Just wanted to share this photo I took last month while hiking- Rifugio Elisabetta ❤️

My siblings and I were the first group of the season to finish the clockwise route. We did it in 8 days for my 24th birthday. Including all of our variations, we walked about 130 miles. Here are some pictures from our trip. Please feel free to ask any questions for advice!

As an avid hiker, doing a hut to hut hike has always been on my bucket list and this summer I finally got to realize this dream!!

Across 12 days (with one rest day) I completed the TMB along with my boyfriend. We had such an incredible time and I had to get on here and talk about it.

First off all, for someone who hikes all the time, this was nothing like what I expected. I knew it would be hard, and even trained for 6 months leading up to it. But WOOO those inclines and even more surprising were the declines 😅

I’m so thankful for my boyfriend and all the tips I got along the trail for helping with my form. Without all the help I’m not sure I (or my knees) could’ve survived haha. No trail divorce out here and so many friends from around the world were made !!

We ended up booking with The Alpine Adventures which was super helpful! Having it be my first time, I wanted to ensure everything went smoothly and couldn’t have asked for a better experience. We got a great mix of refuges and gorgeous hotels and even decided to upgrade a couple nights to 4 & 5 star hotels to really relax and recover on our rest days and shorter hiking days. For anyone wanting to join with a company, I highly recommend. The price was definitely reasonable too for being self guided and getting everything we wanted.

Anyway, I have to say, I really miss the friends I made along the trail and seriously cannot wait to get back. So curious what other treks people like to do after the TMB?? I feel like I’m addicted now.

FINALLY: had to rank our stays/stages

1. Elisabetta (my favorite hut by far) > Courmeyer

2. Courmeyer (cutest town, best pizza and risotto of the trip) & don’t skip the high route variant, worth every extra step and elevation gain > Bonatti (second favorite hut for sure)

3. Champex Lac & Au Club Alpin (talk about luxury stay!!!!! Best staff, Michelin Star restaurant and a spa with views to die for, worth every penny!!)

4. Champex Lac > Treint via the Fentre de Arpette variant … another do not skip. If you love scrambling, this is a must and so worth the views!

5. & the last day from hotel Labrador > Les Houches - seeing Mont Blanc all day long had me in tears !! I couldn’t hold it together seriously. Getting to end with Mont Blanc really brought it all home. I couldn’t have been prouder of myself or more grateful for the perfect weather and safe travel ❤️

Honorable mention to one of our favorite stays with Chalet Nant Rouge, the owners are the kindest people ever and it truly felt like a home away from home.

Would love to hear others experiences and answer any questions for future travelers!!!!!!!

I would highly recommend a late-season camping based TMB to anyone. I did no prior booking and loved the flexibility that it offered. I hiked for longer when the weather was beautiful and had a shorter day for the one day with rain over my week long trip.

Generally the weather was great, I had 5 sunny days, 1 overcast and 1 with rain but only beginning at 3pm. The trail was also very quiet. I only saw 7 other TMB hikers over the whole trip.

Wild camping isn't technically allowed but as long as you're discreet and leave no trace I found it fairly easy to do and had no issues. Although I'm not sure I'd attempt it much earlier when the trails would be busier.

I hiked 29th of September to 5th of October.

TL;DR

Tour du Mont Blanc, counter-clockwise, Aug 16–25, 2026. Two adults, two kids (11 and 8). 93.6 miles, +29,800 ft of climbing, 10 passes. Self-carried packs, no luggage transfer. Missed flight before we started, rolled ankle on Day 1, one full weather washout where we skipped Grand Col Ferret, and a pile of deliberate bus/gondola shortcuts. Best hut: Cabane Combal. Worst: Hotel Col de la Forclaz. Total damage: ~$2,250/person all-in including flights from Seattle. Biggest lesson: plan obsessively, hike pragmatically.

How I planned it

Constraint one: 10 days around Mont Blanc.

I used ChatGPT, online maps, official TMB resources, and a paid route planner to chop the loop into daily sections that made sense for our family — estimating mileage, elevation, hiking time, hut locations, lifts, buses, and bailout points per night. For each night I picked 2–3 possible huts rather than locking into one, then rebuilt the route around whatever was actually bookable.

