A Walk in The Alps – Tour du Mont Blanc

July15-26, 2022

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

-  John Muir

Someday, I will reach a point where I decide long distance hikes aren’t for me anymore. Fortunately, I didn’t decide that this year. After contemplating an offer to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) with a few of my hiking buddies (Heather Waldroup – chief instigator, Rusty Bingham, and Beth Jones) a few months ago, I was all in. I knew a bit about the hike but had some homework to find out what I was really getting into. Some of the background information about the hike:

• The Tour du Mont Blanc is an alpine hike in western Europe circumnavigating Mont Blanc, about 103 miles long with 34,717 feet of total ascent. 
• The Mont Blanc Range dominates an area 60 miles by 20 miles and holds 11 summits over 13,000 feet.
• Mont Blanc is French for White Mountain. It is owned by both France and Italy under a bilateral agreement and is known as Monte Bianco in Italian. At 15,777 feet, it is the highest mountain in western Europe.
• The route is attributed to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, a Swiss geologist and physicist. In 1767 he walked around the entire Mont Blanc massif looking for a possible route to climb to the summit of the unclimbed peak. Several portions of the trail had been in use for centuries.
• The hike travels about 49 miles in France, 29 miles in Switzerland, and 25 miles in Italy.
• The Alps are sharply featured compared to my familiar Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. By comparison, the Alps are approximately 45 million years old, the Rocky Mountains of the western US 70-80 million, and the Appalachians 200-300 million years old.

There were lots of factors to consider and plans to make. Is my passport expiration date still good? What about lingering covid restrictions? What phone plan should I use? What map app should I use for navigation? How much foreign currency will I need and what is the best place to get it? Is it wise to get trip insurance (there is an overwhelming number of choices out there)? What should I pack? Do I need to be concerned about altitude sickness? Last but not least – am I physically up for this?

Heather Waldroup did the advance heavy lifting in reserving hostels and one hotel for our trek. The hostels always included breakfast, with dinners optional for an extra charge and carry out packed lunches available for the following days hike. I tempered my expectations for hostel food and was pleasantly surprised. Breakfasts were typically an average but adequate collection of jams, bread, pastries, yogurt, cereal, etc.  Lunches might best be summarized as calories – a sandwich with a lot of bread and a little filling, a piece of fruit, a bag of chips. After a couple of days, I opted out for my own lunch provisions of dried fruit, protein bars, nuts, etc. And Gu gel packs for a quick pick me up. These are a small bag of slime (okay, technically “gel”) containing calories, electrolytes, caffeine and other stuff that science has determined is good for a hiker.

Dinners, however, were generally excellent. Take a picture and write home kind of excellent. More on those later.

We met in Geneva, Switzerland in advance of the hike. I flew in early to give myself a few days to adjust to the time zone shift (+6 hours) and to tour the city. The four of us filtered in over a three-day period. We visited the St Pierre Cathedral, International Red Cross Headquarters, Patek Phillipe Museum as well as numerous parks, gardens, and restaurants around town.

If you’d been along for the trip, this is what you would have experienced.

Day 1 July 15

We started our hike in the small French village of Le Houches, about an hour bus ride from Geneva with a connecting bus in Chamonix (where Dr. Frankenstein’s monster was known to frolic back in the day). Les Houches is a quaint French Alps village of about 3000 people supported primarily through tourists – skiing in the winter and TMB hikers in the summer (over 10,000 hikers per year).  There are several points of entry for the hike, as well as the question of whether to hike clockwise or counterclockwise. There are advantages to any combination – we went clockwise from Le Houches.

We had the same hostel for our first and last nights – Gite Michel Fagot (gite is French for ‘cottage’).  They provided (for 5 €/day) the extra benefit of holding our surplus gear for our return. This was a huge help. Our room had two bunk beds, and as is the norm throughout central Europe, no air conditioning. There were community baths and showers on the floor with a couple of dozen other lodgers, so we had to work our schedules around that. Just part of the experience, no problems encountered.

Day 2 July 16

We started off bright and early for our first day of hiking. After a bit of jostling with the hostel crowd we were out the door. After the obligatory underway photo at the arch in the center of town, we started our first day with an 11.9-mile trip with 5733 feet of incline. That included an immediate 4877-foot initial ascent to our first peak Le Brevent as we headed out of town. This is a wonderful section for outstanding vistas of Mont Blanc, with hang gliders riding the currents along the face of the mountain. The altitude, unusually warm weather, and still adjusting to the time zone shift all contributed to this being a tough day and a heck of a way to start a hike. We spread out some as the day went by as we often did. I had a chance encounter with an adult male Alpine ibex (a mountain goat indigenous to the region) along the way to our destination of Refuge de la Flegere. This was a big place, about 70 hikers. Typical for the hike, there was no wifi signal, but often a weak cell signal. I had already decided I was going to ignore the outside world to the extent possible during the hike.

