In reply to MrJared:
As a day walk it’s quite a hard one – only about 15km return, but with an ascent of 1750m, though you can conveniently split it into two with a break for refreshments at the Refuge de la Pierre a Berard. The path up the glen from Le Buet to the refuge has very fine woodland and river scenery, with rugged rock peaks looming steeply above. Later in the season the upper slopes are frankly a bit of a relentless scree trog; nothing remotely technical, it is just a walk. My memories of those slopes include the sufferings of our teenage nephew from Australia on his first visit to the Alps (indeed his first visit to any mountains). He hadn’t had enough opportunity to acclimatise, so he suffered a ferocious altitude headache and nausea in the best tradition of the early alpine pioneers. Happily that passed off immediately when we started down. The view from the Buet is impressive, though I’ve not had it perfectly clear on top.
As a less strenuous alternative, I’d recommend the Lac Blanc walk. Start at the Col des Montets and follow the TMC balcon path along to the Lac Blanc refuge (another good refreshment stop). You can then either drop back towards Argentiere, or take the Flegere lift and get train/bus back up to the Montets. You don’t get to a summit, but given the weather, the views across the valley to the whole range of Mt Blanc are superb. And you’re almost certain to have close encounters with bouquetin, they’re practically tame.