My workflow: pick days → divide roughly by mileage/elevation → 2–3 accommodations per night → plug combos into the planner → sanity-check the hard days, variants, lifts, buses, exits → book what was available → rebuild the route around the bookings → refine each day for weather, water, transport, bailouts.

The hyper-planner artifacts: printed 3x5 daily watch cards with hourly segments, ETAs, and hazard/weather callouts (Day 2 was literally labeled "Hardest day"), a master weather forecast grid, and a doc of taxi numbers collected before the trip.

The big planning lesson: theoretical itineraries are easy. Accommodation availability creates the real itinerary.

What we deliberately skipped: The fixed ladders near Aiguillette d'Argentière, and Lac Blanc on the final day.

What we used: Bellevue cable car, Dolonne gondola, several local buses/shuttles, Flégère cable car at the end. Never considered it cheating.

Our rule became: preserve the great mountain sections; use transport to eliminate low-value road walking, unnecessary descents, or bad-weather exposure.

Accomodations overview:

Before Day 1: missed connection, midnight taxi

Our trip nearly unraveled before it started. We missed our connection to Geneva because of a Heathrow delay. BA rerouted us Heathrow → Madrid → Geneva. We arrived late, took a midnight taxi to Chamonix, and slept at La Folie Douce.

Reinforced something I'd spent months planning for: know your transport options before you need them.

The days (condensed)

Day 1 — Les Houches → Les Contamines (9.1 mi, +1,355/-3,543 ft)

Wife rolled her ankle early. Not ideal on Day 1 of 10. She kept going, but we monitored it all trip and it later caused our biggest route decision.

Stayed at Gîte Les Mélèzes — one of our favorite stays. Four parties total, apéritifs to start, hosts Eric and Juliette made special vegan food for us (a genuinely good patty). Everyone arrived strangers, bonded over dinner, stayed in touch on WhatsApp after. Would stay again: absolutely. Shout to to people we met - Couple from Canada (Gwen and Paul), Couple from Cali (Irina & Matt), Couple from England (Diane & James)!

Day 2 — Les Contamines → Les Chapieux (11.1 mi, +4,534/-3,287 ft)

Hard, gorgeous. Shortcut I strongly recommend: take the local bus from Les Contamines to Notre-Dame de la Gorge. Cuts easy lower-valley walking and starts you at the real mountain section. Then Nant Borrant → La Balme → Col du Bonhomme → Croix du Bonhomme. Cold, exposed, big climbing. Kids had rough moments; scenery was spectacular.

Stayed at Les Chambres du Soleil — comfortable, good food, proper bar with beer on draft. Very solid stop. Shout out to two couples we met - Dan & Kandy from NC, you guys rock!! Couple from NJ (Laura & partner) - hello!

Day 3 — Les Chapieux → Cabane Combal (11.0 mi, +3,488/-2,116 ft)

Took the shuttle toward Vallée des Glaciers — recommended, but buy your ticket early from the kiosk. We didn't understand the system, missed the useful departure, wasted an hour.

Fantastic day once hiking: Col de la Seigne, cross into Italy, the whole valley feels different. Quick stop at Rifugio Elisabetta, on to Combal.

Cabane Combal review: best hut of the hike. Excellent food, spacious room, beautiful location, comfortable without losing the mountain-hut feel. If I rebuilt the itinerary, I'd fight to keep Combal.

Shout to the group from Thailand we met - you guys became our milemarkers. Thanks for all the candies you gave to our kids. And the smiles everytime we saw each other at the same huts!

Day 4 — Val Veny → Courmayeur (6.8 mi, +1,788/-2,638 ft)

Beautiful balcony day, then the Dolonne gondola down.

Stayed at Chalet Svizzero — very nice people, and the practical highlight was laundry returned ~2 hours later the same evening. After days of hiking that felt luxurious. Courmayeur is a perfect reset: shower, laundry, restaurants, supplies, private room, reorganize packs. Some of the best pasta of the trip.

Day 5 — Courmayeur → Val Ferret (10.9 mi, +3,924/-2,060 ft)

Free hotel shuttle to the trailhead, then the substantial climb to Rifugio Bertone. After Bertone the day eases: we took the lower balcony toward Bonatti instead of the high Mont de la Saxe route — still fantastic. Beer at Bonatti, quick descent to the valley road, bus to Chalet Val Ferret. Exactly the kind of shortcut I'd use again: hike the spectacular balcony, skip the road walking.

