The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB, for those in the know) is one of the great Alpine summer walks. The traditional route starts in Chamonix and circles counterclockwise around the Mont Blanc massif in 11 one-day stages.
About us
Chris (49) and Amy (47): we have lived in South Carolina since we got married back in 1996. We don't climb fast, but we can keep going for hours. We dislike camping so much that we once walked the Art Loeb trail in one 18-hour shot just so we wouldn't have to sleep out. We hiked the north part of the TMB in 2016 (8 stages, Courmayeur to Les Houches) and liked it so much we came back to do the whole thing.
- Outfitter: Alpine Exploratory. We got the self-guided TMB comfy mix (more hotels, fewer dorms) with luggage transfer.
- Shoes: Altra Superior (Wide toe boxes, completely flat, light weight, no ankle or arch "support." Zero foot pain and excellent balance over all terrains.) Amy uses compression sleeves to prevent calf and shin pain.
- Packs: Osprey Skarab 24 (Amy), Deuter Act Trail 30 (Chris)
- Cameras: iPhone 6s (Amy), Fuji Fuji XE-2 with Fuji XF 18mm f2 and Fuji XF 35mm f1.4 (Chris)
- Raingear: Marmot PreCip
- Food: None. Seriously, we didn't carry food with us. We have found that a low-carb high-fat (LCHF) diet with intermittent fasting works very well for performance and weight maintenance. We ate a small, high-fat breakfast (in Italian refuges Amy would eat buttered cheese) to minimize morning insulin spikes (we wanted our fat stores to be readily accessible) and then walked for five or six hours, stopping once for coffee. Around 2 we'd have lunch at a refuge or restaurant, followed by as much as we wanted for dinner. Strict low-carb or paleo is very difficult to do in these circumstances, especially in mountain refuges, and fasting from dinner til lunch impractical, so we were flexible. We felt great and had plenty of steady energy for walking - way better than when we used to constantly fuel up with sweet snacks.
What we didn't carry:
- Trekking poles. They use up energy and they prevent us from using our hands to scramble. I'd be more sympathetic to claims that they help with hiking if 99% of trekkers on the TMB didn't appear to have zero notion of why they are carrying the things.
- Painkillers. We figure if our gear hurts us, we need different gear. Muscle soreness goes away with time.
- Food. See above. These days we DON'T eat when we want to perform.
- Much of anything. A light pack and light shoes make for happy hiking!
16.7 km, 826.7 m ascent, 1,403.6 m descent
The classic TMB route starts in Les Houches, a town just south of Chamonix. We took a bus from Chamonix to the Bellevue stop in Les Houches and used the Bellevue cablecar to skip the first 1000 meters of climbing - a nod to our jet lag and the only automation we used in the whole route!
The alternate Col de Tricot route gave us the chance to cross the exciting Himalayan Bridge. We had lunch at the Refuge de Miage. I do not regret the fried potatoes!
19.4 km, 1,315.5 m ascent, 1,015.8 m descent
This was a hard day and no mistake. We started by climbing, and climbed some more to the Col de Bonhomme, and then kept on climbing to the Col de la Croix de Bonhomme. We ate lunch. Then we got to go down. That was nice.
Donkey rental is clearly a neglected business opportunity here in the U.S. At the Croix de Bonhomme you can see the layers of the ancient land (seabed even?) that tipped sideways when the Alps formed.
18.5 km, 1,140.5 m ascent, 775.7 m descent
After the previous day's climb this walk seemed easy, even though we bypassed the usual stop at Rifugio Elisabetta to finish at the extremely nice Cabane du Combal. We entered a new country: Italy!
Lots of our fellow guests at the Auberge de la Nova in Les Chapieux took vans up the road to la Ville des Glaciers (neither a city nor particularly glacial) but we are purists so we walked up through the valley. We saw a whole family of marmots! On the Italian side of the Col de la Seigne we ran into the only serious thunderstorm of the trip, along with millions of gentians.
13.6 km, 506.7 m ascent, 1,238.9 m descent
This was a super easy day of maximum beauty, just a gorgeous balcony walk with absurdly beautiful views of the massif. Also: we walked back into signal!
The glaciers are melting. It's impossible not to see it. The snouts are all far above the beds - we were level with them over 2000 meters. It was nice to have a long afternoon in Courmayeur, to do laundry (Hotel Bouton d'Or is as nice as always), shop at our favorite outdoor goods shop, and have a spritz or Campari shakerato (Campari shaken with ice) before dinner at La Terrazza. Hotels FTW!
