Tour du Mont Blanc
The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a difficult 170km loop hiking trail that passes through France, Italy, and Switzerland as it circles Mont Blanc. The classic route includes over 10km of elevation gain and is broken up into 11 stages that are done in a counter-clockwise direction.
Jordy and I met hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland in the summer of 2019 (To read about that hike, click here). Despite living on different continents, we have managed to stay in contact since. When we found out we had 3 weeks of overlapping vacation time in the summer of 2022, Jordy asked me, "So, where are we going?" Over the course of a few months, a number of destinations were discussed before we finally settled on meeting in Switzerland to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. When I told friends and family that Jordy and I were planning a trip together, everyone had hesitations about me committing to spending 24 hours a day for 3 weeks with someone that I'd actually only known for a single day. While I understood their concerns, and even had the same anxieties of my own, I was willing to take the risk. Since we ended up booking the refuges along the TMB on short notice, refuge unavailability meant that we were unfortunately not able to hike the TMB according to the typical 11 stages. Instead, I put together a 7 day itinerary that I thought sounded reasonable.
Day 1 - Les Houches to Les Contamines-Montjoie
Walking Time: 6.3 hours
Distance: 21.5km
Elevation Gain: 1450m
Elevation Loss: 1260m
Accommodation: Gîte le Pontet
At a little past 8am in the morning, after taking our "before" picture at the start/end marker of the TMB, we left behind the quaint town of Les Houches and set off on the TMB. Many hikers opt to take the Bellevue cable car from Les Houches, which shaves 600m of elevation off the day; however, we decided against taking the shortcut because we felt this would be cheating. Less than an hour into our hike, which had been a steep set of stairs followed by a relentless grind up gravel road, Jordy told me he was feeling unwell and needed to take a break. I was also struggling, but had been trying to keep pushing onwards. While we were slumped at the side of the trail, we shared our concerns that we were drastically underprepared for this challenge and began to seriously doubt that we would be able to finish, but we picked ourselves back up.
Slogging our way in 35-degree-Celsius heat up to Col de Voza, I was gasping for air and sweating profusely. Col de Voza should have been the hardest part of the day, as the rest of the route is mostly downhill from there; however, following ambiguous signage and trusting unfoundedly in a pair of hikers ahead of us, I accidentally lead us along an alternate route. We considered turning around once we eventually realized our mistake, but the thought of backtracking was unbearable. Thus, we continued along the alternate, blissfully ignorant as to what was in store. The alternate route lead us to a second col, Col de Tricot, which is 467m higher than Col de Voza.
Resting at the top of Col de Tricot, still so far from our destination of Refuge de Nant Borrant, I told Jordy I was going to check if there were beds available at Auberge du Truc, which we would be passing shortly. When I reached the refuge and was told that there were, in fact, beds available, a wave of relief rushed over me. This was quickly replaced by a feeling of disappointment once I was given a tour of the facilities and saw the derelict state of the dorm and toilets.
While we lounged in recliner lawn chairs sipping on cold Coca Cola from the bar, we weighed our options. I felt utterly defeated from having failed to reach our destination, and I was concerned about how we would be able to carry on from this point because we would need to add an unmanageable amount distance to our hike tomorrow to make it to the refuge we had booked for night 2. If we kept finishing short of our destination, a domino effect would occur leading us to accrue double the cost each night: the cost of the non-refundable reservation for the refuge down the trail and the cost of the refuge we managed to get to. Through numerous dropped calls, Jordy managed to find out there were beds available at a refuge between this one and our original destination of Refuge de Nant Borrant. I advocated hard for this option because another 8km of walking today would get us back on track for tomorrow. Jordy was in agreement, though begrudgingly.
Day 2 - Les Contamines-Montjoie to Les Chapieux
Walking Time: 4.5 hours
Distance: 16.8km
Elevation Gain: 1310m
Elevation Loss: 880m
Accommodation: Auberge Refuge de la Nova
Our day began with a few kilometres of gentle climbing, and we welcomed the opportunity to warm up our legs before the real climbing began. We waved sheepishly when we passed Refuge de Nant Borrant, where we should have stayed last night. The trail took us past herds of sheep and cows on the hillsides, and hiking to the sound of cowbell felt quintessentially TMB. We reached the top of Col du Joly with little difficulty, but then were faced with Col du Bonhomme looming ahead. It was a grind up steep switchbacks in the beating sun. I thought I was powering up the col, that is until my confidence was shaken by getting overtaken by a man carrying a child on his back.
On the way to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, we passed patches of beautiful wildflowers on the mountainside. I kept stopping to take photos, probably annoying Jordy with my fitful pace. We stopped at the Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme to enjoy lunch with a view. The nausea, tremulousness, and shortness of breath I'd been experiencing yesterday had mostly subsided, but they were still plaguing Jordy, and I watched in disgust as he soaked his bread in water to help him ingest some sort of sustenance. A dog laid a wood chip at my feet, and I joyfully threw that pathetic piece of wood again and again until the dog ran off after his owners.
After Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, it was a steady, steep descent down dusty switchbacks. I ran down, letting gravity take hold of my legs. Jordy was more cautious. The topography in this section fascinated me. There was grass-covered ridges in the mountainside that looked like moguls and sections of exposed rock that glittered in the sunlight.
Day 3 - Crossing the border into Italy
Walking time: 5.5 hours
Distance: 23.7km
Elevation Gain: 1500m
Elevation Loss: 1070m
Accommodation: Refugio Maison Vieille
The day began with a short section of road walking. Jordy enjoyed setting a speedy pace on the even ground, while I was impatient to get back on a trail. We crossed a bridge over the river and then the trail followed the river for the next hour or so with minimal elevation gain, which meant we could actually soak in the epic glacial views rather than stare at our feet. We hiked with nervous anticipation, knowing we would have to get out of the valley eventually. A series of switchbacks and then a straight grind to the top of Col de la Seigne brought us to the border of France and Italy!
"Bonjour" changed to "ciao" as we passed other hikers on the trail. It was a steep descent into the valley, and we lamented the elevation we were steadily losing, having just worked so hard to gain hundreds of meters and knowing we'd have to gain hundreds again shortly. In the bottom of the valley, on an all too brief flat section, another hiker exclaimed, "Look at the lake!" The water was so calm that it was a perfect mirror for the glaciers and mountains looming over us. As if the incredible landscape views weren't overwhelming already, now we were getting double!
We set off on our second ascent of the day with little enthusiasm for another climb. Once we had conquered the majority of the elevation, we stopped at a derelict hut to catch our breath and refuel. A stretch of undulating and winding trail lay before us. Each time we came around a corner, I hoped to see our refuge in the distance, but I was repeatedly disappointed. I tried to focus on the stunning glacial views rather than my body aches, but I found myself ready for the day to end. When we finally arrived at Refugio Maison Vieille, rows of outdoor lounge chairs greeted us. I dropped my backpack, doffed my shirt that was saturated with sweat, and settled in for a sun tan.
Day 4 - Crossing the border into Switzerland
Walking time: 8.5 hours
Distance: 31km
Elevation Gain: 1930m
Elevation Loss: 1780m
Accommodation: Gîte Alpage de La Peule
This is the day we had been dreading, as it was set to be the hardest day of the hike by far. The time estimate we had been given was 10 hours, and I was nervous about being able to make it to the next refuge before 6pm because beds are not held past that time. Since I had been hiking at a slightly faster pace than Jordy the past few days, we made a plan that I would go ahead alone as quickly as I could manage and would not wait for him at rest stops.
To start our day, the trail criss-crossed underneath stationary chairlifts as we descended steeply from Col Chécruit into the valley below and towards the town of Courmayeur. I revelled in the Italian architecture as I wandered the cobbled streets of Courmayeur. I wished we could spend the afternoon there eating pizza and gelato, but we had to keep pressing onwards.
I climbed through forest until I reached a clearing overlooking Courmayeur and the surrounding mountains. As I sat there eating my snack, I felt elated. When Jordy arrived, I gestured to the grand view and enthused, "We are living the dream right now!" I could have gazed at that view for hours, but I peeled myself away and continued up the mountain.
The next hour or so of hiking was undoubtedly my favourite section of the entire TMB! We were on relatively flat ground across the valley from a row of glaciers. I swear I stopped nearly every minute to take photos because each meter down the trail the view somehow seemed even better than it had just been. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but no picture could do that view justice. I thought to myself, "This is why I came here".
As is the way with the TMB, we fought to gain elevation, lost it shortly after, and had to gain it all again. When I reached Refugio Elena, at the base of Grand Col Ferret, I was weary. I decided to sit tight until Jordy arrived because I was starting to feel uncomfortable with having left him behind. The worst case scenario started playing in my mind: Jordy had succumbed to exhaustion and was laying on the side of the trail without me knowing or being able to help. As I waited anxiously, an Irish guy we had met the night before, whom I affectionately called Mr. Ireland, came to gloat that he had beat me to Refugio Elena. I had technically lost a bet and owed him a beer, but he waved my debt and praised me for setting a competitive pace. I confided in him that I genuinely was not sure that I could make it up another col to get to the next refuge.