Day 3 July 17

This was another tough day at 13.8 miles with 4565 feet of incline. The heat coupled with the incline made this my worst day on the trail. The morning started off pleasantly with a moderate climb out of Refuge de la Flegere before taking a steep drop to village of Tre-le-Champ. We encountered some weekend crowds on our way down the steep descent that made the drop slower still. After a refreshing break in the valley, we started our climb to Col de Balme, the high mountain pass that marks the French-Swiss border. This 2500-foot incline was steep, hot, and in soul-crushing full sun. I officially reconsidered my initial plan to reduce my sun exposure by wearing long pants. I ran through my water faster than I wanted to, about 5 liters on the day. Fortunately, a mountain top restaurant had an outdoor water spigot for a cool refill. We still had a few miles of steep downhill to our destination of Refuge le Peuty. This was our least favorite lodging. Steep stairs led to hot, poorly ventilated room with sleeping for a couple of dozen people – and plenty of flies. This did not make for good sleeping. Still a good day with stunning views, and our first encounter with the famous Swiss cows with bucket sized bells that could be heard for miles.

Day 4 July 18

The third day of hiking started with a gentle decline through the small village of Le Peuty in the Trient Valley of Switzerland. The air was clear and cool, and I was refreshed but really thinking I could use a good night’s sleep. We turned up the mountain towards the Bovine summit. This was a 2400-foot incline over a 4 mile stretch but the cool morning and the forest shade made the miles pass pleasantly. We passed through a field with enormous cattle and equally enormous bells. While watching a couple of massive creatures battle, I marveled at the moxie of the man who imposed himself between them to split up the fight with a small stick. As we headed over the pass and down to our destination of the village of Champex, we chanced upon the small café Alpage de Bovine selling a wonderful variety of refreshments. I treated myself to a slice of delicious apricot pie with mint tea.

This was a much easier day. We had 3477 feet of ascent for the day (most of it in the cool morning) and 11.6 miles in arriving at the alpine tourist village of Champex in the early afternoon. This was our sole hotel stay of the hike, Au Vieux Champex. We relaxed, enjoyed a proper cleanup and a pizza for dinner.

Day 5 July 19

After a solid night’s sleep for the first night since Geneva, I was ready to go. We walked through the town of Champex-Lac, then headed down the mountain toward the Swiss Val Ferret. The trail followed the Sentier des Champignons (“Mushroom Trail”) for a time, complete with interpretive signs detailing features of various mushrooms in the area. After reaching the valley, we began the long climb to the high mountain pass of Grand Col Ferret. This is the Swiss-Italian border. It’s still over 19 miles away and almost 5000 feet higher – we won’t reach that until tomorrow.

We started our slow steady incline up the valley, passing through several small villages. This was a departure from the typical trail we had experienced thus far.  We enjoyed admiring the quintessential Swiss chalets, with precisely cut and stacked woodpiles, tidy gardens, berry vines, well-tended flower and vegetable gardens, and frequent public fountains of cool clear water.

This was just a great day. I was rested, had gained my hiking legs, and was in good hiking company. The weather was perfect, and then right on cue, I heard ice cream calling my name when passing a small grocery store in the town of La Fouly. Who am I to defy fate?

It was just a short walk from ice cream to our next lodging, Gite de la Lechere, completing 11.9 miles for the day with an easy 2529 feet of total ascent. Most of our hostels had a small, family-owned feel to them, complete with the children of the proprietors helping out, and this was no exception.  Our dinners thus far on the hike had been quite good, but the bar for the future was set higher here. Our dinner started with a soup that was among the best I’ve had in my life. Stinging nettle was the secret ingredient. The main course of ham, finger potatoes, and green beans was good as well, but I would have been perfectly content to stick my head in a bucket of that soup!

Day 6 July 20

Our fifth day of hiking started overcast with forecast for rain, but none materialized. Clouds and mist shrouded the peaks as we made our way up the remaining 2800 feet of ascent to the Swiss-Italian border, about five miles away. The heat of the first couple of days had eased. Trail traffic was light, temperatures were cool, the trail was good, and we made good time to the border. Grand Col Ferret is advertised as having some of the best views of the entire hike, but we were enveloped in clouds.

