Tour de Mont Blanc

 (four out of the five hikers)

So! I proud to say I hiked half the Tour de Mont Blanc, and survived to tell the tale!

The day after my birthday I set off on a hut-to-hut hike to do the second half of the Tour de Mont Blanc (commonly known as the TMB) with a group of four friends. They did the first half last year, and were looking to complete it. We started in Courmayeur, Italy, then hiked through Switzerland (via Champex) and ended up back in Chamonix. 3 countries, 2 days!
To say these women are uber-fit is an understatement, and I seriously doubted that I could keep the pace before we set off. I hummed and hawed about actually doing the hike for most of May and June,  but finally I decided to go for it, and am so glad I did.
Let me put it in context though: normally the TMB takes 8-10 days, and although we had given ourselves 3 days, we did half of it in only two days. That translated into 30km 10+ hour days, with over 2000m 'dénivelé' - the up and down - and fairly hefty packs on our backs. I was definitely the weakest link, and was usually lagging behind going at my own pace, but it didn't really matter, I'd catch them up eventually, and it was definitely the most beautiful hiking I have ever done. We got lucky with the weather too - just one night of rain, and that only came on seriously after we'd made it to the refuge. The second day started off cloudy, but quickly cleared, and we were back in the sunshine with incredible views.
What a way to finish off our year here.

We started with a stiff hike up switchbacks to the Bertone hut. That's the Mont Blanc massif peeking over the top. And the alpine flowers were in full bloom along the way - absolutely gorgeous. 

 View from the Bertone hut one way...

View from the Bertone hut the other way. Fun to see the Mont Blanc from the other side!

 Taking our 15 minute break at the Bertone hut. (Trust me, these ladies were on a strict schedule... we had a big day planned...)

 The Bertone hut on the left.

After the Bertone hut it was a gorgeous traverse to the Bonatti hut along the Val Ferret valley in Italy - now that's my kind of hiking.

 Taking elevenses at the Bonatti hut - the Italian huts are really lovely, with great food. Toby and I hope to take the girls here for an overnight before we leave.

Enjoying our excellent cappuccinos at the Bonatti hut. You've heard of 'glamping' - glamorous camping? Well, I've coined a new word: 'glutting' - glamorous hut-to-hutting. Nothing like a good cappooch after a stiff climb. 

The group: L to R Marie-Claire (MC), me, Isabel, Julia, Leslie

Next stop: the Elena hut. This involved walking all the way back down into the valley, and then back up again on the other side.

On the way down

Still a lot of snow around, which made for some treacherous crossings

The Elena hut had a much starker, colder setting. This was actually where we had booked to stay the first night, but as it was only 1pm when we got there, we decided to carry on... for another SIX hours. But I'm glad we didn't stay there - although the Italian huts have a better reputation than the French or Swiss huts for the quality of food and accommodation, Elena didn't feel that warm or welcoming. 

The climb to the Elena hut

View down the valley towards Switzerland from the Elena terrace

View back down the Val Ferret

Naturally we had more cappuccinos at the hut.  It was the last Italian hut before crossing into Switzerland and we had to make the most of it.

Then it was a steep climb from the Elena hut to the Col de Ferret, where we had our lunch. Lunch with a view...

The gang at the top of the Col de Ferret

After lunch, it was over the back of the Col Ferret into Switzerland - there was still a lot of snow around. We had to wear studded grips in order not to slip too much.

It wasn't all hard work.

Hiking down to La Fouly, Switzerland.

We got to La Fouly at about 6pm, with the faint hope of somehow getting to Champex before finding some accommodation. After deciding to hitch - and then spending 20 minutes walking along the road with not a single car passing us - miraculously, serendipitously, just as we walked into La Fouly suddenly a bus appeared, going to Champex. We dove in front of it - sorry, waved it down - and managed to relax for an hour while the bus did all the hard work. The bus driver kindly dropped us off quite far up the road we needed to take to get to the Relais d'Arpette for our night's accommodation, but we still had a 20-minute hike up the mountain to get there. And it was foggy. And starting to rain. And thunder. And we weren't sure we were on the right route... it would have been a beautiful hike alongside a gushing river and across little bridges if we hadn't been so tired, and hungry. But we made it just after 7pm (dinner time in the huts) and literally minutes after we walked in the door the heavens opened and it started to absolutely pour it down. Lucky!

Our accommodation for the evening. Good food too! We had two big bowls of salad, followed by veggie soup, then venison stew and mashed potatoes. And some beer. And some wine. They feed you well in huts - they clearly understand what hikers need after a long day.

This was our first goal on day 2: la fenêtre d'Arpette, known as one of the jewels in the crown of the TMB

It was a foggy start, that burnt off quite quickly, thankfully

A common hazard on both days was snow bridges over gushing rivers that were getting decidedly soft and unsafe. They were much more treacherous than the steep patches of snow we had to cross in other places. Sometimes you would hop off one and look back and realize that what you had assumed to be quite a solid bridge was in fact perilously thin.

This one, for example. We didn't realize quite how treacherous it was until we had crossed it.

Still climbing up... (we also unfortunately lost our way a bit in a boulder field higher up, and had to take a large and very hairy detour to get back on track...)

Almost at the top (once we'd found our way again)

Worth it: the view from the top

Leslie at the top

More views from the top

Happy to be here

Starting down the other side - a 1000m steep descent with loose, shaley rocks. Beautiful, but treacherous. Probably my least favourite part of the hike, despite its beauty.

Still going down - hard to see the flowers that were blooming all the way along the trail, but they were gorgeous.

At the bottom of the valley - see the peak up to the left? That's where we came down from.

Aaaaand - back up again. Now heading to the Col de Balme

Approaching the Col de Balme, after a steep hike up, and a long traverse round the mountain. You can just see the path crossing the snow on the left. The snow was a problem, and Leslie and I both slipped down a bit. Thankfully, not too far. This is where we took another, rather large, detour, in order to avoid some of the more treacherous crossings. Not exactly what we were hoping for at the end of a big day, and Chamonix so tantalizingly close (just over the ridge was Le Tour).

Arrival! We managed to catch a chair lift down to La Tour from the Col de Balme (we basically sprinted for it, as the final walk down is quite boring and just hard on the knees), and then Leslie and I hiked the final 3km back into Argentière, while the others hitched a lift. This is the church and old graveyard at Argentière. Then we had some very welcome drinks and snacks on a terrace in Argentière in the sunshine.

Since we weren't have another night in a hut as we'd planned, and because none of us were desperate to head home early to help with childcare (I'm still not sure why we rushed back in 2 days when we had negotiated 3 - crazy fools) we decided to celebrate our tour with wine and a nice meal out in Chamonix. Bliss.