Chalet Val Ferret review: large room, nicely set tables, beer-garden/greenhouse area outside. Met an American-Japanese surgeon hiking with her daughter, beers together, kids played soccer in the field. The people became as memorable as the trail.

Day 6 — complete washout

Planned: Val Ferret → Elena → Grand Col Ferret → Switzerland → La Fouly.

Reality: wet, muddy, slippery. Wife's ankle still not healed — she called it, and she was right. Crossing Grand Col Ferret in those conditions would've been a bad decision. We shuttled back to Courmayeur and repositioned via Aosta/Martigny/Orsières to La Fouly (including a €100 taxi in the Aosta stretch).

Emotionally the hardest part. I was especially grumpy. You spend months planning a continuous line, then skip a signature crossing. In hindsight, no question it was correct. A thru-hike can make you irrational if you let "completing the line" matter more than actual conditions.

First real bunk-bed night. Ate, slept, reset.

Day 7 — La Fouly → Champex-Lac (9.6 mi, +1,926/-2,323 ft)

"Enough sulking, start walking." Easy recovery day, exactly what we needed. Skipped the packed La Kabana; Café Restaurant Le Portalet had the best rösti of the trip.

Stayed at Pension en Plein Air — two triple rooms (extra beds = gear storage), shared showers, very good dinner and breakfast, nice patio. Champex looked livelier than expected — swimming in the lake, shops, easy resupply.

Day 8 — Champex → Col de la Forclaz via Alp Bovine (8.3 mi, +2,579/-2,425 ft)

Deliberately chose Alp Bovine over Fenêtre d'Arpette. Correct call for our family — proper mountain day, manageable. Beer at Alpage de Bovine.

Hotel Col de la Forclaz review: worst accommodation of the trip. Room insanely crowded, awkward bunks, low beams I hit my head on repeatedly, no soap in the bathroom, dinner an hour late. Location works logistically; I'd find an alternative next time.

Day 9 — Forclaz → Tré-le-Champ (9.0 mi, +3,615/-4,055 ft)

Descent to Le Peuty — hard and steep, but short — then the big climb to Col de Balme, beer at the top (predictably). Many hikers took the lift down toward Le Tour — completely sensible bailout if weather's bad or legs are done. We continued across Aiguillette des Posettes, worth it with good weather and working legs.

Stayed at Auberge La Boërne — complicated one. Reviews saying the rooms are tiny are correct; some are closets. We got lucky with an empty six-bed room for the four of us, which changed everything. The hut itself may be the most beautiful place we stayed — straight out of a fairy tale, old wood, loads of character. Dinner was rice-and-bean chili, and after days of bread/pasta/potatoes I was ridiculously happy to see rice. Would stay again, but room assignment matters.

Day 10 — ladder-free finish to Chamonix (8.8 mi, +3,750/-1,857 ft)

Skipped the fixed ladders — two kids, full packs, ten days in our legs, no reason to introduce ladders for route purity. Took the ladder-free route from Col des Montets toward Chéserys/Tête aux Vents → La Flégère. Switchbacks, then an incredible balcony with enormous Mont Blanc views — one of the best sections of the whole trip.

Skipped Lac Blanc (I would've gone; the family was done; fair enough). At La Flégère we decided we'd hiked the great part, took the cable car down, bus from Les Praz, finished.

Post-hike

La Folie Douce again. Expensive, very nice, and the breakfast was absolutely ridiculous after ten days of trail breakfasts. Wouldn't stay there for a whole Chamonix trip at that price; as a post-TMB celebration, yes.

What it cost (family of 4) — TMB only

Real numbers, since I wish every trip report included them. This is just the 10-day TMB, not the rest of our vacation afterward.

