France, Italy, Switzerland (Tour du Mont Blanc)
The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a 165-kilometer (103-mile) hiking route encircling the Mont Blanc massif. The route passes through three countries (France, Italy, and Switzerland) and includes over 10,000 meters (32,000 feet) of elevation gain throughout the trek. Traditionally, the route is divided into 11 stages/days (unless you are the famous ultrarunner, Kilian Jornet, who holds the record of running the entire thing in about 20 hours). At night, you have the option to stay in mountain huts/refuges/refugios or camp.
The TMB has been a bucket list trip for us. We started planning this trek back in early 2022 and were excited to start hiking.
Of note: this blog post was a “Chris and Marlene collaboration.” Marlene also included a couple of reflections, which are labeled with her name at the start of the paragraph. Hopefully, this isn’t too confusing!
Day 0 — Transit Day (Croatia to France) and Trek Preparation
We are getting better at taking 12+ hour bus rides. And by “getting better at” I mean we are learning how to catch brief moments of sleep in between the noise and chaos that is long haul bussing. These brief moments of sleep come at a price however, usually in the form of some pretty wicked neck pain (Chris’ current sleep strategy is to tie a sweatshirt around his neck like a cervical collar and then wedge his head in between two seats….it’s mildly effective). In all, the bus journey from Zagreb, Croatia to Chamonix, France was about 16 hours.
We arrived in Chamonix at 1130am and spent the morning exploring the town. France was a big change from the Balkans…especially in terms of price. We have been using the simple McDonald’s cheeseburger as a sort of “price benchmark” on this trip. Thus far, we have seen a cheeseburger cost anywhere between 1 euro and 5 euros. In Chamonix, it cost the 5… (There is something called the “Big Mac Index” which measures the purchasing power parity between two currencies. You can read about it here https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index).
Chris — On the topic of McDonald's (I didn’t intend to go down this rabbit hole), did you know that different countries have different menus? I still regret not getting the McExtreme Bourbon BBQ Double Egg in Spain… (just kidding). I, however, will spare you a tirade on the varying costs and allotments of ketchup offered between countries.
Marlene — (actually intending to go further down this rabbit hole)… McDonald's- not particularly healthy? True. A sign of globalization and an eyesore in arguably ‘pristine’ foreign lands? Yeah. A sign that in today’s world, it’s almost impossible to be really really far from home (if home is the US)? Yes. BUT we’ve also found it to be a bit of a haven for travelers as well as the weary and financially strapped (regardless of travel status). We don’t prefer to spend our time or money at McDonalds as we intend to try the world’s foods/experiences and invest money in the local economy (and having cooked mostly vegetarian meals back in the States…). But, in traveling for a year and stretching the budget, we’ve found ourselves here when in need of sustenance at various hours of the day or night when there are no other options open. Thus, while on this trip, we’ve seen… in wealthier areas, McDonalds is the respite of the intoxicated young adult. An easy place to cure “the salty tongue” at 2am after five Aperol spritzes or whatever the kids are drinking these days. It’s a predictable, safe, spacious spot to rehash the night while sobering up before the journey home. In more economically strapped areas, it can be a resting place and an affordable meeting place. There is generally affordable food (and as Chris calls it: hyper-palatable food), usually a lot of tables, a place to rest, a place to charge your phone, and free Wifi. We’ve seen fellow travelers settle in for a rest. We’ve seen immigrants in a new country, whose financial situation may be wary, come to meet with each other, with kids in tow, to have an affordable meal in what might otherwise be a safer but more unaffordable country compared with what they left. Chris and I have availed, on more than one occasion, when we’ve had to check out of accommodations at say 11am, our packs are heavy, and we are too hot/tired to continue walking around killing time before what could be a 9PM bus. At sit-down restaurants, where a meal is expected to be consumed and guests are expected to vacate in particular timeframes and perhaps expected not to compromise the ambiance with big smelly backpacks, we aren’t particularly welcome. In times like these, we’ve found ourselves thrilled to be able to access a place where we can rest, eat, and honestly be ignored for a few hours! And thus, McDonald’s: various drawbacks and caveats acknowledged, we have a new appreciation for the beacon of the golden arches as we navigate the various unpredictable elements of the transient lifestyle! And you didn’t expect that little ode to McDonald's in a post about an 11-day hike!
