Tour du Mont Blanc 101: Some Details for YOUR Self-Guided Tour :)

Well, it certainly was fun to "relive" the last 10 days of our Tour du Mont Blanc on this little blog. Thanks for reading!  I know friends and family who viewed the blog on Facebook, but have no idea who the rest of you were who were reading it on the blogspot site. I know there were over 130 of you who viewed some posts and I'm guessing many of you might be considering this trip?  Here are some DETAILS of how you, too, can organize this fantastic voyage. We discovered it was a perfect trip to undertake in our 60's and we were not alone!  We did not go through an agency and found it fairly easy (and inexpensive) to organize. Here are four suggestions with the details listed below. 1) We read two blogs about previous tours, 2) got a copy of Trekking the Tour of Mont Blank by Kev Reynolds (EVERYONE carried a copy with them), 3) used the official TMB website for where to stay and to book refuges, and 4) packed lightly (see gear list). Good LUCK and please contact me if you wanted to know more about our trip (bbrock@ewu.edu). Let me know if you do it!  :)

1) BLOGS:  (Dave and Brenda) https://hiking.topicwise.com/doc/page/?o=1mr&page_id=305241&v=8U;  (Rich Landers and family) http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/sep/16/family-trip-of-a-lifetime/
2) BOOK:  Purchase the latest edition of Tour of Mont Blanc by Kev Reynolds.
3) WEBSITE: http://www.montourdumontblanc.com/uk/index.aspx
4) GEAR: 3 pr wool socks (DarnTough brand is awesome - with a lifetime warranty!), 2 pr underwear, 1 pr quick-dry shorts, 1 long zip-off pant, 1 yoga pant, 3 quick-dry tops, 1 long sleeve lightweight shirt, 1 long sleeve sport top, 1 multi-purpose scarf, 1 down jacket, good rain jacket and pants, good mittens, neck gaiter or hat, visor, sunglasses, REI towel. Camelback water bladder, headlamp, toothbrush, multi-purpose soap, ibuprophen - lol!, emergency kit, plug-in adaptor, waterproof camera, good book (did not read that much - too much to do! And many refuges had libraries). I used a 36 liter Osprey backpack. Total weight carried was about 11-13 pounds. We kept in touch with our kids through the free Whatsapp program and most refuges had WiFi. Note on boots/shoes: Nearly everyone wore typical hiking boots (high/low top), but I have wide feet/bunions, so wore the Altra training shoe with a good tread. They were excellent for all the days BUT the snow day. It was a risk that worked for me - no blisters or issues - my feet were in heaven!

TMB 10: Last Day...Aussies Again and Swinging 2,000 Feet Down!

Pristine, icy, beautiful, and perfectly clear. Vern's a bit pale - altitude or perhaps all the folks hacking and sneezing in the room last night? We drop down (and he feels better quickly), scrambling across boulders, take a high route for a couple hours and come to a gondola. It drops 2,000 feet and the trail zigzags directly below on a gravel road. We have NO problem taking the gondola straight down! Stop for a cuppa tea and pie and head across another 2+ hours to a beautiful canyon where para-sailors are running and leaping into the air, soaring away. AMAZING. It is definitely tempting! Even more amazing was meeting up with our Aussie friends, Nicola and Paul, once again. They are pretty special and we hope to see them again. After a good chat, we take the last gondola which floats us right into Chamonix, the mountaineer's capital of the world! Wander around town a bit, find a bakery and T-shirt, then head on to our last stop in Les Houches - the same place we started TEN days ago. Wow. Four sweet 20-something kids are staying with us tonight at Auberge des Cret, just getting ready to start their adventure tomorrow. We share stories and advice - just like the folks did ten days earlier for us. Showers, real towels, delicious food, such memories...and a beautiful sleep. A Polish woman from last night's Lac Blanc refuge said something interesting. I asked her if she was finishing up today like we were and she said she was not sure. She might just stay one more day on the mountain. She said her life was pretty ordinary and once you hit the city, things immediately go back to where they were. Here on the mountain and in the refuges, there are dozens of new people each day and adventures galore. She might just stretch it out a bit...I could see what she meant.  But now...on to GREECE for a week!  Woo hoo! :)

TMB 9: Scramble up Boulders, Ladders, and Lac Blanc Views to Die For!