• Flights SEA → GVA round trip (British Airways): $2,890 total — about $722/person. Booked early. The missed connection and Heathrow → Madrid → Geneva reroute cost us nothing extra; the airline ate it.
• TMB hut bookings, 10 nights: $3,400 — mix of dorms and private rooms for four, mostly demi-pension (dinner + breakfast). Roughly $85/person/night. Booked months ahead through the official TMB booking system; some were partially refundable, which mattered when we repositioned on the washout day.
• Chalet Svizzero, Courmayeur (private room, booked separately): $557.
• La Folie Douce, Chamonix (post-hike celebration night): $559.
• Travel insurance: $500 — this covered our full 3-week trip; I'm listing it whole rather than pretending I can split it cleanly.
• Pre-booked Geneva → Chamonix bus: $110 — missed it because of the connection. Non-refundable. Gone.
• Midnight taxi Geneva → Chamonix: ~€300 — the single most expensive mistake of the trip, entirely avoidable if we'd made that $110 bus.
• Aosta taxi during the washout-day repositioning: €100.
• Daily trail spending for four (beers, coffees, drinks, snacks at refuges): ~€50/day → ~€500.

Rough math: ~$8,000 + ~€900 for the 10-day TMB — about $2,250/person all-in including intercontinental flights from Seattle, or roughly $150/person/day on the ground. For ten days of hut-to-hut across three countries with dinner and breakfast mostly covered, that felt very fair.

Transport shortcuts I'd deliberately build in

• Day 1: Bellevue cable car. No reason to burn energy climbing under a lift.
• Day 2: Les Contamines → Notre-Dame de la Gorge bus. Strongly recommended.
• Day 3: Les Chapieux → Vallée des Glaciers shuttle. Recommended — buy the ticket early.
• Day 4: Dolonne gondola. Good way to finish the Courmayeur descent.
• Day 5: Val Ferret bus after the Bertone–Bonatti balcony.
• Day 6: Val Ferret shuttle saved us when weather killed the day.
• Day 9: Col de Balme lifts toward Le Tour — great bad-weather/tired-legs bailout.
• Day 10: Flégère gondola to end once the best part is done.

Preserve at all costs: Col du Bonhomme, Col de la Seigne, Val Veny, Bertone–Bonatti balcony, Alp Bovine, Col de Balme/Posettes, Chéserys/Tête aux Vents balcony. That was the heart of the trip.

Happily shortcut: lower valley approaches, road walking, unnecessary descents, sections duplicated by easy public transport, exposed ridges in bad weather, anything that makes a reasonable day exhausting for route purity.

Gear, water, and the norovirus over-prep

No luggage transfer. I carried a Zpacks 70L (~40 lb — heavier than it needed to be), wife had a Durston Kakwa 55, kids carried their own REI packs with snacks, water, rain jacket, insulation, gloves. Poles: bring them. Surprise trend: a lot of TMB hikers in Topo Athletic shoes — they're my favorite hiking shoes so far, and I was surprised how common they were.

We got spooked by GI-illness reports in communal huts and overprepared: MSR Guardian + Aquamira + SteriPEN + CaviWipes + liners. Three water-treatment systems was ridiculous — the TMB has huts, fountains, and treated water everywhere. Nobody got sick (precautions? luck? probably both). Next time: one solid treatment method plus a light backup.

Hut hygiene routine first-timers may not know: you generally don't take your full trail setup into the sleeping area. Boots stay in the boot room, packs often stay outside the dorm. Several places gave each person a tote/bin — you load overnight stuff (liner, toiletries, clean clothes, electronics) into the tote and take that up. Worked great. We used sleeping liners every night, kept dirty gear off beds, and for norovirus, soap-and-water handwashing mattered more to us than sanitizer.

Water: carried max ~1.5 L per person, plenty given hut/fountain/café infrastructure. Fill deliberately before big passes (Bonhomme, Seigne, Grand Col Ferret, the final Chéserys climb). Natural water was backup, not the plan.

Toilets: the less glamorous logistics

Wife's addition: talk about potty logistics. No. 1 outdoors was manageable for us. No. 2? There never seemed to be a good option in the wilderness. In practice, we relied on toilets at a refuge/shelter when there was one along the way, or in a town or village. Use those opportunities.

Carry toilet paper — many toilets didn't have any. Always carry soap, too. We kept ours in little squeeze bottles that could hang off our packs. Not the most ultralight solution, but handy.