As we worked our way down the Italian side of the pass, the clouds began to part, and we were greeted with incredible views. Bonjour was replaced with ciao as we passed fellow hikers. Our destination for the day was Rifugio Bonatti, a large boisterous facility with over 100 fellow hikers. This had more of a corporate feel to it than any of our other lodgings. Except paying for a frigid shower everything was fine. We hiked 12.3 miles for the day with 4384 feet of ascent.

Day 7 July 21

The TMB to this point had been characterized by up, down, way up, way down, up, down.  No relaxed sauntering through flower filled alpine meadows. Most of my hiking experience has been with inclines no more than 750 feet per mile – 1000 feet per mile seems more common here. I pondered where in the heck did Hannibal bring his elephants over the Alps. But today started differently. The first few miles heading out from Rifugio Bonatti were delightfully level, with air scrubbed clean by overnight rains. I embraced the moment. It didn’t last. After inhaling a mushroom pizza in the little Italian town of Courmayeur, we climbed a tough 2300-foot climb to our next lodging at Le Randonneur Rifugio (randonneur is French for hiker). We hiked 11.9 miles for the day with 3378 feet of ascent. Any lingering discussions of hike shortcuts using ski lifts or buses fell by the wayside by this point. We had our hiking legs and were in it for the duration with no short cuts.

Day 8 July 22

Our seventh day of hiking was our longest at 16.8 miles, with 4139 feet of ascent, but we took it in stride. After about a 1900-foot climb to start the day, we entered a stretch of several miles of outstanding alpine landscapes on our way to Col de la Seigne, the pass at the Italian-Swiss border. The entire valley Vallon de la Lée Blanche was open for us to admire as we climbed our way to the pass. It’s important to remember to stop and soak in the moment at times like this.

We made our descent of 3200 feet over about seven miles to our lodging for the night, Auberge de la Nova, in the tiny village of Les Chapieux (auberge: a house providing food and shelter for travelers).  This was a splendid lodging with en suite bathrooms. This was also my favorite dinner so far – fork tender marinated beef with lentils and roasted potatoes followed by panna cotta with berry sauce for dessert. My nose and stomach took over and I neglected to take pictures. There were no leftovers. A note on dining – at home I make modest effort to limit carbohydrates, fat, red meat, etc., but when hiking it’s game on. Put it in front of me and I’ll eat. And if it is some sort of local specialty that’s even better.

Day 9 July 23

We started the day with about 3000 feet of incline in the first 3 miles. This wasn’t the end of climbing for the hike, but it was the last major ascent. It was a lovely climb through French Alps with meadow grasses blowing in the breeze. An entire herd of ibex scampered on the mountainside. We were past peak wildflowers on this hike, but this was one of the locations where we still had a nice display.

We passed the Col du Bonhomme Pass and began our long, steep descent to our next stop at Gite le Pontet. There were treats to be had before we got there. After a short visit to the small parish church Notre Dame de la Gorge, we patronized a vendor selling ice cream on the grounds. We all enjoyed a freshly made fruit ice cream cone. I chose to have mine made from black currants and was not disappointed.

We had rooms rented for the night at Gite le Pontet for the night, a full-service campground with something for about anyone – swimming, putt putt, volleyball, etc. We finished the day with 3299 feet of ascent and 12 miles.

Day 10 July 24

The days were easy now. The worst of the heat was over, the major ascents were done, and the distances were shorter. Our hike to Refuge du Fioux was a pleasant 8.6 miles with 2382 feet of ascent, passing through several small villages. I purchased some fresh red currants from some entrepreneurial young lads selling from a roadside stand. Rusty took a separate high route to check out a suspended bridge. We converged at the Refuge, arriving early. After a relaxing afternoon, I enjoyed another “best dinner so far”, Basque Chicken with rice.

Day 11 July 25

This was our last day on the trail, a short 4.6 miles back to Les Houches with only 507 feet of ascent.  I set my pace at “mosey” as I made my way towards town. We completed our end of trail photo at the arch, then enjoyed looking around a farmers’ market for a bit before checking in at our starting hostel, Gite Michel Fagot.

The next morning we headed our separate ways. Our only difficulties on the trip were trivial. Rusty and I did not enjoy our melted glacier showers at Rifugio Bonatti, Beth broke an egg in her backpack, and Heather had some delayed flight issues at the end to sort through. No one was injured or got sick. If anyone got blisters they didn’t complain about them. We had no problems with any of our reservations.  All in all, one of my favorite hiking experiences.

I find as I get older the passing of time just gets faster and faster. The events of one day just roll into the next over and over. Its useful to take trips like this, to strip yourself from your daily trappings and get out into new adventures. They give us a stake in the ground of time that we can hold on to, to pause and reflect on some day in the future.