As Jordy and I set off up Grand Col Ferret, Mr. Ireland called out to me, "You're tough stuff Miss Canada!" and I really appreciated his encouragement during my time of self-doubt. While we climbed, I kept repeating to myself, "Just keep putting one foot in front of the other". Slowly but steadily, I made it to the top! I was overcome with emotion that brought me to the verge of tears. I felt so proud of myself because the hike today was the most physically challenging feat I had ever attempted, and I really felt as though I had pushed myself to my limit. Right as I touched the marker for the highest point on the TMB, a woman asked me to take a photo of her with her family and held her phone out to me. I panted, "Just give me a minute". I wanted to wait for Jordy so that we could share in having reached the highest point on the TMB and take a photo to commemorate the occasion, but I was also conscious of the facts that he was still a ways behind, we still still had a ways to go to reach our destination, and we were cutting it close for time.
As I hobbled down the mountain towards the refuge, I felt the weight of the doubt about our abilities that I had been carrying with me since day 1 finally lift. I firmly believed that finishing the section today meant we were on the home stretch and would finish the TMB!
Day 5 - Ferret to Champex-Lac
Walking time: 5.3 hours
Distance: 23.5km
Elevation Gain: 580m
Elevation Loss: 1180m
Accommodation: Auberge Gîte Bon Abri
After the ordeal yesterday, we were relieved to have a relatively easy day ahead with no cols to surmount. Our day began with descending into Val Ferret. We stopped briefly in Ferret to check our phones because we finally had service after being without since intermittently along the trail the day before.
As we passed through La Fouly, I was charmed by the quintessentially European ski chalets. We were there on a Sunday morning and hearing church bells ring helped reorient me to the date, as I had already began to lose track of time.
Shortly after we exited a section of woods, we happened across a quaint family-run coffee stand selling crêpes, and I decided to seize the opportunity. Sure we were in Switzerland rather than France, but I figured the crêpes would still be more authentic than anything back home and the taste would be heightened by my hiker hunger. The crêpe was such a welcome change from the same trail snacks I'd been eating for days!
From here, we had a section of road walking. Two trail runners sped past us, and I grumbled about how I could go that fast too if I wasn't carrying this heavy backpack. The UTMB Mont-Blanc, a high-profile trail-running race, was coming up in a few weeks, so we had seen lots of trail runners on the TMB completing their training.
After we passed through Praz de Fort, we entered back into the woods and began our first real ascent of the day. Throughout this section, someone had carved wooden sculptures of goats, squirrels, and mushrooms out of tree trunks along the side of the trail, so it felt as if we were hiking in a natural art gallery. We came upon a sizeable cave and we decided to explore. The cave was noticeably cooler than in the sun outside, so we sought refuge from the heat for a while before pressing on.
I felt out of place when we reached Champex-Lac, as it looked like a place where rich families vacation and we were grungy nomads. The lake was dotted with people on rented red paddle-boats and the shore was bustling with people promenading. Champex-Lac was somehow reminiscent of home and vaguely reminded me of Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies, though Champex-Lac is not nearly as grand, and I actually later found out that Champex-Lac is referred to as "little Canada". I changed into my bathing suit and took a very refreshing dip, which was a marvellous way to end a sweaty day of hiking!
Day 6 - Crossing the border into France
Walking Time: 6.5 hours
Distance: 23.2km
Elevation Gain: 1740m
Elevation Loss: 1290m
Accommodation: Gîte d'Alpage Les Ecuries de Charamillon
I woke up with a stomach ache after the fondu dinner last night, and I was reluctant to leave behind the refuge where I had access to plumbing because I dreaded the thought of being stuck out on trail with diarrhea. I took some Pepto Bismol and slowly started off down the trail, feeling unenthusiastic about hiking today.
We climbed through forest, crossing rocky sections that were dried or just trickling streams, until the forest opened to grassy hills spotted by herds of cows. Leaving the protection of the trees, the sun beat down on us hard. When we reached Alpage de Bovine for a snack and bathroom break, the thermometer on the side of the building was reading over 30 degrees celsius, and it wasn't even midday yet!
We climbed a short distance more until we reached Col de la Forclaz at 1526m before dropping down into Trient at 1279m. We stopped at an information panel to check the map because we were in a place where there is an option to take an alternate, which we wanted to ensure we avoided. We got intimidated by seeing that we were going to Col de Balme, which is nearly 1000m higher than where we were currently standing! That is a lot of climbing, especially when we were already feeling tired from having just hiked to the top of another col.
The first 600m of the ascent was switchbacks, which made the ascent actually fairly manageable. As we got close to Col de Balme, a storm began to roll in. Seemingly just moments ago, we had been worried about sunstroke, but now it was dark, wind was picking up, and rain drops were starting to fall. The threatening clouds overhead prompted me to quicken my pace because I wanted to be safely over the col before lightening started. We hustled to Gîte d'alpage Les Ecuries de Charmillon and made it just as the skies began to really open up. After another gruelling day, I treated myself to a beer that was nearly the size of my face!