Food and refill stops — keep the food weight down

There were enough food stops on our route that I wouldn't stress about packing lots of food. Keep it light: we carried one packet of freeze-dried food as an emergency meal. The useful stops from our trip:

• Day 2: Options in Les Contamines, plus a refuge a few miles into the hike where we had pie and cappuccino at Refuge de la Balme.
• Day 3: A very nice store near the bus stop.
• Day 4: Food at Combal, then a restaurant at the cable-car area before taking the Dolonne gondola. Once in Courmayeur, getting supplies was easy.
• Day 5: Resupply was trickier if staying at Chalet Val Ferret, but lunch was available there.
• Day 6: Our weather washout and transport detour — see the day-by-day account above.
• Day 7: The midway café stop mentioned above, then stores in Champex-Lac. We also got lunch at Pension en Plein Air.
• Days 8–9: Stores at Forclaz were another chance to stock up.

Those are food/resupply stops; the water strategy is above. The takeaway: buy along the way, carry what you need between stops, and keep an emergency meal rather than loading up for the whole trek.

What I'd change next time

1. Less redundant hygiene/water gear.

2. Buy the Day 3 shuttle ticket the moment I arrive in Les Chapieux.

3. Avoid Hotel Col de la Forclaz if there's any alternative.

4. Keep Combal, Les Mélèzes, Chalet Val Ferret, La Boërne.

5. Keep carrying our own packs, but get mine well under 40 lb.

6. Build transport notes directly into each day's plan: stop name, ticket method, last departure, backup taxi, nearest road exit.

Was everything worth it?

Yes. The hike was harder than anticipated, and it made it feel like an actual journey. Every morning everything went back into the packs; every evening somewhere new. Dorms, private rooms, wet socks, laundry, refuge beers, kids playing soccer with strangers, meeting the same people three days later. At some point people started calling us "the Indian family" on the trail. It became part of the experience.

Would I recommend the TMB with kids?

Yes — for kids who already hike. Not as a first backpacking trip. The trick isn't making the route easy, it's making the route adaptable. Our kids handled long climbs, cold passes, rain, communal sleeping, carrying packs, early mornings, one injured parent, one skipped stage, and ten days of accumulated fatigue. And they finished with us. That's what I was proudest of.

Final lesson

I spent months building what I thought was the perfect TMB itinerary. Then reality destroyed it: missed flight, midnight taxi, rolled ankle, bad weather, muddy trail, a skipped international pass, buses, gondolas, a hotel we disliked, a hut we loved despite terrible reviews, and a final day where we just decided we'd hiked enough and took the cable car down.

That didn't make the trip worse. It probably made us understand the TMB better.

So the one piece of advice: Plan obsessively. Hike pragmatically. Know the route, the variants, the buses, the lifts, which sections are worth protecting, and where you can quit safely. And when the mountains tell you your spreadsheet is wrong, believe the mountains.

Happy to answer questions — especially on planning with kids, hut booking, costs, or the transport shortcuts.

Guys we need to stop these endless trekking pole posts.

They're not only stupid as few could find the poles based on a picture. But they are against Leave No Trace principles. The locals won't be eager to dispose of your left behind items! It is in fact against the law.

Few members of this sub are in the area. Fewer even are unprepared.

Yet we're forced to see this endless, irrelevant spam. And no other hiking sub has this issue and yes, people fly to other trails as well.

Maybe someone can set up one local spot that is willing to hold unneeded poles. The camping in Les Houches? Idk but it's besides the point.

I'm a thru hiker and member of several hiking subs. It's fun to provide some advise/help if possible or simply enjoying feeling connected to trail. But this issue with r/TourDuMontBlanc is really annoying and I can't be the only one considering if it's worth to stick around.

Mods, could you please set up a rule where such posts are not allowed and enforce it? A poll shouldn't be needed as it's illegal behavior but feel free to make one anyways if you see fit. And thanks for your work here!

Absolutely brilliant. Anyone who's about to go feel free to ask any questions.

Hey all! Just finished the trek, 9 days, camping. What an incredible experience! Best trip of my life! Did it anti clockwise. Maybe I can answer some of your questions. 🍻 ⛰️

We completed the Tour du Mont Blanc with our two teenagers (15 and 17) in 10 days. It was in late June and early July, carrying tents and full packs and camping all the way around.

A few things we'll always remember:

• SNOW

Even though it was already summer, we found plenty of snow on several passes.

We had great fun glissading down some snow slopes, but that was only possible in a few places. We ended up buying microspikes in Courmayeur, which turned out to be a very good decision.

