Self-guided - Tour du Mont Blanc - 10 day hiking
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2023
- 10 day TMB itinerary (no rest day), hotels and refuges only, zero shortcuts, some variants.
Below is a breakdown of our 10 day TMB itinerary including which hotels/refuges we boked, variants we took, and some takeaways from each day.
One thing that we noticed when planning, is that people would post their 6 or 7 day itineraries but wouldn't really mention all the shortcuts taken (until you did some digging) which made planning very hard for backpackers that just want to hike it (and not take busses/cable cars). For a group of very active and fit people in their 30's/40's, we all felt 10 days was a solid trek, still got to enjoy our days, had hard days and easy days, didn't feel rushed and didn't feel like we needed a rest day. I've noted what I personally think the level of difficulty is but understand this is subjective... (I am a trail runner and mountain biker that competes in races for reference)
We would start hiking after breakfast around 8am and would typically finish each day between 3-4pm (some of the easier days we arrived around 1). We started planning a year in advance... booking everything in Oct/Nov. Hope you guys find this post as helpful - happy to answer any questions regarding itinerary and planning.
Day 1: Les Houches to Les Contamines (Stage 1) via Variant
o Garmin data: 13.5 miles, 5,000ft gain, 4,300ft loss
o Hotel: Hotel Gai Soleil (great sleep, hospitality & food)
o Difficulty: 8 out of 10
o Takeaway: do the variant (our friends didn’t like the regular TMB trail) also… should have brought snacks, lunch spot at Refuge de Miage was further than we thought. Get the duck salad at Miage!
Day 2: Les Contamines to Les Chapieux (Stage 2)
o Garmin data: 11.7 miles, 4,500ft gain, 3,300ft loss
o Hotel: Les Chambres du Soleil (great sleep, hospitality & food)
o Difficulty: 7 out of 10
o Takeaway: stop at Refuge de la Balme for a dessert!
Day 3: Les Chapieux to Elisabetta (Stage 3)
o Garmin data: 9 miles, 3,800ft gain, 1,700ft loss
o Refugio: Elisabetta (liked the rooms and dinner, bad breakfast/lunch)
o Difficulty: 4 out of 10
o Takeaway: be sure to order lunch at Elisabetta before 3pm… it's very good!
Day 4: Elisabetta to Courmayeur (Stage 4)
o Garmin data: 10.5 miles, 2,200ft gain, 5,500ft loss
o Hotel: Hotel Croux (great sleep, location & best breakfast)
o Difficulty: 6 out of 10
o Takeaway: you won’t be able to get food until 7pm here so walk around the beautiful Italian town eat snacks in the little shops until you can get into a pizza place.
Day 5: Courmayeur to Bonatti (Stage 5)
o Garmin data: 7.5 miles, 3,500ft gain, 1,000ft loss
o Refugio: Bonatti (great dormitory, lunch/dinner amazing) #1 Refuge!
o Difficulty: 3 out of 10
o Takeaway: this is as good as a rest day if you can't squeeze a real rest day in. If you can wait to eat lunch at Bonatti, do it (but do it before 3!).
Day 6: Bonatti to La Fouly (Stage 6)
o Garmin data: 13 miles, 3,500ft gain, 4,800ft loss
o Refuge: Gîte de la Fouly (nicest dormitory, hospitality & food)
o Difficulty: 5 out of 10
o Takeaway: stock up on some snacks at the grocery store in La Fouly… food will be sparse the next few stages.
Day 7: La Fouly to Champex (Stage 7)
o Garmin data: 11 miles, 2,000ft gain, 2,500ft loss
o Hotel: Hotel Splendide (best sleep, nicest hotel we had) #1 hotel!
o Difficulty: 4 out of 10
o Takeaway: don’t skip this day by taking the bus… it’s a charming and unique day and one of our favorites!
Day 8: Champex to Le Peuty/Trient (Stage 8) via Variant
o Garmin data: 11.2 miles, 4,300ft gain, 4,800ft loss
o Refuge: Refuge Le Peuty (loved the yurt & best dinner)
o Difficulty: 8 out of 10
o Takeaway: make sure this variant is safe to do before doing it. Don’t do it in bad weather. We did it early July and it was fine.
Day 9: Le Puety/Trient to Lac Blanc (Stage 9 + 10.5)
o Garmin data: 12.3 miles, 7,000ft gain, 3,700ft loss
o Refuge: Lac Blanc (ok dormitory, bad food, no showers, ok service)
o Difficulty: 9 out of 10
o Takeaway: this is the hardest day hike all of us had ever done with a pack and we were all very physically fit. The sheer unforgiving elevation gain takes a while. Plan accordingly and bring snacks.