Anyway… We had a few important errands to run while in Chamonix. One was meal prep. We planned a couple of nights of camping on the TMB so we stocked up on dried goods and prepared a few pounds of trail mix. The other errand was securing trekking poles. With 32,000 feet of climbing and heavy packs, we knew these would be necessary. Thank you to a friend, Natalie Perkins, who did this trek a few weeks before and gave us excellent intel on rentals!
Dry goods can be seen below. Tea and coffee are essentials for us, both on and off the trail. We have, however, made peace with the use of powdered milk vs real milk for extended treks, though Chris frequently balks if there are undissolved milk powder “chunkies” in his tea. To stay healthy, we made plans to trek through several small villages to buy vegetables along the way. It is not uncommon for us to eat a cucumber or a tomato like an apple to ensure there is some degree of balance in the travel diet!
During our prep day, we stayed at a hostel in Chamonix and enjoyed getting to know other hikers preparing for their trips. We also enjoyed hanging out with the hotel “warden” (see below).
Day 1 — Les Houches to Les Contamines
Distance: 10.5 miles
Elevation: 3648 feet ascent, 2959 feet descent
Hut: Club Alpine France, Contamines
We started the day with a quick 15-minute bus ride from Chamonix to the town of Les Houches, the official start of the TMB. In case you didn’t study French, “Les Houches” is pronounced “le-zoo-shh.” More than once I witnessed the locals cringe when a foreigner asked, “How do I catch the bus to Les-HOOCH-ess?” (yes yes, it was me, Chris. But only once!)
Once in Les Houches we formally started the 11-day adventure. Our packs were donned (fortunately, our heavy non-essentials were packed into dry bags and left in Chamonix for the duration of the trek).
Marlene- We started the hike with the all too familiar (see previous multi-day hike posts) pattern of adjustment to pack life… Day one: a mixture of ‘this isn’t actually so heavy’ (excitement, fresh air and fresh attitude of morning, clean clothes) quickly followed by a rethinking of every ‘essential’ item over the next few hours (mid-morning heat, fatigue, clean shirt is drenched in sweat). There is then the brief consideration of a very large lunch with water chugging to drop some of the heavy weight of sustenance! This leads to various strap adjustments for weight balancing and offloading and awkward arm positions to ward off shoulder pain. Day two: clavicles and hips are tender! There is a lot of self-reassuring: “this is worth it, I’m sure…” Day three: submission and eventual sense that you’ve never actually hiked without a pack. You are one with the pack. The following days are largely compromised less from struggling under pack weight and more from the repulsion of lifting an arm to advance a hiking pole in still summer heat and catching a whiff of the appalling scent of the strap that abuts your underarm.
The nice flat walk through the town of Les Houches abruptly ended with a steep climb out of the valley. We enjoyed beautiful views as we climbed.
After crossing over the ridge, we descended into the beautiful valley of Les Contamines and on to our first night’s accommodation.
Our accommodation was a French Alpine Club hut on the outskirts of town. These huts are mostly utilized by club members hiking or skiing in the Alps but they welcome foreign trekkers as well. The hut warden was a kind and relaxed gentleman. He spoke good English and was busy making sausage stew for dinner (smelled incredible). We checked in, picked out our bunk bed, and grabbed a quick shower. With only two showers for seventeen sweaty tired guests (and each shower equipped with a button that provides 30 seconds of hot water), ‘quick’ was the operative word.
This was also the first hut where we encountered measures taken to ensure cleanliness and, more importantly, odor control. All shoes and backpacks were to stay in a designated mud room. You were expected to change into (often provided) house slippers/crocs (how are these ubiquitous enough to have made it onto the TMB!?) and bring only the bare essentials up to the shared room.
Dinner was family-style, which was fun. As you can imagine, most folks at the French Alpine Hut were French, with the exception of us, a philosophy professor from Belgium (Gregory), and a university student from England (Duncan). We enjoyed getting to know our fellow trekkers while scarfing down split pea soup, sausage stew, and chocolate cake (all made in-house, all delicious).