22.2 km, 1,425.3 m ascent, 679.1 m descent
This was a long day. We thought we could make it easy by taking the Via Armina balcony path from Rifugio Bertone instead of the high climb over Mont de la Saxe, but the the TMB is NEVER not hard. Rifugio Bonatti was fully booked so we had lunch there and continued to Refugio Elena, which was farther away than I remembered.
As we dragged ourselves uphill, we were passed by numerous guys RUNNING the damn thing, presumably training for the UTMB later in the season. (Winners clock in at 22 hours....) At Refugio Elena I fortified myself with some Genepy, or génépi, a lovely wormwood-infused digestivo said to re-oxygenate the muscles.
14.2 km, 452.7 m ascent, 913.3 m descent
This was a short walk. Which was nice, because it rained the whole way. And turned cold. We weren't especially bothered by the climb to le Grand Col Ferret because we couldn't see the top of the pass, so we had no idea how far we had to go - and all of a sudden there we were!
We arrived at the buvette at La Peule too early to want anything except coffee, but we did get to see the girls cutting up the day's cheese supply. In La Fouly we made good use of our credit card at the outdoor store, buying warm clothes to confront the sudden cold spell and the fact that everything had gotten wet during the hike. All hotels turn off their heat in the summer, which makes drying clothes on cold damp days a challenge. At least we had a private room and bath at the very nice Hotel Edelweiss.
16.3 km, 464.4 m ascent, 560.2 m descent
This stage is the easiest of the TMB, but for some reason lots of people skip it and take the bus. That's a shame, because it's such a pretty walk through Swiss Valais, land of precisely stacked woodpiles!
We discovered the hydroelectric plant's warning sign after we'd bushwhacked into its empty riverbed - oops. It was a pleasure to revisit the realm of regional spokesanimal Charlotte la Marmotte with her passion for mycology and to try another hotel in Champex-Lac, the lovely Hotel Alpina with its friendly owners and excellent cuisine, though we are still fond of the Hotel Splendide next door.
23 km, 737.9 m ascent, 947.3 m descent
The cold weather and our Swiss hostess persuaded us to change plans at the last minute and take the Alp Bovine route instead of the higher Fenêtre d'Arpette. No matter, the Bovine route is challenging enough, AND its buvette is one of our favorite restaurants. They had even kept our old table free for us!
It wouldn't be Alp Bovine without cows everywhere! On one mountainside all the trees have been recently knocked down by some great violent force. If I were at home I would guess a microburst or tornado, but here I suspect avalanche is more likely.
23.4 km, 1,032.1 m ascent, 1,135.9 m descent
Last year we did the regular Col de Balme route and the Aiguillette des Posettes. This year we decided to take the alternate route past the Trient glacier through Chalet du Glaciers and Refuge des Grands. For some reason I thought this variant would be longer but easier. It wasn't!
The ridge walk from Refuge des Grands was the first bit of trail where I was actually scared - exposure, ya know! At the Refuge de Col de Balme we attacked our steak frites like wild beasts, and I'm not ashamed to say we had steak again for dinner in Argentière.
12.4 km, 1,155.9 m ascent, 541.4 m descent
We skipped much of this stage last year (wimps!) but this time we were not going to miss the chutes and ladders and the chance to see the elusive ibex. Which we did! This stage gets disconcertingly crowded up around Lac Blanc, a popular day trip from Chamonix. No more sense of traveling through wilderness - you're back in resort land.
We spent the night at La Flégére in the same beds as last year. That refuge has the old-school mountaineering feel, amazing in a property so close to Chamonix. We befriended a French family with two kids not too far from our own kids' age, out for a mountain sleepover before hiking to Lac Blanc the next day.
15 km, 509.6 m ascent, 1,299.8 m descent
In principle we were meant to end this stage in Les Houches. Somehow we have not yet managed to force ourselves to pass Chamonix when it's just right down the hill! We did at least walk down the trail from Pranplaz, which turned out to be about two hours more descent than I imagined it would be.
Back in in Chamonix we were too tired to think but not too tired for cocktails and steak at Beurre Noisette. We spent dinner plotting next summer's adventure - maybe it's time for the Haute Route. Chris does so long to see the Matterhorn!
Credits:
Amy Hackney Blackwell and Christopher William Blackwell