Tour du Mont Blanc
Had a great nights sleep at Bellevue camping in Les Houches. €12 for me and my tent and the facilities were more than adequate.
Ready to start the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Starting the Tour du Mont Blanc
TMB Day 1: Les Houches - Les Contamines (15km 300m elevation gain)
A slow, soggy start but a good one. Began the day with the fastest 800m ascent I’ve ever done* and ending it at a campsite next to a river.
TMB Day 2 starts from Camping le Pontet heading to Les Chapieux
TMB Day 2 ended at Les Chapieux, 20km with 1282m elevation gain.
Ate pizza in bed then (very mild) storms battered the tent for the night.
Had to pack in the rain this morning, didn’t cheat and get the bus and was rewarded with some nice views.
Au revoir France 🇫🇷, Buongiorno Italia 🇮🇹 !
TMB Day 3: Les Chapieux 🇫🇷 - Courmayeur 🇮🇹 25km 1071m elevation gain
Caffè ☕️
TMB Day 4: Courmayeur 🇮🇹 - Arnuova Desot 🇮🇹 21km 1255m elevation gain
Ready for a big day tomorrow.
TMB Day 5: Arnuova Desot 🇮🇹 - La Fouly 🇨🇭 17km 820m elevation gain
Change of plan, we only did 17km so we can camp in La Fouly and make an early start in the morning.
TMB Day 6: La Fouly 🇨🇭 - Forclaz 🇨🇭 34.5km 1397m elevation gain
Day 6 was a long one, but Switzerland did not disappoint. I was so tired by the end of the day I almost passed out in my cheese.
TMB Day 7: Forclaz 🇨🇭- Montroc 🇫🇷 19km 1145m elevation gain
Today was tough. We climbed into the clouds to cross the border back into France before climbing back up to a ridge walk through more clouds before descending through a forest.
TMB Day 8: Montroc 🇫🇷 - Flégère 🇫🇷 10km 1025m elevation gain
Hiked up into the clouds again, this time to climb some ladders in the rain? I did not like this at all something I was totally cool with.
Bivouacing 2000m above sea level, another first for me.
Today’s my last day on the trail, finishing the TMB loop back in Les Houches 🇫🇷
It’s been a beautiful last morning, except for the surprise ladders again; some of the locals came out to wave us off.
Finished the Tour du Mont Blanc!
TMB Day 9: Flégerè 🇫🇷 - Les Houches 🇫🇷 21km 875m elevation gain
Up into the clouds for the last time, very happy we didn’t try to add this segment on to the previous day.
A bittersweet day. I’m happy to finish in the time we had planned for but also sad it’s all over.
Tour du Mont Blanc: Recovery
It’s taken 10 days of rest to wake up this morning without feeling weak in the knees.
ChatGPT was right when it predicted I would feel muscle soreness and mentally foggy days 1 - 3, that my energy levels would normalise by day 7 and that it could take 14 days to return to baseline.
I need to do some serious training before my next big trip.
Tour du Mont Blanc: Itinerary
I had the pleasure of hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with Blue Backpack Cover, whom I met last year on The West Highland Way.
I had no intention of going on a hiking trip this year, which seemed like a missed opportunity as I was taking a break from work for a while, but when I got an email inviting me to go I immediately said yes.
Even better, my hiking buddy already had a plan, so I didn’t need to put much thought into it. I just turned up and walked.