After dinner, the hut more or less went to bed. The lights were out at about 930pm and the snoring started promptly at 935pm. Chris didn’t sleep much that first night…Marlene was likely contributing to the noise problem
Day 2 — Les Houches to Chapieux
Distance: 11.8 miles
Elevation: 4724 feet ascent, 3359 feet descent
Hut: Refuge de La Nova
Our second day was tough. The climb out of the Contamines Valley was long, steep, and BUSY with hikers. We ran into Duncan again who told us that today was a French holiday (the Assumption of Mary) and lots of locals seemed to be taking advantage of the day off to hike.
We reached our highest point at around noon, made lunch, and boiled water for tea before heading down a long trail to the village of Chapieux.
Our accommodation that night was a large refuge. There was no Wi-Fi and no cell service so everyone packed into the front yard to enjoy cold drinks and chats. We had dinner (stewed meat and potatoes, cheese, soup) with three ladies from East Tennessee (Melanie, Paula, Debra) who were avid hikers, having completed long treks throughout Europe and the USA. While we won’t venture to guess ages, there were more than a few grey hairs in the group of three and they were all retired. We had actually noticed them earlier in the trip, noting the age, accent (tough to miss a southern US accent amongst the predominant French of the Alps!), the Appalachian Trial patch on one pack, and… the bony enlargement of knee arthritis (Chris goads Marlene “well, we are the Backpacking Physios!” ). We had great chats with them about their times hiking on the Colorado Trail, Appalachian Trail, and trails in Iceland and Scotland. Lots to be said here about friendship and an active adventurous life through all seasons… We will let the description speak for itself and say, we only hope to be so lucky!
After dinner, we walked down the Chapieux Valley to watch a shepherd herd his sheep for the night.
Day 3— Chapieux to Cabane du Combal
Distance: 10.5 miles
Elevation: 3372 feet ascent, 1972 feet descent
Hut: Refugio Combal
We began our third day early (630am). The walk up the Chapieux Valley was beautiful in the morning light.
At the end of the valley, we started a steep climb up to the Italian border. Once crossing into Italy we enjoyed a cup of tea and a snack (our new thing apparently).
Marlene— By day three we’d learned a few survival tactics. We duly noted that we were exceptionally lucky to get such ‘good’ weather. The Tour du Mont Blanc is notorious for fog, snow, or rain obscuring views of the fantastic mountains and compromising trek conditions. However, some hikers (it’s me) get exceptionally fussy hiking in the heat so we’ve learned to start as early as possible. Often, accommodations provide breakfast. But when they choose to serve at 8AM, it can restrict how early we start. So each morning we inhale a breakfast that is typically yogurt and jam (usually fresh from local farms), bread, and coffee. Coffee is served with hot milk (thank you France!!). Marlene speed-braids her hair and dons a combination of moleskin and kinesiotape to some boney blister-prone heels (if you haven’t heard, there is a great cautionary story regarding hiking in Argentina in new Oboz boots [I’ll never be reprimanded enough for this and Chris refuses to let the Oboz out of the closet] wherein there was an infected blister, a systemic reaction with bilateral hand and foot swelling, frantic messaging to Kaiser RN’s, and an eventual visit to an Argentinian MD who gave me a dexamethasone shot in my butt [graciously pulling the curtain in front of the ground level room window first] and topicals to get things under control). We take off chatting about what advances have occurred in the books we’re reading. Chris updating me on why Jenna McCurdy is happy her mom died or how the atomic bomb was invented and me updating him on the various genocides that have occurred and how the US has responded.. and on what Oliver Twist is up to. All is grand until… the up. And there is always an up. It is straight up, it is prolonged, and on this day it was gradually out of the shade and into the rising sun. Granted it was beautiful every direction we looked; there were alpine shepherds with sheep and cows, mountains, valleys, wildflowers, and streams. But there comes a point with sun in eyes, opaque mixture of sweat, sunscreen, and dirt dripping down the handles of the hiking poles where the chats gradually cease, replaced by grunts of acknowledgment, the quiet (aside from breath and pole after foot after pole hitting rock and earth) begins and a sort of deep inner capacity takes over. Breaks are brief and for water only, and the body almost self-propels at a constant velocity. We commit to the climb. I remind Chris to stay far enough behind me that his body heat doesn’t make me feel even hotter (is it possible?) and we power through it. I remind myself that the enjoyment of being alive is the experience of doing things. I try to be present and not fast-forward to the part where the hike, the TMB, and the world trip are past tense. This is suffering but in another way, this is not suffering in even the slightest sense, it's being alive. “Be here now” I remind myself and breathe in the fresh air. The reward is now as well as at the top. Though human as I am, it’s tough to convince myself that sweaty trekking is better than a view and tea at the summit. I settle for ‘both are good in different ways’. At the top, France is behind and Italy is in front. Nature is everywhere from crisp white snow-capped peaks to lacy precarious-looking snow bridges at lower levels to grey mountains and scree down to us and green pastures with alpine farmers and sheep and cows. I doff the absolutely drenched shirt (I've found it will dry in a half hour if draped over my pack) and put on a jacket, and we make powdered milk tea and eat trail mix. I get my hand smacked several times for being selective (only choosing m&m’s and leaving almonds and banana chips and that other riff-raff behind).