Day 10: Lac Blanc to Les Houches (Stage 10.5 + 11)
o Garmin data: 14 miles, 3,200ft gain, 7,600ft loss
o Hotel: Hotel Oustalet (great sleep, rooms & hospitality)
o Difficulty: 8 out of 10
o Takeaway: you can take the cable car around mile 6 to the bottom to cut off about 5,000 ft descent but that won't technically "close the loop". So be prepared for knee murder on this day if you want to close the loop.
Map Source featured in video: is from @thedailypackers This is an EXCELLENT interactive google map we found that lists out all the hotels, refuges, water sources, shortcuts, variants, etc. worth the $12.
Thank you dor sharing this whole adventure ...❤❤❤ It...
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful hiking experience. It looks like a lot of fun. I just got dizzy every time you panned left or right so fast. That's just me. What an incredible journey. Beautifully done.
this group is incredible!! also I appreciate how much detail you have left in the notes for us!!!! THANK YOU
Super nice tour, great pictures, funny troupe, thanks for taking it with you! greetings from Ostallgäu in Bavaria! 🤙
Breathtaking scenery!Watching your video, it's like my heart is wide open. I enjoyed walking with you have a great weekend.😊👍👍🐕💙💙
Beautiful images, I have a tip. Move your camera a little more slowly, otherwise the viewer of your video will get a bit of a strange feeling in his stomach ;-)
This is amazing information! Thank you so much for your daily details and a fun fantastic video of your group trip!
Gorgeous upload guys, this was narrated and filmed brilliantly! What a wonderful piece of cinematography!
thank you!
This brings back SUCH memories, from when I (and 2 companions) did the TMB in Sept 2012.
At Elizabetta Soldini (IT) , we did the BUNK room, where we (30) slept, in multilevel tiers, feet-in, head-out, side-by-side, like CordWood !
[But we got to see an IBEX Herd walk by !]
You also did that CRAZY-steep downhill trek to Courmayeur (as we did) :)
Refugio Bonatti is the FLAGship of alpine stays !
Champex Lac is usually fully booked (weddings...whatever).
Kudos for doing Fenetre Arpette - the toughest (physically). SADLY, Glacier du Trient has visibly receded in the past 10-12 yrs. X(
That little sandwich/drink place below Fenetre (toward Trient) once had a posterboard photo - of a table-sized rock slab, that had fallen (overnight) and penetrated the building like a spear point !
I DREADED "The Ladders", in advance. But only the first two flights were actually "exposed"; in comparison, the rest were no problem.
Refuge Lac Blanc was very nice, when we were there. But I have since read that the quality (and hiker inclusiveness) has severely deteriorated. Back in 2012, we had good food/beers there, and watched as a helicopter tether-lowered a HUGE duffel bag of supplies right outside their dining room. Then lightning came, and they shut off power (to protect from lightning EMP), and we drank in comfort by headlamp.
After Lac Blanc, a full day of unrelenting downpour accompanied us to the next waypoint (gondolas/skii-lifts), and we finally cut it short, hiking back down to Chamonix. Without the Full-On View of Mont Blanc. But we chilled in Chamonix for 3 days, after, and took the (Bus-sized) Telepherique up to Aiguille du Midi (13,000 ft) ! Which left our 11-day (4000-8000 ft) acclimatization....irrelevant XD XD
I would LOVE to do the TMB again....but its (current) expanded popularity makes it seem like the required months-advance/detailed bookings of accommodation would be a Migraine, with no flexibility for weather/other contingencies. :(
this sounds like a blast! looks like some has changed but much has remained the same :)
Beautiful video Brittney! It was so great to see your complete TMB as it is our favorite hike 🤩
The Aiguille du Midi looks breathtaking. Now we really want to get back there and do the TMB again.
We are also really happy that you liked the map and that is was helpful to you ☺
it was very helpful thank you again!
@thedailypackers would love to know how to get that awesome map! Heading to TMB in a week! 🏔️🥾
Great video.❤❤
اعجبت بهذا الفيديو جدآ واستمتعت بة حقآ 💜🌷♦️
Merci beaucoup
Great stuff, great data! though mostly planned (on my part) never hurts to have more. Heading over This Thursday!
good luck!! you will love it :)
Hey, did you guys organize any bag transport services? Amazing video!
Hi,
thanks for the informative video, really enjoyed it.
I would greatly appreciate your help...
I suppose to land in Geneva on July 2 at 9:40 am
I wanted to know if you think I will be able to get to Les
Contamines Montjoie (14km +/-) on the same day or is it better for me to wait the day in Les Houches and start the trek the day after?
Thank you for the great sharing. The weather really looks fantastic. Just curious, any issue with flies/mosquitos?
no not really!! some flies at certain camps but not bad
What a beautiful video. When did you go?
