Tour Du Mont Blanc

Tour Du Mont Blanc
The Tour Du Mont Blanc covers a distance of about 170 kilometres and takes in three countries France,  Switzerland and Italy in a loop around Mont Blanc. There are valleys to walk  through as well as long stretches high up in the mountains with mountain passes  to cross. The first known person to walk around Mont Blanc was in 1767 although  it is possible that Hannibal used the pass, the Col De La Seigne when he crossed  the alps with his elephants. It is impossible to describe the beauty of the  mountains which have to be seen to be believed and the best way to see them is  to hike the Tour Du Mont Blanc.

Hiking Tour Du Mont Blanc has multiple start points but most people start at  either les Houches near Chamonix in France or Courmayeur in Italy. Spectacular  alpine scenery is the norm on the Tour Du Mont Blanc although the weather can  interfere with views. There is plenty of accommodation in mountain huts, food is  also readily available when you are hiking Tour Du Mont Blanc so that the hike  can be done carrying a relatively small pack.

Accommodation can become booked out  especially late in the day, however it can be pre-booked if required. French is  the most prominent language spoken in the Swiss and French sections of the track  with Italian on the remainder. Some english is spoken however it is considered  polite to attempt the local language so a knowledge of some words and phrases  would be helpful.

The Tour Du Mont Blanc is normally  walked in an anti-clockwise direction and you should allow seven to eleven days  for this hike which is classified as moderate to hard with lots of climbing and  descending each day. For those that want to do a bit less walking there are some  cable cars and buses that can be used at certain locations.

We walked the Tour Du Mont Blanc in  September of 2010 and all agreed that this was one of the best walks that we had  done. We started in Chamonix and caught the local train to Les Houches to the  start of the walk. It is only about 7 kilometers and there were trains departing  first thing in the morning from Chamonix.

Day 1 Les Houches to Les  Contamines

We walked from the train station at Les Houches for about 20 minutes to the  start of the Tour Du Mont Blanc.
This day starts with a 600 meter climb up to Col de Voza and then is fairly  straight forward all the way to Les Contamines There are good views to be had  from the Col back to where you came from. It took us about 5 hours from Les  Houches to Les Contamines.
There is a tourist office at Les Contamines and they can book your accommodation  ahead for the next day, if required. We stayed at the hotel Gai Soliel which had  twin rooms ,excellent meals and was very comfortable. The cost was about 60 euro  per person which included breakfast and a four course dinner.

Day 2 Les Contamines to Les  Chapieux

This is a reasonably hard day which starts of at a slight incline but then goes  up at a steeper gradient up over a number of Cols. We left about 8 am and  climbed up to Col Du Bonhomme which we reached about 12 o'clock . The views were  magnificent and it made a very scenic lunch spot . After lunch it was up for  about 45 minutes to Col De La Croix DU Bonhomme and then downhill for about 3  hours to Les Chapieux . Once again good accommodation and food was available.

Day 4 Rifugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur

Today starts out downhill to flat for about an hour and then uphill quite  steeply to a spur from Montt Favre. There are some fantastic views today  including good views of Mont Blanc.
The day ends with a steep descent into Courmayeur which is very hard on the  knees. There is a cable car that can take you down to save your knees, however  it wasn’t running when we went through.

Day 6 Rifugio Bonati to La Fouly

Unfortunately our run of good weather came to an end today and we got up to an  overcast , wet and cold day. This meant putting on wet weather gear and walking  all day in the rain.
The track was quite muddy which made for a hard days hike . We crossed into  Switzerland but it was too wet and overcast to appreciate the views. Fortunately  the accommodation and meals at La Fouly were excellent and it was good to get  warm and dry again.

Day 7 La Fouly to Champex

This day is an easy walk that takes about 4hours and 30 minutes. It is a  pleasant day walking through Swiss valleys and villages and ends up in the very  scenic Champex which is on the edge of an alpine lake. Fortunately the weather  improved after an early shower of rain and stayed that way for the rest of our  hike.

Day 8 Champex to Trient

We had planned to make this a big day and continue on to Col De Balme however as  we were’nt able to organise our accommodation at Col De Balme we decided it was  safer to stay at Trient
Once again a pleasant days walking with good views .We had coffee at Bovine and  lunch at Col De La Forclaz before another descent down into Trient.

Day 9 Trient to La Flegere

From Trient there is quite a steep climb up to Col De Balme of about 770 meters.  There are good views from Col De Balme although it was quite windy and cold the  day we were there.
From Col De Balme you can walk down to Tre Le Champ or alternately you can catch  the chairlift down to Le Tour and then walk to Tre Le Champ.
From Tre Le Champ it is back up again through some of the best scenery of the  whole walk.
There is some climbing involved on ladders that have been built into the rock  face.
It took about 9 hours of walking including stops for lunch so was quite a big  day.

Day 10 La Flegere to Les Houches

The last day is quite hard with a climb of about 770m up to Le Brevent followed  by a 1546m descent down to Les Houches.
There are good views from Le Brevent and it is possible to catch the cable car  down to Chamonix to avoid the descent if time or knee pain are a consideration.

There are a number of books written on the Tour Du Mont Blanc ,however we found  that the Tour of Mont Blanc written by Kev Renolds was the most accurate and  also the most current as it is updated regularly and therefore a must for anyone  doing this hike. There is a link on this page if you would like to purchase this  book.

As it is possible to walk the Tour Du Mont Blanc starting at different points  the following table is a good starting point to plan your Hiking Tour Du Mont  Blanc experience. The times are approximate and will vary depending on fitness  levels ,weather etc,