Amazingly, as soon as we crossed the border, the hikers we encountered were greeting us with ‘Bonjourno’ and ‘Ciao’ as opposed to ‘Bonjour’! We thought perhaps in mountainous communities there may be some shared language or food or culture but interestingly enough, the minute we stepped into Italy, there was no doubt we were in another country. Same with Switzerland and the return to France!
After tea, we dropped down to a popular Refugio (Elisabetta) and stopped for a snack. We watched Ibex run down the valley (apologies that we don’t have a Marlene drawing of them this time). We also bumped into our long-distance trekkers we had dinner with the night before and enjoyed a quick chat.
After filling up on pie at Elisabetta, we continued onward to the next refugio. The path took us along a marshy meadow with wildflowers in bloom.
Our accommodation this night was spectacular. The warden was a jovial gentleman named Allesio who got us settled in early. After relaxing for a bit, we hiked out to the valley lakes, snagged a cold beer, and played a few rounds of cards. We enjoyed getting to know our bunk mates (two sisters, Kaykay and Molly) who were bold enough to swim in the glacier lake before dinner.
Dinner included pasta as an appetizer (it is Italy after all!), vegetables, potatoes, and sausages. All delicious. The bashful chef came out at one point and the 20 guests all clapped for him.
We finished the day with a sunset walk.
Day 4— Cabane du Combal to Courmayeur
Distance: 7.2 miles
Elevation: 1860 feet ascent, 2685 feet descent
Camp: Hobo Camp
Day 4 was one of our favorites. We woke up to stormy skies/rain but it passed quickly. The hike out of Combal was steep but offered great views along the way.
We also passed a shepherd’s hut and his flock of sheep. Heck of an office view he has…
Top of our climb!
At the top of the ridge, we met a couple from the States (Corey and Katie) who were hiking a shorter section of the TMB. We were surprised to see other people this early since the only other accommodation in the area was Elisabetta, a good 1.5 hours further up the valley. They confessed that they woke early/skipped breakfast at Elisabetta because the night before, they had dinner with some French hikers who were complaining about all the snoring in the refuges. As fate would have it, Katie/Corey and the French hikers were assigned the same bunk bed and Katie snored all night… They felt like they couldn’t face them at breakfast so they snuck out early. Of course, as fate would also have it, those same French hikers caught up to us on the trail…
After making tea, we descended into the town of Courmayeur.
To save a bit of money, we opted to camp this night. We caught a bus from the town center up the Val Veney Valley to Hobo Camp, a family-run campground with incredibly kind hosts. We were offered a teepee, hot showers, propane stoves to cook on, kitchen areas, and freshwater. It was top tier.
