In September 2006 I and my sister in law did a walk around Mt Blanc. It was my dream for some time and the reality exceeded expectations. I will save you description of my enchantment and limit my story to facts.
Organisation of the walk appeared to be very simple:
- Start from Chamonix and follow the anticlockwise route as described in “Tour of Mt Blanc” by Kev Reynolds published by Cicerone.
- Accommodation, breakfasts and dinners in mountain huts (gite, rifugio).
- Be flexible, try to follow the plan proposed in the book but without any pain.
- Do not make too many advanced bookings as our plans are not final.
It worked perfectly for us but we might have been lucky. Here are some main points which may be valuable for people who would like to make the tour.
The route. It is one of most spectacular mountain walks in the world. For me, the beauty of it laid in fact that all these magnificent mountains were tangible, we were all the time in the middle of majestic peaks and at the same time were not preoccupied with any technical issues or exhausted with too much effort. Some technical data: total length – 150 km, 11 days of walking, highest point 2760m, biggest daily ascent – 1320m.
Time. TMB is fully operational from June till mid September. Our tour started on 8th Sept and ended on 22nd Sept. Many facilities were closed on 15th of Sept, but it did not affect us too much. We expected cold weather but it was very mild all the time. We had only 3 days of rain, it was rather exceptional. Most of mountain huts where we stayed overnight were half empty but in July and August advanced booking is necessary.
Fitness. TMB is in the reach of any person of average fitness. There is absolutely no rock climbing, just steady walk. In my opinion the most important skill is patience and ability to enjoy world around you.
Equipment. Having accommodation in huts we took only clothes and food for lunch. We were prepared for cold weather and long periods of rain. Our backpacks weighted just under 13 kg. 99% of walkers met on the trip used walking poles. I did not use them, it was a mistake as they significantly reduce impact on joints and help to keep balance on narrow and sometimes slippery paths.
Food. We carried some food for lunches: mainly instants soups and muesli bars, plus a thermos with hot water. Food in huts consisted of continental breakfast (2 slices of white bread, tea or coffee, butter, jam) and good dinners. I was amazed that I was never hungry while during my normal working days in the office I use to eat big breakfast and lunch and usually felt hungry before each meal. I think that long lasting moderate effort somehow slows metabolism. Needless to say that after 12 days of regular, relatively intensive effort, I did not loose a gram of weight.
Language and people. This is definitely French speaking area. You can survive on English only, but we felt that we were losing some personal touch with our hosts in mountain huts and with other walkers. Fortunately we met a good number of people from Australia and New Zealand.
Organised tours. There are many commercial operators who organise TMB and provide variety of services. The basic one is just a guide and arrangement of all accommodation, at the other end is carrying of personal luggage by mules and accommodation in 4 star hotels wherever possible (usually every third day of the tour). We shared 1 night accommodation with a group organised by Intrepid - KLIK - and liked the way their tour was run. Liked it so much that I booked some other tour with them.
Alternatives. It is possible to make TMB in one week skipping less interesting parts. Skipping stages from Courmayer to Champex – saves 3 days.
If you are in hurry... it is possible to make TMB in ONE DAY!! It is an ultramarathon organised by North Face in the last week of August. See HERE.
Diary of our walk.
Day ZERO - flight from Warsaw to Geneva. At the airport bus to Chamonix. We stayed overnight in Gite Astor in Les Houches.
Day 1 - cable car to Bellevue and we are in the magical world of Alps. Bionassy Glacier above our heads. Mountain creeks, hanging bridges and unending panorama of Alps. Walk down to Contamines. Night in hostel of French Alpine Club (CAF).
Day 2 - The longest climb of the tour - 1320m vertical. We reached a CAF hut on Col de la Croix du Bonhomme and stayed there overnight - the book itinerary leads down to Chapieux but we found this too hard. It was very good decicion as soon a heavy storm started and in the hut we were offered excellent dinner at candle lights accompanied by nice music.
Day 3 - we started in the rain but soon the skies cleared and we had great view of mountains in clouds at the French-Italian border. Night in Rifuggio Elizabetta. Quite crowded.
Day 4 - rather boring walk in the valley towards Courmayer. The last section was a steep descent. Heavy building works were carried out around, terrible noise of building machinery and helicopters bringing building materials. Luckily we arranged car transport down to Courmayer. Night in pensione Venezia.
Day 5 - according to the schedule, it should be a rest day. But we were not attracted by Courmayer, decided to make a short walk to Rifuggio Bertone and have a half day rest in the mountains.
Day 6 - heavy rain. We slightly modified our course, instead of walking to Mt de la Saxe, we took shorter way in the valley as in such weather we could not appreciate any mountain views. Long walk in rain and mist to Rifuggio Elena.
Day 7 - started in the rain but the weather improved soon. Lunch in dairy farm La Peule. Then gentle descent to La Fouly where we boarded a bus to Champex. Night in hotel Relais Arpette.
Day 8 - quite steep and rocky climb to Fenetre d'Arpette. Then long descent along Trient glacier. Night in La Gardienne in Trient village.
Day 9 - heavy rain. We decided to cancel our walk, move to Chamonix and wait for a better weather. Bus to Chaminix, accommodation in Ski Chalet, visit in the museum of alpinism.
Day 10 - no rain but very poor visibility. We walked to the Sea of the Glaciers and visited a big ice cave.
Day 11 - weather improving. We took a cable car to Le Praz and walked to two lakes - Lac Cornu and Lac Noir.
Day 12 - great sunny day. We took bus to Argentierre and reached TMB course in Tre le Champ, then walked towards Chamonix. This was one of most spectacular sections of the walk. We walked to Lac Blanc, had lunch in Chalet du Mt Blanc, then to Chalet la Flegere. Summer season already ended and the ski lift was closed. We had a bit boring walk back to our hostel in Chamonix.
Day 13 - another sunny day. Time to get to Mt Blanc. Not on foot, we took a cable car to Aiguille du Midi. The view was breathtaking. Even more rewarding was another cable car ride to Heilbrunner. From there we saw a sea of clouds. It is Italy again, Courmayer was down, down under clouds.
Day 14 - early morning bus ride to Geneva and flight back to Warsaw.