5. [5 September 1899] Rather slack, hot thundery weather, but I
decided to go up to the Refuge Republicain for the Aiguilles d'Arve.
At 11 came my two Germans from Le Monetier [Le
Monetier-les-Bains] and decided to come too. At lunch sat with the 4
Germans and talked. Started at 3.30, the Horten brothers
photographing us before we went. Up the desolate ugly valley
behind Les Hyeres, past Val Froide, up the long col, nothing to be
seen, top of the col at 5.30, rounded a corner and came upon a
desolate basin, once no doubt, a lake. Rocky contorted hills rising
steep all round, grassless; at the end heaps of stones, glacier and the
Aiguilles standing up black and forbidding. A deep grey stream
flowed through over a rocky bed. Met the donkey which had brought
up my wood for the fire and made it carry me over the stream. Marius
was already cooking the soup. We arrived about 6. Refuge very tiny
but well supplied. To bed at 7.45, slept well, but felt cold.