We flew into Geneva on a Friday evening and made our way to our base in Chamonix. We had two nights booked into Chalet Whymper to acclimatise and for last minute preparations (maybe a beer or two as well!), before beginning the Tour du Mont Blanc on the Sunday morning.
We followed the Cicerone guide fairly closely, taking the anti-clockwise route round.
I came down with food poisoning or something mid-route and we had to stop in Courmayeur for some recovery time. We were able to continue the walk though and still in the 11 days we’d planned.
Overview of stages:
| Day | Stage/notes |
|---|---|
| 1 (25th July) | Stage 1 - alternative - 18km |
| 2 (26th July) | Stage 2 - 18km |
| 3 (27th July) | Stage 3 - 15km |
| 4 (28th July) | Stage 4 - 18km |
| 5 (29th July) | Recovering from illness in Courmayeur |
| 6 (30th July) | Stage 5 - 12km |
| 7 (31st July) | Stage 6 - 20km |
| 8 (1st August) | Stage 7 - 15km |
| 9 (2nd August) | Stage 8 - Alternative (push on to Le Peuty) |
| 10 (3rd August) | Stage 9 - Normal (started in Le Peuty) |
| 11 (4th August) | Stage 10 - Normal + part of stage 11 (got cablecar down from Le Brevent to Chamonix) |
Refuge log:
| Day | Refuge | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (25th July) | Chalets Du Truc | Bunk beds in shared dorm, including dinner, very cold, 34€ each. Spoke to an ambitious bunch of Spanish guys doing the route in 8 days! |
| 2 (26th July) | Auberge De La Nova | Half board, 34€ each, so many flies! Slept in converted barn sharing with some French and American dudes. Met Croation couple at dinner who had exact same camera, guide, and map as me. |
| 3 (27th July) | Rifugio Elisabetta | 52€ camping incl. breakfast and dinner. Best so far, camped out at foot of a glacier. Good conversation at dinner, which was a communal affair. |
| 4 (28th July) | Hotel Edelweiss, Courmayeur | Emergency stay at a hotel whilst recovering from illlness. 50€ each, incl. breakfast and free use of washer/dryer. Awesome staff and place, really nice, and rang ahead to a number of refuges for us. Allowed us to dump some kit for later pickup (we had planned to camp more but decided to use refuges from this point onward). |
| 5 (29th July) | Hotel Edelweiss, Courmayeur | Recovery continues! |
| 6 (30th July) | Rigugio Bonatti | 40€ each for dorm plus breakfast/dinner. Very large refuge and great facilities. Food is the best so far, and in immense quantities! Great views, clear weather. |
| 7 (31st July) | Hotel Edelweiss, La Fouly | 37€ each incl. breakfast & dinner. Crap food, basically microwave meal, and very unfriendly staff. |
| 8 (1st August) | Pension En Plain Air | Dorm plus breakfast. Ended up being free because they had a total power cut during our stay, however we'd showered and ate out so it didn't affect us (we offered to pay anyway but our offer was declined). |
| 9 (2nd August) | Le Peuty | Dorm only, 10€ each. Bit cosy in a shared barn, left very early the following day. |
| 10 (3rd August) | Auberge La Boerne, Tre Le Champs | Breakfast & dinner for 37€ each. Good dinner conversation. Didn't eat enough dinner because what we thought was the starter was actually the main course, fail! |
Here are some photos taken on the trip, not in any particular order!