Day 7 - Detour to Lac Blanc
Walking Time: 3.7 hours
Distance: 12.3km
Elevation Gain: 980m
Elevation Loss: 1000m
Accommodation: Refuge la Flégère
Days 7 and 8 were originally supposed to have been a 12-hour push in a single day to finish the TMB because I was unable to find a refuge between Gîte d'alpage Les Ecuries de Charmillon and Les Houches, but Jordy had a guidebook that listed a refuge in La Flégère that luckily still had 2 beds available for the night when we inquired back on day 5!
Jordy had informed me that there was a section of ladders today and, being a bit of an adrenaline junkie, I was excited for the challenge ahead! We set off under stationary chairlifts, which had become a familiar sight on the TMB. The path down to Le Tour had a few detours due to construction of a new chairlift. After our road walk through Le Tour, I was happy to leave behind the sights and sounds of urban life and enter into the rugged beauty of the Aiguilles Rouges Natural Nature Reserve. Only about a 1km walk from Le Tour, we passed Oratoire de Trélèchamp, a religious site featuring a field of primitive wooden carvings, which was certainly a photo-worthy point of interest along the TMB.
The ladder section gave me flashbacks to the West Coast Trail (WCT) (To read about my 2021 hike of the WCT, click here), though the TMB ladders are metal rather than wood. I sheathed my trekking poles through my chest strap and hip belt, prompting Jordy to question, "Is that going to work?", to which I quipped, "I did over 100 ladders this way last summer". We passed a group of rock climbers and, having dabbled in outdoor climbing, I briefly considered asking to tie in for a route.
We reached the decision point of the day: we could carry on along the main trail to La Flégère or add an approximately 2 hour detour with an extra couple hundred meters elevation gain to visit Lac Blanc. We opted for the detour, figuring we should seize the opportunity to take in as many of the, quite literally, once-in-a-lifetime sights as we could along the TMB. I got emotional thinking about how we had accidentally taken a more challenging alternate on day 1 of the TMB and it nearly killed us, and now we had progressed to the point where we were taking a more challenging alternate by choice. Lac Blanc was undoubtedly worth the extra effort!
I saw on my map that there appeared to be a fast-food restaurant right beside our refuge. The possibility of a burger and fries sent Jordy flying down the mountain from Lac Blanc at a speed I had no idea he was capable of and, for the first time on the TMB, he was leading the way, and I couldn't keep up. Unfortunately, it turned out that overpriced sandwiches were all that the restaurant had on offer.
Day 8 - Coming full circle
Walking Time: 5.2 hours
Distance: 17.4km
Elevation Gain: 760m
Elevation Loss: 1620m
Accommodation: Gîte Michel Fagot
As we set off on the final day, greeted in the morning by crystal clear views of snow-capped peaks across the valley, I enthused to Jordy, "Another beautiful day on the TMB!" and reflected on how we'd been blessed over the past week with nearly constant sunshine and blue skies.
When we arrived at the cablecars at Planpraz, there was a group of paragliders launching themselves off the mountainside. We stayed a while, watching them soar over the valley, before we began our trudge up le Brévant, our last major climb of the TMB and the only time we were actually going to summit a mountain rather than cross a col. When we reached the summit, rather than being met with breathtaking 360 degree views, it was completely socked in. We considered waiting to see if the fog would lift, but figured the view of the surrounding mountains from atop le Brévant probably wouldn't be wildly different than the view we'd already seen along the trail earlier.
From le Brévant, the remainder of the trail was downhill with over 1000m of descent. Between the unstable rocky sections and the slippery dusty sections, I was going slowly for fear of ending up on my ass. I had been leading the way for the past 7 days of the TMB, and now Jordy was going to beat me to the finish.
Before, we dropped down into the forest and had our view blocked by trees, we got to enjoy what I would consider to be the best views of the entire TMB! I wanted to seize the last photo opportunity with this impressive range of glaciers, as if the hundreds of photos I already had weren't enough, and Jordy begrudgingly indulged me.
As we neared Les Houches, I overtook Jordy, his pace dropping as his knees began to ache from the unforgiving descent. My hiking poles were really giving me the advantage over his single hiking stick in this section because I could more effectively offload weight from my knees onto my upper body. We passed a junction with a directional sign that read: "Plan de la Cry", and I quipped to Jordy that I guess I better get my tissues out.
Finished!
3 countries, 8 days, 170km, and 10,000m elevation
I expected to be a sobbing wreck when I finally crossed the finish line of the TMB, as I have been emotional at the end of other long-distance hikes and the TMB had been the most physically and mentally challenging thus far, but I surprisingly kept my composure. Honestly, making it through day 4 of the TMB, covering 32km in 10 hours amid sweltering heat, felt like the real accomplishment. After that ordeal, I knew it was only a matter of time before Jordy and I would be standing under the start/end arch of the TMB in Les Houches again.