Marlene — We made our dinner of pre-packed noodle soup and wine (followed by tea and chocolate of course) in a shared area with a BBQ, some propane stoves, and various picnic tables. As we performed the skillful culinary tasks of boiling a little water, adding the powdered noodle soup, and cooking for the designated 9 minutes, we watched a multi-hour/multi-family Italian ordeal of a dinner happening around us. Hobo Camp included trailers and camper vans and what appeared to be various Italian families who had set up semi-permanent camps for the summer. The men were at the BBQ making sure the fire was perfect while cooking vegetables, sausages, and steaks. Of course, several additional men were necessary to stand around, observe, intermittently comment, and likely try to will the cooks into sharing a bite of the result. Another man was tasked with cooking an enormous pot of pasta, a few women set up the table and uncorked the wine, and children of all ages scampered around getting underfoot, sneaking bites, whinging, bringing the dog over to have a look at the setup. We were fully entertained (and were appreciative when they loaned us a bottle opener for our wine). But we did not get the invite and couldn’t help but be a little jealous of the incredible community dinner happening around us. Having never been to mainland Europe, I haven’t heard children speaking Italian or German or French, etc. It made me laugh to hear and see what I have only known as adult Italian expressiveness (from movies), hand gestures, and passion, coming from the mouths and bodies of tots!
Back at the center of camp, the Hobo Camp host/owner makes a liquor called Génépi, a popular local aperitif made from an alpine plant and suggests we have a small taste. Chris thought it tasted like sweet mouthwash (good? bad?)… The host promised that if we drank enough, we wouldn’t notice how cold it was in the teepee. A bold claim.
While sipping the Génépi, we spotted a hummingbird moth. These things are enormous and have a long proboscis to sip nectar from flowers (hence how they got their name). One of the biggest insects we have ever seen.
Marlene — Though Chris tells me he was sure we didn’t need winter sleeping bags at Hobo camp, we arrived to find two small wool blankets on our cots. Mildly concerned, we asked the couple who run the camp if they had any spare blankets. What followed was the couple bantering about temperatures- the man claiming he could sleep outside in a t-shirt in the summer and the woman seemingly concerned that we might not make it through the night. She went into the building where they slept and brought out two wool blankets, a duvet, and an extra sleeping bag that someone had left behind (apologizing that it hadn’t been cleaned). As the sun went down and the temperature started to drop, we couldn’t have cared less about the state of the blankets. We were thrilled to have anything at all and kept busing figuring out different methods of stacking the blankets (and our puffy jackets) under/over our bodies to best keep warm!
We can confidently say that we didn’t drink enough of that Génépi…
Day 5 — Courmayeur to Refugio Bonatti
Distance: 7.5 miles
Elevation: 4019 feet ascent, 1361 feet descent
Hut: Refugio Walter Bonatti
We woke up early to catch the bus back to town. After a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee (and enjoyable chats with a Swiss physio and her husband who were mountain biking in the Alps for the summer) we crammed onto the 7:30am bus and then set back out on the trail.
Our trail ascended straight up out of the town of Courmayeur and offered incredible views of Mont Blanc.
Once reaching the high point, we cruised along the trail toward our stay at Refugio Bonatti.
Refugio Bonatti was a trip. This mountain refugio had two floors, a downstairs for eating/lounging and an upstairs for sleeping….all of us together…in what was basically an enormous bed. It was a hell of a way to make new friends.
Marlene — Another interesting experience at this accommodation was the showers. I am ALWAYS grateful for a shower. Not as tough as Chris, I struggle with backpacking trips where I am expected to hike for 4 days, grimy and sweaty, and not shower till home. Yes, I’ve tried the ‘shower wipes’ and my legs ended up stuck to each other in the sleeping bag. I’d rather the dirt! Because of the location of Bonatti, there is not unlimited access to hot water. Thus at check-in, you are provided a coin to use in the showers. Once you put in your coin, you are allotted 2 minutes of hot water. What was lost in translation is that the “cool” water that emerges once you place your coin in the slot should NOT be wasted because the water will never really heat up and what emerges from the spout after two minutes is, in fact, glacially cold. I could feel my feet going numb as I tried vigorously to get the shampoo out of my hair. Certainly, this was either intentionally not communicated or lost in translation as judged by intermittent screeches coming from the women’s and adjacent men’s shower. It was an invigorating experience! Chris tells me that some beast of a human stayed in the adjacent shower to his for 10 minutes, 8 of which had to have been showering in ice water! He never made a peep! Hold for Wim Hof jokes here!