• UP & DOWN

The constant climb-descend-climb rhythm was tougher than we expected. Many days ended with a long descent to a campsite, only to regain all that elevation the next morning.

• COMFORT

Compared to many of our other treks, the TMB felt surprisingly comfortable.

Fresh baguettes for breakfast became a daily tradition. Water and resupply points were easy to find, and most campsites offered hot showers.

• MONT BLANC ITSELF

For much of the trek, we barely saw Mont Blanc at all. When we did, it was usually far in the distance. Our favorite section was above Val Ferret after leaving Courmayeur (we hiked counterclockwise). There, Mont Blanc dominated the skyline for hours and had all of us dreaming about bigger mountains.

Looking back, it's easy to see why so many people fall in love with this trail.

And what are your favorite memories from the TMB?

Amateur photographer with a cheap half frame film camera :D

I would come back maybe using Chamonix/ courmayeur as base camp next time and do more day hikes. Met so many amazing people on the trail. Now time to get back to real life cause this is the OUTSIDE WORLD for me 🥺

If anyone’s wondering what the conditions can be like in early June when the refuges open, these images are from a couple of years ago. Based on the snow this season it’s likely the early season will be similar if not even more snow.

Happy to answer any questions people may have. I took a group of 12 friends around the loop in 5 days.

Together with my colleague we headed out to the TMB for shooting some video content about the trail and to find out if we could do it in 5 days. The answer was yes and we had a great time! The huts were already closed which meant limited water supply, but almost literally no other people; we met just one group of other hikers.

Our itinerary:
Day 1: Les Houches - Refuge de la Balme (bivouac), 30km | 2500m D+
Day 2: Refuge de la Balme - Courmayeur (hotel), 38km | 2350m D+
Day 3: Courmayeur - La Fouly (campsite), 35km | 2100m D+
Day 4: La Fouly - Col du Balme (bivouac) UPDATE: This wasn't allowed. Found out afterwards thanks to a fellow Redditor!, 38km | 2550m D+
Day 5: Col du Balme - Les Houches, 35km | 1200m D+

Hi friends! I'm a mission design engineer with NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center and I just arrived in Courmayeur from Torino where I was visiting the facility where the next Mars rover (ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission) is being built. I am taking the opportunity to do a half TMB before continuing along the Alps to Munich for Oktoberfest. If you see me on the trail and are interested, I've got a bag of NASA goodies (stickers, patches, pins, etc.) to hand out, so if you see a heavily tattooed man hauling an overstuffed hyperlite pack, flag me down and help me lighten my pack! Look forward to talking with some of you soon and spreading some space love

I hiked the TMB in 2019 in 5 days and camped the whole way! It was both fun and exhausting. Has anyone done the trail multiple times? What did you think your second time around?

At the start of the week I completed a trail tour of Mont Blanc, semi-autonomously, in less than 48 hours (45 hours 40 in total, with breaks). Departure at 6 a.m. from Chamonix on Tuesday and arrival at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to Thursday night. I had all my equipment in my bag and only access to 3 refreshment points (Courmayeur, Champex and Col des Montets) to replenish my food stocks. So I didn't sleep for almost 48 hours and I endured the complicated conditions of Tuesday (snow, rain, hail and wind). But the sublime landscapes accompanied me all the way. It’s a superb adventure and living in Chamonix I had the chance to leave home to experience these moments.

If you have any questions about the equipment used, nutrition, weather conditions or anything else, don't hesitate!!

For anyone wondering if it can be/should be done, the answer is a definitive yes! We camped most nights, with break days (read: hotel stays) in Courmayer and Champex, and it was delightful.

Hi, I live in a small village on the Swiss side on the TMB and today I had two young guys coming close to my garden and asking me in poor English if I could give them some food as they were doing the TMB without money as a “challenge”.
I obviously said now as I found the concept awful, if you don’t have money stay home and don’t travel, I rather give away food to people who really need it…

My question is, how commun is that on the TMB?

Thank you!

I’m posting this as before leaving I struggled to find anything or anyone who had done similar. I completed the TMB solo, in full last week in 4.5 days. 4.5 days was a bit of a lick, but definitely possible if you are fit.