Cold and clear with stellar views all around our refuge at Trient this am. We decide to add a few tough miles in order to take a side trip to Lac Blanc, so catch a bus and train for part of today's hike so we can make it there. The nice thing about the Tour du Mont Blanc is that you can make it quite a bit easier by catching public transport to the next stage if you are injured, too tired, or just want to shorten the typical 10-12 day hike. A couple of French kids help us navigate the bus and train as the drivers spoke little English! Cost was about $4 for the ride...good thing we didn't know about this sooner or we might have taken the short cut for a couple of those cold wet days! The mountain range seemed so close and completely clear today. Our trail ranged from scrambling up large boulders to ladders straight up the rocks! Just too many stunning views...I got a little carried away with pics :)  Arrived at the Lac Blanc Rifugio about 2 pm and just basked in the sun streaming through the big windows soaking up the view. We celebrate with hot chocolate, soup, and scrabble with a couple of Brits who kicked our butts.  Of course, Vern said they were using a dictionary and used all proper English spellings (adding "u's" here and there - lol!). Sunset was spectacular around the emerald lake. Dinner was vegetable soup  with a 1" by 4" square chunk of cheese dropped in it (truly!), then pasta with beef in a delicious wine sauce, pears and chocolate. Dorm rooms were COLD but when I took a trip to the toilet in the next building in the middle of the night, I just gasped at the stars above the mountains. I stared at them for several minutes...one of the FEW - well, the ONLY advantage of having to pee in the middle of the night! :)

TMB 8: Drowned Rat Day...but at least I was not pushing a Mountain Bike!

It rained all day, hard, with some hail and sleet at the high point for good measure. We sat at the lovely little hotel cafe eating breakfast rather slowly because we thought the rain might fade away? After an hour, we knew we better get going!  Not too many photo ops (one rainy cow) so I am including the official map of the Tour du Mont Blanc and a photo of Europe where the three countries of France, Italy, and Switzerland frame Mont Blanc. There is a TUNNEL that goes straight under the mountains between Chamonix and Courmayeur. Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the tunnel is 7.215 miles in length, 28 ft in width, and 14.3 ft in height. The passageway is not horizontal, but in a slightly inverted "V", which assists ventilation. As one guy on the trek said, "I took ten days to walk around this mountain and a car can drive through in under an hour!?" Very steep and rocky trails today and strangely enough, we played leap frog with two mountain bikers several times. They were ALWAYS pushing the bike - we never saw them ride. A young woman was following this guy the whole time. After several hours, I was passing her yet again and she looked at me, water pouring off her hat, and said, "This is the most futile thing I have ever done." I don't think she was too happy with her companion and have a feeling this was his idea. The trails were just too rugged for even a short ride, so they did the same thing as us, only pushing bikes the whole way. Vern accidentally left his jacket zipped open on the sides for ventilation and did not realize how soaking wet he was - wondered why his fingers were getting pretty numb! I wrung about a half cup of water out of my mittens when we arrived but fortunately the temperature was not too cold to be dangerous. As we were settled at the bar having a drink, a young American lady was brought in covered in a blanket. She had fallen on the trail and hit her head. She was camping alone but they convinced her to stay the night in the refuge. Yikes. The weather cleared after we arrived and right outside the refuge, we realized the incredible mountain view over a pink church! Met two lovely Israeli girls, both first year medical students, and learned much about their country. They had just completed the required two years of military service. Best dinner yet of soup, chicken curry (with peaches and strawberries in it!), and a vanilla flan/cherry chilled dessert. Shared bunks with two young Americans, two Israelis, and another couple from Belgium. Everyone slept well tonight.

TMB 7: Forests, Gnomes, Chalets, Mushrooms, and Real Swiss Villages

This was a "through the forest and town" kind of day with some exciting cliff trail chains on the rock side to hold on to tossed in (thanks to the walking4fun.com photo!) Lovely fairly easy traveling through a few real Swiss villages with gardens of gnomes and miniature stone buildings up for display to the hikers. On the last climb, there were several large carved critters on logs encouraging us up the hills. We also passed some huge ladders and caves where mining was a big deal for decades.  First time I have ever seen so many mushroom informational signs. We in the US are so frightened to eat many of them for fear of getting the poisonous one. In grocery stores here, there are many varieties packed together. We get to Champex Lac and find a sweet little hotel with good hot showers and a view of the beautiful lake and northern range. WiFi here so I catch up with the kids on Whatsapp and Vern watches French TV (our first TV since we've been here!)  Pretty funny to see mostly American shows with French dubbed onto their lips. Run into several familiar faces over dinner - main conversation, once again, is tomorrow's weather. Shaping up to be a rainy one. Today's elevation, 2,100 up and 2,000 down.

TMB 6: Packs are so light because we are WEARING nearly everything!