We met a Dutch couple at Bonatti (Thomas and Analose) and enjoyed playing cards/drinking wine with them before dinner. Dinner was a 3-hour ordeal (lots of folks at this accommodation) so we had loads of time for good chats.
One fun thing about the TMB is how often you run into people you met on other stages of the trek. After dinner, we went out for a quick walk and ran into our old roommates from Combal for chats and sunset views.
Walter Bonatti, to whom the refuge’s name is dedicated to, was a famous Italian mountaineer born in 1930. He holds many impressive first ascents in the Alps (one of which was near the Chamonix Valley) though his most defining life event may be an expedition controversy on K2 in 1954, where he accused two other Italian climbers of denying him the opportunity to summit. The text below reads, “The Mountain taught me not to cheat, to be honest with myself and with what I was doing.”
Day 6 — Refugio Bonatti to Gite La Lechere
Distance: 8.8 miles
Elevation: 2907 feet ascent, 3976 feet descent
Hut: Gite La Lechere
We woke early to snarf down breakfast and enjoy the sunrise over Mt Blanc.
There was a significant climb into Switzerland waiting for us so we hoped to complete most of it before the sun got too hot.
We reached the Italian/Swiss border around 11am, made tea, and enjoyed a few chats with a gentleman from La Fouly, Switzerland (our next destination).
The descent was entertaining as we passed through multiple dairy farms (with their cows). We stopped at one particular farm for some coffee and our usual lunch of baguette/cheese (getting a bit old these days…). We had some good chats with a couple from Ireland (Paddy and Claire) hiking our same stage.
We eventually reached our Swiss hut (Gite La Lechere). This was another very cozy accommodation (a small hallway of a room with a bunk bed that was essentially one long plank of wood with 6 side to side mattresses under one more long plank of wood with 6 side to side mattresses) but the atmosphere was great. We enjoyed dinner with a couple from France, a family from the UK, a gentleman from New Zealand, and a student from France who was hoping to complete the entire TMB in about half the usual time (running required of course).
Day 7 — La Lechere to La Fouly
Distance: 0.8 miles
Elevation: 78 feet ascent 336 feet descent
Hut: Le Dolent
Chris — ….I made a critical error on this day. While I am usually quite neurotic about checking and rechecking dates when booking accommodations, I somehow got off a day. So, today’s hike was a total of…0.8 miles (and a descent of 336 feet…). Oops. We took advantage of the down day by doing laundry in a campground sink, inventorying food, reading our books, watching the paragliders fly around La Fouly, and catching up on the blog.
Our accommodation that evening was at Le Dolent, a Swiss alpine hut tucked in the outskirts of the village. While the hut could accommodate over 80 people, there were only 4 of us booked! We took full advantage of this by cooking a big meal and enjoying the views from the main window.
Day 8 — La Fouly to Champex
Distance: 9.3 miles
Elevation: 2391 feet ascent, 2821 feet descent
Camp: Relais d’Arpette
We woke early and cooked our usual breakfast of oatmeal and a mug of instant coffee. The hike to Champex was fairly easy and passed through a few villages before a bigger climb up to Champex Lake.
For the night’s accommodation, we stayed at a campground outside of the village. The campground had built these small little “cabins” (which looked suspiciously similar to a chicken hutch Chris built back in Ellensburg…) for hikers to sleep in.
One drawback of starting hikes early to beat the heat is that as we’ve gotten more conditioned, we hike a lot faster. Thus we arrived at the cabins at about 1PM and couldn’t check in until 4. We wandered down along the creek (Marlene took a misstep and sustained a head-over-heels tumble but emerged largely unscathed spare a few scratches) read, played cards, and chatted. At 4 we got access to the cabin only to find that, having sat in the hot sun all day, it would have cooked us alive if we stepped inside. Luckily this changed as the sun went down.
We took a long-awaited shower, made dinner, and had quite the adventure identifying earwigs and spiders, ridding our little hutch of them, and sealing off all entry points before we could finally consider sleep.
Our dinner and sunset!