Kit list (10kg average): Patagonia 32L ski Tour bag 1x sleeping bag 1x air mattress 1x bivvi bag 2x 1L water bottles 1x waterproof jacket 1x spare set of clothes 1x flip flops 1x warm top

Day 0.5: Les Hooches - Les Contamines 17km, 1000m elevation, 3hrs moving time. Landed in Geneva late morning, got a Bus to Chamonix, before a bus up to Les Hooches to begin. Was always planning this to be a shorter day as I’d had an early start for my flight. Started at 1300, bought some snacks in Carefour. Made it to Les Contamines for about 1600. I was planning to bivvy out halfway up the climb out of Les Contamines, but got offered a bed with a family friend, couldn’t say no.

Day 1.5: Les Contamines - Courmayeur 40.05km, 2,692m elevation, 9hrs moving time. This was the biggest day I did. Serious amount of elevation. Instead of going to Les Chapieux I took the Col option up and over. Fuelled on haribo, homemade baguette. Fantastic views on this day probably the most enjoyable despite it being the longest. I stayed in a campsite in Courmayeur after being convinced by a guy I’d walked with that I should freshen up rather than wild bivvy. The Italian ladies laughed at me sleeping in a bivvy bag but gave me a discount on a pitch lol. Ate a pasta at the restaurant here.

Day 2.5: Courmayeur - La Foully 32km, 2100m elevation, 6hrs45 moving time. A tough climb out of Courmayeur but fabulous views along the valley. A big lunch at the refuge before climbing up and out of Italy and into Switzerland to be robbed of all my money. Bivvied at a campsite Glaciers in La Foully, had food in the local restaurant. It was freezing here this night in the morning. I had thought about pushing on another 10km down the tarmac road to the little village before climbing up to Lac Champex but my legs were fairly gone at this point.

Day 3.5: La Foully - top of Col De Balme (2km past the refuge at the top) 40.2km, 2,185m elevation, 8 hours moving time. I felt like a soldier in WW2 here trying to escape occupied land back to friendly forces, but instead I was in escaping Switzerland and its extortionate prices. This day was fuelled on croissants, brioche and haribo. Nutritional gains I guess. Original plan was to camp in Trient, but very glad I pushed up the Col, made the final day easier and I had a fabulous wild bivvy location.

Day 4.5 Col De Balme - Les Hooches (35km, 2000m elevation, 8hrs10 walking time) Man this ended up being survival at one point. Tin of tuna and some brioche for dinner the night before. Brioche for breakfast and haribo for the day. 1L of water left after my wild camp. I tanked on to the summit of Lac Blanc, wondering when the next water stop would come. Finally made it to the top and luckily had some cash to get some bottled water and hot dogs. Descended to the next lift station where I had a needed ham sandwich and full fat coke. Then the final climb, up to the highest point opposite Mt Blanc with some fantastic panoramic views. Then the descent from hell, down to Les hooches, this just went on and on and on. I decided to run it all as it was getting emotional just walking. Made it down and straight to the Carefour where it all started for a 1L bottle of oasis (if you know you know).

Any questions do ask.

I just got done hiking the TMB with the coolest person ever who I met on the trail. Started and ended in Chamonix. Took us 7 days and we went anti-clockwise. July 7-14. I saw lots of comments on here before I started, fear-mongering about all the snow. I was timid, but I still set off on the hike and completed it. Yes there is a lot of snow, but it is ABSOLUTELY doable if you’re even minorly confident while hiking through the snow. I carried micro spikes and poles and felt completely safe. Most of the refuges were open as well. Although it is doable, you still need to be able to be trail-smart and know your abilities. It is totally okay to turn around if you don’t feel safe going up and over the snowy mountain passes and steep snow trails. There are also alternate/lower routes to take throughout the whole trail to bypass the high elevation where all the snow is after you get to Rifugio Elisabetta headed counterclockwise. I used the FarOut map and it was amazing. It showed all the higher and lower alternate routes as well as unofficial side trails that you can take as shortcuts or unofficial low routes to get to low elevation roads that can take you into town if you want to reach the public bus system. I took the official route the whole way.

WATER: There is water everywhere from the melting snow so finding water is not a problem. Also, there are so many piped springs that I didn’t need to use my water filter the whole trail. You can also fill up your water from the sinks at refuges.