Lovely breakfast for about 120 people. I look around and count maybe 20 who are under 30 years old. Quite the crowd! It is snowing and emotions are high. We put on three or four layers top and bottom and all our rain gear, neck gaiter, and mittens. I think I would rather have snow than rain at this point. Off we go slipping and sliding down the track. I entertain my first worries about inadequate shoes - am wearing Altra zero drop hiking/tennis shoes - recommended by REI but they seem VERY lightweight compared to what I am surrounded by. Soooo comfortable for my wide/bunioned feet, but not very good for ice and snow. About halfway down, after landing on my butt once, I get a little panicked. I absolutely HATE to fall and am super careful going downhill - having a hip replacement 27 years ago stoked that fear in me - but, well, what can I do? Fortunately we come out of the worst within a couple hours. After a hot chocolate and latte at the base of a mountain pass, Vern said the caffeine turned me into a climbing beast - lol!  I was actually just ready to GET TO THE NEXT PLACE. Today's elevations were 3,000 feet up and 4,400 feet down. Snow stopped and sun started to come out as we arrived at the sweetest little refuge called Gite la Lechere where a large wooden flowered "boot" welcomed us! Had a wonderful shower, hung things to dry, and enjoyed the wood stove. We share our place with an Aussie dad, his two young adult kids and two ladies from Estonia here to celebrate 25 years of friendship together (they are 28 years old).  Dinner is huge white sausages (delicious), salad, potatoes, and poached pears. We learned so much about Estonia! It is the tech capital of the world (birthplace of Skype), 99.7 percent literate, highest number of super models per capita, free public transportation, one of the cleanest places on the planet, highest number of startups in the EU, and the birthplace of the first Christmas tree! Wonderful conversation. It's incredible to see so many young people from around the world doing big adventures abroad before they settle into careers. Of course, they are not laden with thousands of dollars of college debt like our US kids are. Hmmmmmm...
Our hosts keep us up until about 10:30 pm with their raucous games of Rummy Cube - go figure. It's usually quiet by 8:30 pm at the large hostels but these old codgers have the nightlife!

TMB 5: Leftover Italian Pizza with STELLAR Views :)

This was, hands down, Vern's favorite day. He made me put up all three of the mountain photos from our lunch spot - even after I said no one wants to look at THREE! Ah well. Pretty easy and much shorter trek today (7 miles) flanked by views of the Val Ferret range showcasing Mont Blanc and it's buddies in all their glory. Sat for a long time in the grass eating our leftover pizza and drinking berry flavored yogurt. Made time for a few selfie photos with our Palestinian friends and stopped to pick mountain blueberries/huckleberries. Ended the day with a final hike up to the coolest refuge yet, the Walter Bonatti Rifugio. They were serving lunches of polenta covered with big sausages in marinara sauce when we got there. I was in line behind a rather aloof and disgruntled (at times) Welsh couple we had met on the first day of the hike and exclaimed how fantastic that polenta dish looked and were they getting it? They looked at me rather snobbishly and said they were vegetarians. Ooops! They were not in good moods the whole afternoon and actually left separately. This hike can make or break ya! I can't believe that Vern, who loves his private room and seperate bathroom, actually liked this refuge best. We were in a large dorm room with 12 twin mattresses on one side of the room and 12 on the other side with lockers in between. He nabbed a bed next to the wall, but that meant we had to walk a LONG way to the bathroom in the middle of a very dark night. I was scared I would accidentally slide into the wrong bed!? Even the bathrooms were shared with both men and women - toilets, sinks, etc. It was rather disconcerting to hear someone hacking and brushing their teeth at your elbows. But all was good. Funny, though! :) Meal was the best yet with FOUR courses. Two really nice mountaineers next to us from Ireland and England. They have been friends for years and one had a brain tumor removed this year so they were "taking it easy" - lol! Very cold weather predicted tomorrow. Uh oh. But I am going to dream happy dreams and put in my earplugs. Bound to be snorers in a room packed with 24 tired hikers.