Day 9 — Champex to Col de Forclaz
Distance: 10.6 miles
Elevation: 3690 feet ascent, 3497 feet descent
Hut: Auberg du Mont Blanc
Another early morning, another delicious bowl of oats and instant coffee. My (Chris’) days of buying single-origin, hand-picked coffee beans in San Francisco are nothing but a sorely missed (/incredibly pretentious) memory to me now…
Today’s hike was HOT. We started with a gentle descent back to Champex Lake and then rejoined the steep main trail up and out of the valley.
After hiking up over the mountain pass, we made it to the village of Trient.
We stayed in a larger refuge that night (our last for Switzerland). The views from the room were not too shabby…
The refuge didn’t offer dinner so we walked down to the river to cook. Marlene’s sous-chef was not the most helpful here.
Marlene — The packet of soup for our dinner was called Hunter Soup. It was one of many packets we purchased in Croatia for this trip (with the prices of France and Switzerland in mind). Another one was called Slavonian Soup. Ingredients unknown for both. There comes a point in all hikes/multi-day treks where a slap-happy delirium sets in. For Chris and I, this is almost immediate. There also comes a point where your books have been discussed. You’ve talked about the people you’ve met and every random thought you’ve had and you’re getting hungry and all you can talk about is dinner. So we talked about Hunter soup… which turned into Hunter-Biden soup… and before we realized it, it’d devolved into a chant about Hunter-Biden soup. Does this count as keeping up on current events? I don’t know if we have any reader who will still think we’re sane if I get into the number of times we’ve sung (a generous term) about “Sunderbob Kochalone”. Which is the Montenegrin name for Spongebob Squarepants (we happened upon this while looking for something to watch on TV in Durmitor National Park)…. Sometimes our verses are about how he’s misunderstood and misidentified, sometimes about him wielding a knife…and you running for your life… and sacrificing your wife. Think of us what you will. The days are long and hot and we might not be drinking enough water!
On the walk back to the refuge, we spotted a “toilet with a view.” The Swiss know how to live. And so does Chris…
Day 10 — Col de Forclaz to Auberg la Boërne
Distance: 8.6 miles
Elevation: 3497 feet ascent, 4032 feet descent
Hut: Auberge La Boërne
We got started early for our hike out of Trient. Our trek today took us out of Switzerland and back to France.
Just before the Swiss/French border, Marlene heard what sounded like a landslide. We looked over to see a herd of Ibex crossing a steep scree slope.
Marlene — This Ibex encounter was actually incredible. Chris told me what I was hearing was water. But I always know when there are animals around! I got the binoculars out to see a sight that felt like something David Attenborough would narrate. On the left side of the scree were 20+ Ibex (we think- could be chamois). And just a couple on the other side. Bit by bit, in groups of 2–3 or sometimes solo, they crossed the scree slope. They took different approaches; different paths at different elevations, and different speeds. It was incredible to see what appeared to be thinking, weighing of risk, consideration of continuing versus return. Incredible to hear the rocks falling as they gradually made their way across. And, of course, a few lazy bucks stayed lying down/resting on the left side until they realized they were the last ones there and quickly made their way to the other side. Also so incredible what animals can do. You couldn’t pay me to try and cross that slope!
Once we crossed over the Swiss/French border, we stopped at a small refuge for a slice of cheese/olive bread.
While it was a bit hazy from all the heat, we enjoyed some great views of Mont Blanc again.
We dropped back down off the ridge and headed on towards our night’s accommodation near the town of Argentiere.
Refuge la Boerne was another small refuge with dorm rooms. We settled in and as luck would have it, we ran into our Dutch friends again for another fun night of beers and cards.
Day 11 — Refuge la Boerne to Lac Blanc
Distance: 5.4 miles
Elevation: 3221 feet ascent, 840 feet descent
Hut: Refuge Lac Blanc
This stage truly was one of our more epic days on the TMB. We woke early to catch the sunrise and beat the heat.
We also had some ladders to tackle on this stage. Nothing too wild.