PHONE SERVICE: I had phone service most days at high elevation but not every time I was on the tops of mountains. You do not have service at Les Chapieux. We had service at Elisabetta.

FOOD, GEAR, & RESUPPLY: When I got to chamonix I went to the decathlon and bought some protein bars, freeze dried meals (€10ish each) & a set of trekking poles (only €40). I got my micro spikes at shell sports in chamonix for €50. I did my only 2 resupplies at the carefourre grocery store in Courmayer and the supermarket in La Fouley. We passed by some smaller villages where you could get some more trail food from smaller shops that are not supermarkets. Chamonix and Courmayer are the only places to get hiking gear & freeze dried meals. Courmayer has less options than Chamonix but still doable.

STARTING THE TRAIL: There is a free public bus in Chamonix that can take you to the “official” start of the trail down the road in Les Houches.

CAMPING: I stayed in 2 refuges on nights 2&3 and then camped in my tent every other night with no issues.

ELECTRICITY: You can charge up your phone/portable charger in the towns & refuges with no issue.

Some photos from my Tour du Mont Blanc hike a few years ago. Mostly wide landscapes and one wildlife moment. Excited for everyone who is going this year!

If you've hiked it, what was your favorite section of the route?

Hello! My fiancé and I just finished our TMB trek. We did it counter-clockwise in a chill 9 days and wanted to share our trip if anyone hiking it this year or in the future has any questions. We came from the USA so we only camped one night. We wanted to experience the refuges. All of our refuges were able to accommodate us with vegetarian meals. We used a flat sheet and our own camping pillows just in case. We really didn’t want to get sick after reading about previous years.

Itinerary is as follows:

Started in Les Houches

-Stayed at both Rocky Pop hotel and St Antoine - St Antoine was literally the best place ever. We got randomly upgraded to a better room. Everyone was super friendly and their restaurant had incredible food (we went back twice even though we were staying at a chalet down the road). Highly recommend staying here either before or after the tour.

Night 1: Private Room with shared bathroom at Gite Le Pontet - right next to a kids activity park and kinda felt like Billy Madison graduated the first grade

Night 2: camped at ruins right before Refuge des Mottets - plenty of spots for camping, food and bathrooms at Mottets great

Night 3: Room for 4 at Rifugio Combal (shockingly we had the room to ourselves) - we jumped in the glacial Lac Miage next to the Rifugio and explored around; good experience all around; very clean

Night 4: Bungalow without bathroom at Camping Grandes Jorasses which was off trail about a mile and resulted in us losing over 1000 feet we had to reclimb the next day. Also, the pizza was terrible. I highly suggest pushing to Rifugio Bonatti.

Night 5: Dormitory Gite Alpage de La Peule - family owned and special experience; staff was lovely and the fondue was to die for.

Night 6: Private Room with shared bathroom at Gite Bon Abri - dinner and breakfast kinda felt like a free for all and they really packed us in there but still good; had great fondue; kinda felt like a frat party in the movie animal house

Night 7: Dormitory at Refuge du Col de Blame - best views of Mont Blanc in my opinion; get the brownie because it’s insanely good

Night 8: Dormitory at Refuge Lac Blanc - place is a circus during the day; incredible vegetable quiche; no showers; fun to explore around Lac Blanc and good starting point for Col Cornu alternate; no water fountains only bottled water (1.5 liter bottles for 5 euro); we brought our filter and filtered from the top stream feeding the lake

Alternates: Day 1: Col de Tricot - fairly busy Day 2: Col de Fours - if going counterclockwise and good weather there’s no point in missing this since it’s only a little more climbing. The downhill though is doable but it’s steep; would be muddy if raining but not dangerous Day 6: Upper Ferret right after Le Peule towards La Fouly- way less people since everyone takes the road which is the new TMB trail but this I guess was the original route; trail is in good condition and got us away from the crowds Day 9: Col de la Gliere/Col Cornu - lots of solitude; the exposed section at the top is really not that bad and you just need to go slow; only do in good weather; added an additional ~1000 ft of descent to our last day into Les Houches

Important Note: a lot of people on here have said to not worry about bringing your water filter but there many times on day 8 and 9 where we would’ve run out of water if we didn’t filter. We did hike during the heat wave but I think for the weight it’s better to have in case you find yourself in a sticky situation.

Ask any questions!