My original plan was to do a two day hike and stay overnight at la Caverne Dufour, a mountain hut about a two hours’ walk below the Piton des Neiges' peak. Unfortunately, when I called the tourist office to book a bed, I was told that the hut was fully booked for the next two months, leaving me with no choice but to do it in a long one day walk. A couple of days before going, a friend of mine (bearded man on pictures), born in Cilaos but who had never done that hike, asked me if I would mind if he came along with me. Of course, I didn’t, after all the more the merrier.

 
We began our hike just before sunrise. One thing which we had not realized when we decided to do it on that Friday was La Diagonale des Fous's departure on the same day, a mountain ultra marathon race. We met the first runners coming down the mountain at full speed half way to the hut and we often had to stop to let them pass.

 
The weather was nice and warm going up but things started to change as we began to come down: it rained for the rest of the day. The path was so slippery that it became harder and harder to walk down. However, we safely made it back to the parking lot where we had left our car in the morning and arrived just after sunset. All in all, an exhausting but amazing 13 hour hike.