We plan to go TMB in August. This video helps.
thank you! - we started hiking June 26 and finished July 5th of this year
I really appreciate the detail in your caption! May I ask what backpacks your group used?
Thanks so much! I used the osprey exos 58L without the brain. It’s less than 2 lbs without the brain and I loved it. My husband used zpacks
This is great information. Thanks for the complete day list breakdown.
I'm assuming you didnt carry a tent, sleeping bag or stove?
Sincerely
correct - we planned to do zero tent camping on this trek so no cooking, utensils, tent or sleeping bag/pad... just a sleeping bag liner for the refuges
Hi Brit
Hope you are all ok.
Can I ask how you got from Geneva Airport to Chamonix? When and where do you book the transfer? Cheers
Looks Awesome and great capture, I am assuming this is very recent trip, what dates? planning early june 2024 but looks like there will be snow on ground which can be hazardous, any thoughts??
yes! i uploaded the video about a week after we returned. so June 26-July 7 2023... snow was not really a problem in my opinion. and we heard that there was more snow than usual this year for the time we went
Thanks for all your info Brittney, really helpful.
We are planing on doing similar to you in that we are carrying everything. However, do you think the hotel you spend night at the end of TMB ie in Chamonix would store a small bag, so you have some clothes to change into to fly home etc, especially if you stay the same place the night before you start?
Cheers Neil
yes they stored our extra luggage for us the whole time we were hiking :)
Thank you
Nice video. Looks like you stated dailyhikers was your source for booking your own hotels/refuges? And this was early July? Thanks,
This was end of june and early July and we reached out to every single hotel/refuge individually to book them
@@bnleeb thxs for the info!
very nicely done! the BGM is a bit too loud though
Hi! Great video! I plan on hiking TMB in July 2024 and plan on booking everything in October. Question - Did you use a bag transfer service or carried everything in your pack?
Hi Mark - no we didnt use a bag transfer service - we all carried everything we needed! out packs were around 20-22lbs total with water and snacks
@@bnleeb How did you book each hotel and refuges?
@@markusjohnson9393you have to gather their email addresses and book them all individually. Most of them start taking booking for the next year starting in October-December
How do you planning for the hiking on TMB; how to book the hotel and foods ? How long do you hiking on the trail? It is hard for Age 60? Thanks for the video you shared.
Started planning 1 year in advance, started booking in October of the year prior.
Book hotels - find the hotels on google maps, go to their website and email them.
If more advanced, i suggest hiking 12-15 miles per day, if less advanced, i suggest 6-8 miles per day. We averages about 11 miles per day.
Hi Brittney,
We are due to do TMB this July, over 10 days like you.
Can I ask a couple of questions:
What waterproofs did you and Nate take with you?
Also, at the end of the hike in Chamonix, I saw that you did the Aguille du Midi. Is it worth doing? Was planning on it? Also do you rate the restaurant you ate in in chamonix… it looked nice.
Finally, the paragliding, would you recommend? And was it expensive??
Cheers,
I found your TMB video excellent and very well put together
👍 Neil
From Uk
Hi Neil! You’re going to love it! Waterproofs: I actually opted for trail runners instead of waterproof boots because they dry faster in the rain, highly recommend this if you have strong ankles. A long raincoat or poncho should suffice for all your rain gear (if you have a short raincoat, you may want to opt for rain pants but none of us brought pants). Bring a backpack rain cover for sure. And yes Aguilera du midi is worth it. It’s incredible to see after you’ve hiked around Mont Blanc the whole time… but just go to the top and back (no need to go all the way to the Italian side). Paragliding was really cool and would recommend. It was a little expensive but everything else was pretty cheap on the TMB compared to a normal vacation in my opinion so we splurged!
Thank you
Did you guys do the hike in July? And was it super busy then?
we did do it in late June/early July and we didnt think it was too bad
Beautiful !!! But... what happened with the kid??😀
Hahah they stopped at stage 6 so they only did half :)
Is the trail well marked? I want to go by myself and want to make sure I won't get lost 😅
it is well marked but there are a lot of off-shoots. I would download the alltrails map and follow it via GPS
You should really consider getting rid of some stuff in those backpacks. You had no tent or sleeping pad, still took massive backpacks.
our packs are Ultralight and under 2lbs without the brain... in total they were less than 20 pounds with food and 3L of water.
Il monte bianco è più alto ma le dolomiti sono un alta cosa
Where did u get your map?
I tagged it in the description at the end :)
The fun thing about the TMB also is that it takes you through three countries, France, Italy, Switzerland.
Kesitler çok kısa kısa adamın başı dönüyor
Where did you get that awesome map? Great job!