TMB 4: Mostly SPECTACULAR...with a Downhill Suck to keep us humble

Brilliant sun this am with ice on the rocky path as we left Rifugio Elisabetta. Took a turn off the main trail and UP to the most spectacular views yet. Crystal clear skies and smiles on everyone's faces after yesterday's storm...well, except for three of our Palestinian friends who missed the turn and didn't know until their three buddies yelled at them from 1,000 feet up the trail - we could see them still way down on the road. Ooopps. They are the coolest guys - and there are also several Israelis who hike with them as well - all good friends. Wouldn't it be something if our world leaders could take a long hike (literally) with our so-called enemies? So interesting to hear their constant chatter as they walk - even though they sometimes miss important turns. I told Vern I want to be like them - noticing everything and photographing it - Vern tells me to hurry up!?  Met some very large cows and a bull on the trail. Three started following me down the mountain. I think they know an Iowa farm girl when they see one.  A highlight was having the finest Italian pasta and a latte at the top of a ski lift resort, the Rifugio Maison Vielle, with a tremendous view across the valley and finding our favorite Aussie friends there. The owner told me they serve 300 lunches a day during ski season!  THEN, the worst part of the day was descending down, down DOWN about a mile under a ski lift. I think I said "suck, suck, suck" each step the whole way down - or maybe it was something that rhymes with that. 1,500 feet up today and 4,500 feet down. Good thing the village awaiting us was awesome. Stayed at the Pensione Venezia in Courmayeur, a small city which ALL of the great mountain climbers call their haven to set out from and return to after great climbs. Had a private room, white sheets, TOWELS, and a sunny balcony where we washed a dried a few clothes. Grocery store next door with dried fruits and nuts, Ritter Espresso chocolate bars and Vern's FAVORITE - strawberry drinkable yogurt. Had a fabulous Italian pizza and big salad for dinner. Lovely breakfast with our Palestinian friends who were now all reunited :)

Day 3 TMB: Cold, Cloudy, Steep, Rocky, Rain, Wind, Slippery, Soaked...

Well, those weather gurus were absolutely right. We took a steeper short-cut very beautiful route which went up and over the Col des Fours and a bit risky in bad weather, but since we started before the rain was to begin, figured we would be OK. All I needed to hear was it cut out 1.5 hours of a difficult, 19 kilometer day! We saw many "belled" cows, crossed into Italy and had a couple of hard boiled eggs and cocoa (served in bowls!) at a lovely little hut to prepare us for the rainy afternoon. At the very scenic point, Col de la Seigne, we encountered blowing snow and fogged in views. I will show what we saw and what we were "supposed" to see.  It was pretty slick towards the end with absolutely soaked feet because we were hiking in the middle of a stream down the trail. Ducked into a small cozy museum and a kind lady gave me a piece of a chocolate - thought of Harry Potter and how chocolate cures nearly everything!?! Finally made it to the Refuge Elisabetta which is practically hidden on a steep hillside, famous and very remote. We arrived dripping wet, took off gear in the steaming entryway with other drowned rats like ourselves and I went to check in. They did NOT have us in the book. I panicked...trying to imagine what it would be like to go BACK outside in the now crosswise sleet. Finally a lady came over and asked our names. I said Barb and Vern and she still could not find us. Then, she said "Barbara?" When I said yes, she said, "Oh here you are!"  Phew... Went to shower and came to the dining area where Vern was smiling and drinking a mug of something. They immediately brought one over for me and it was, simply, melted chocolate in a mug. OMG. Dinner was fabulous, served in two shifts, and we met some friends who I think we are destined to meet again and again - a lovely young couple, Nicola and Paul, from Australia and Ireland who are on a six month world backpack tour, then getting married in Mexico before settling in Australia. Ended up sharing a bunk bed room with them and learned their whole story. They are carrying everything needed to camp and their packs are HUGE. They only stay inside if the weather is bad. Funny, even having to share ONE shower and toilet in the women's bathroom with that many, everyone was SO happy just to be inside and warm. And by the way, MOST hikers were about our age - or even much older - with a few 20-somethings thrown in!

Day 2 TMB: Views just get better by the minute!

We actually felt pretty good this am. Glad we could get out of bed! Absolutely gorgeous views along a mountain stream for the first hour, then up strange flat boulders (met a pickup coming down in one place - freaky!), passed a huge waterfall drop called the Notre Dame de la Gorge, saw a stuffed deer in a strange place, then a grand canyon valley opens up and we go gradually UP a rocky trail for 4,200 feet to Col de Tricor. Gorgeous sunny day and the views just got better by the minute. Arrived at spectacular Refuge du Bonhomme in the middle of NOWHERE about 2 pm, checked in, got a chocolate brownie and cup of cocoa and sat on the hillside for a couple hours just soaking up the sun. Rain is predicted tomorrow and many are freaking out about the weather on their phones - as if there are other options! Ten miles to the next stop and there is really no choice but to walk there - don't think the local helicopter would give a taxi ride. Can you just imagine making dinner for 120 VERY hungry people? Bowls and plates passed around the table, then comes soup, veggie, main dish, and dessert. This place runs on generators and solar heaters and candlelight after dinner for cards, games, and conversation. Pretty cool!  We sit with a French couple, Pascal and Marie, and between pantomiming and sign language and bits and pieces of each other's language, we have a really good conversation. Pascal is biking across the US next year and may come spend a couple days with us! We share a room of bunks with two Aussies, a Brit woman and her mom. Will try to dream of sunshine, but psyching ourselves up for some weather...