Fits on the Road: Hiking the TMB (Tour du Mont Blanc)

Dustin and I recently returned from a trip to Switzerland (and France and Italy- the Tour Mont Blanc goes through all 3 countries!) 

We were joined by our friends Vicki and Nate from Minnesota (in the USA.)  

Vicki and I had been chatting about hiking the TMB since Dustin and I first moved to London. Her and her husband met a woman in Jackson Hole (Wyoming) who recommended Macs Adventure to help plan the hike.

We hadn’t done a grande circle hike like TMB before, so we opted to do the “short trip” offered by Macs Adventure, which would include 3 full days of hiking, plus a day on both ends for arrival and departure. Vicki and her husband arrived from the U.S. a week earlier and hiked other parts of Switzerland for several days before we arrived for the TMB.

Dustin and I flew from London to Geneva and arranged for a shuttle (via a company called Mountain Drop-offs) to take us to Les Houches where we would be starting the hike.

We arrived midday on Saturday July 13 to our hotel in Les Houches (Chalet de Houches). We walked through the village to grab lunch and then took a bus to Chamonix to explore a bit. Chamonix is lovely!

We met up with Vicki and Nate for dinner at the hotel (included with our trip) and heard all about their previous hikes!

The next morning, we started the hike around 8:30 am. Our route was from Les Houches to Chapieux. It covered nearly 9 miles and was a great “easier” day to ease us into the experience.

That evening’s hotel was a charming chalet in Chapieux; dinner was included with our trip though any drinks were separate.  The meals were all quite good!

We also stayed up to watch some of the England / Spain Eurocup finals- sad loss there!

The second day of hiking was much more intense than the first. It covered about 12 miles and 4200 ft of elevation gain. It was quite warm too!  But the scenery- stunning! I couldn’t get over the views.

This picture is of Dustin and I holding hands across the border of Italy and France! So fun.

There are refuges (France) or refugios (Italy) ie mountain huts along the way where you can obtain potable water, use a toilet and purchase food. Some refuges were nicer than others. These are the same refuges you would book if you were hiking the TMB solely via mountain huts, but since we were doing the short trip in “comfort”, we only stayed at one refuge, and otherwise stayed at 3 or 4 star hotels. And even at the refuge where we stayed, we paid extra (and planned ahead quite a bit) to be able to have a private room. The dorm rooms did not look very appealing (10-15 potentially snoring people on bunks…) 

Along the hike, we’d pass flocks of sheep protected by “Maremma” dogs; they looked friendly, but they are FIERCELY protective of their sheep. If you showed any interest or got too close, they would growl and bark!

That evening, we stayed at the one refuge (mountain hut) of our trip, the Refuge Les Nova. 

We had a group dinner with the other refuge guests at 7 pm; there was no WiFi here (or TV of course.) We were quite tired so it didn’t matter! Straight to bed after dinner. (Be sure to pack a kindle if you do this sort of trip!) 

Day 3- our final day- was meant to be the hardest. Day 2 was classified as strenuous but day 3 was extreme. And it was! 17 miles of hiking with tons of climbing, a lot of downhill, more climbing, and a ton of downhill straight into the town of Courmeyeur (Italy.)  8 hours of hiking! It was a lot.

We made our way to our final hotel, the Cresta et Duc, which was small but sufficient. Be prepared none of these “comfort” hotels in these smaller European towns have air conditioning.

We took much needed showers and then explored the cute town of Courmayeur. Gorgeous. We had dinner at a small Italian restaurant- pizza and wine of course!

The next day, we had to take a bus (pre booked) from Courmayier back to Geneva, about 2.5 hours. Then we flew home to London, about 2 hrs. 

This was such an incredible trip, we both loved it. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone as it is a physical trip. It’s not luxurious and even the comfort level of our lodging wasn’t glamorous. But it was very cool. We lucked out with the weather; we only had one rainy morning. Of course the weather could change your whole experience.

And I am sure I personally could have benefitted from more hiking before the trip. Running and Reformer Pilates fitness did not translate to hiking fitness! At least not as much as I had expected, ha!

This was my first time hiking with poles but 99.9% of the hikers out there used poles; our friends were actually the only ones we saw who didn’t, and though it took me a little bit to get the hang of how they best helped one hike, once I did, I was so so glad to have them! They really help you power up hill and they also help break the impact on your legs on the downhill. They also were incredibly helpful for stream crossings, of which there were many! I would never do a trip like this without them. I’ve read studies since the trip about how yes, they may use a bit more energy in the arms but the benefits on the up and down are hugely impactful.

With that said, this was a harder hike than I expected. I figured that Dustin and I run all the time, we strength train, and walk a million miles a day in London; we would be just fine, right? Though my cardio on the up hill was pretty solid, my legs were pretty beat up at the end of each day!

You probably have heard of the UTMB, or the ultra version of the full 100 mile loop. I have no idea how they run this full loop in less than a day! It’s amazing. 

There were running tours happening around us, but to be honest, the runners weren’t moving all that much faster than we were, at least on the sections we were on. I wouldn’t consider a lot of it runnable for the average trail runner, so we would often leap frog with the run groups where we would pass them by as they took breaks. I also think they had to wait for the full group after segments, so we would often pass them while they were waiting. I suppose that is part of doing it with a guided tour, even if running, is that you’re only as fast as your slowest runner. There was one run group we saw quite a bit and we determined they were also doing their trip “in comfort” as they were at some of the same hotels as us. Dustin was a bit more interested in trying to run the TMB, but he also does not like the idea of a having a guide; he much preferred the independence we had with Macs Adventure where we completely self guided. Macs Adventure had a really robust app with offline maps that were customized to our hikes, and they were spot on and very easy to use. I highly recommend Mac’s Adventure. They offer many different hikes in many parts of the world (mostly Europe, they are a UK based company.) They weren’t outrageously expensive; I feel like we got our money’s worth. 

My other tips for the TMB: 

• Bring slip on sandals in your day pack. None of the hotels or even the refugios allowed you to wear your hiking shoes inside so you’d have to leave them in a shoe room. Some places offered crocs, other did not. Having my own pair of sandals with me would have been nice

• Pack a water bladder- I used the one from my camel pack and drank it all plus refills every day.
• Bring more snacks than you think you’ll need! Dustin and I are all about fueling and are everything we brought even with the stops at the refuges.
• Plan for all weather- at the summits, it was cold and windy. Though we lucked out with the weather, rain is a strong possibility. 
• I wore my Hoka trail running shoes and was just fine. I personally don’t think high-top hiking boots are that additive but that’s just my personal preference!
• Wear sunscreen! I wore a ton and re-applied frequently but still got more sun than I would have preferred. This 42 yr old woman is working too hard to reverse the signs of aging and sun damage, I don’t need any extra sun!
• Bring a mobile charger/backup battery. Even though the Mac’s Adventure maps worked offline, it still used GPS and drained the phone battery.
• Bring cash for all the countries you’ll be in! Most places did not take cards. We needed Swiss Francs and then Euros for France and Italy.

Such a beautiful part of the world and a fun way to see it! I will be back, TMB!