Marlene — “Nothing too wild” was obviously written by Chris. Part of the reason we got up early was so I (fear of heights) could tackle the ladders without any crowds of hikers needing me to go faster. As instructed by my co-hiker, I kept three points of contact on the ladder at all times. There were also moments where in addition to two feet and two hands on the rungs, I was trying to get some shin and forearm contact too. The ol’ 8-point contact method. I reassured myself that my dad (who also doesn’t love heights) was still climbing ladders and carrying paint buckets onto roofs of houses in his late 60s. I said if pops can do it, so can I. Later I sent pictures to him and my mom only to find out he would never have hiked up that ladder, especially not with a pack on! Dare I say, the almighty dollar is a powerful incentive for climbing ladders to paint houses and the same incentive is not quite there in the Alps!
We reached the top of the ladders and rewarded ourselves with lunch and more great views of Mont Blanc.
A little further up we reached Lac Blanc (lake) and the Lac Blanc Refuge (where we were staying that night).
The views from the deck were pretty great. Though the coffee is still instant…
We also watched a helicopter fly in supplies for the refuge! This might explain why a bottle of beer costs 10 euros…
Since it was the final night of the TMB for most trekkers, the atmosphere at the refuge was lively. As we waited for dinner, we met a small group from Israel and enjoyed great chats. We were glad of good company. Even the lack of shower facilities couldn’t detract from great chats, views, and food.
The sunset from Lac Blanc was out of this world.
Day 12 — Lac Blanc to Les Houches
Distance: 12.8 miles
Elevation: 3190 feet ascent, 7627 feet descent
We awoke early on our final day of the trek. And our final sunrise. We couldn’t think of a better spot to watch it.
The final day was long (13 miles, 3k feet of gain, 7k feet of loss). We also knew that rain was in the forecast for the early afternoon so we hustled to get over the final pass before it hit. Unfortunately….we didn’t make it in time.
Thunder and lightning struck quickly. We moved as fast as we could over the pass (which unfortunately included another set of ladders (to Marlene’s chagrin!) before bumping into a a few climbers on the other side. We followed them to a small guard shack and hid from the rain, had some chats, and ate lunch.
As is typical in the mountains, the storm passed relatively quickly and we got back on the trail.
A few hours later, we made it back to our starting point at Les Houches! Exhausted but happy. We caught the bus back to Chamonix and got ourselves a celebratory burger and a beer!
Marlene— No big summative epiphanies. But we are pretty proud of ourselves. We (well, a lot of Chris) have been planning this for probably a year (I’m the idea person!). There was a point where we looked skeptically on this trek simply because the dates were set in stone and we had come to love the Balkans (and didn’t want to leave) and the flexibility of planning on the fly. We were also nervous about the cost. We had booked much of this when we were in a San Francisco mindset with a San Francisco income. It was tough to go from an accommodation in Georgia for $12 and a bag full of groceries for less to the Alps where our most expensive night was over a hundred for a shared room! Now we had to pay for what we had booked (be sure, no other options are available in some of these mountainous areas or Chris would have found them)! We made financial adjustments where we could (bringing our own food, resisting too many beers after a day of hiking) and are so glad we did this trek! We’ve done several long-distance hikes but it is the most sense of accomplishment I’ve had to look at the enormous beautiful Mont Blanc Massif and say ‘I hiked around that… through 3 countries’! And- though tempting, we didn’t take any ski lift or gondola shortcuts! But we may have been a lot more tempted if they were free! We were proud not only of the physical feat but also of good planning- our trail mix and soups and ramen with intermittent produce from small towns was sufficient. We didn’t bring much extra weight in our packs that we didn’t need. Thus planning, the shared accommodation, and the short and sometimes cold showers were worth it, as was wearing the same pair of socks 5 days in a row… (they were not allowed to go in a washing machine with everything else). We saw fantastic sights, met wonderful people, and are so grateful for lives and bodies that allowed us to hike for 12 days straight. It was a bittersweet final descent as part of me wanted to race to a washing machine and the other to stay up in the mountains forever.
Next: We arrived late PM in Chamonix, slept, then in the AM, a Flix Bus to Germany. Laundry will have to wait. Thankfully our bags and shoes go under the bus!
Three Important Words in French
Bonjour — Hello
Merci — Thanks
Santé — Cheers
Three Important Words in Italian
Bonjourno/Ciao —Good day/Hello
Grazie — Thanks
Salutié— Cheers
