Tour Mont Blanc - September (3-17)

The TMB was something that Jacks and I had been looking forward to for some time. We made our way to London City airport early on the saturday morning, and hopped on a flight to Geneva. We met the rest of the group, and were transferred into France, to our campsite in Chamonix. We had a bit of an intro, and were told what to expect from the trek. Our group, including the guides, Dave and Steph, were British. We also had a dog (Monty) on the trip, he was Siberian.

The weather on the first day was amazing. We headed up onto a ridge, to a lake called Lac Blanc, and already we had the most amazing views. We then climbed down into our next campsite, in Les Praz, on the way stopping for a beer. The procedure for every evening was as follows:

1) Arrive at campsite
2) Have beer
3) Put up tent
4) Have another beer
5) Shower
6) Have dinner and a couple of beers/glasses of wine

Half of the meals were out at restaurants, and half in the campsite, cooked by Dave and Steph. At Les Praz we went off to a restaurant where we had a 6 course meal. After dinner myself and Martin (walkaholic brit) were roped into entering a darts and pool competition. We came third, but had a good time, and a good laugh.

Every morning it is up early, sort out tents and bags, have a quick breakfast, and then head off. The second day was again fantastic weather, and we had great views after walking up to the Col De Poisettes. Every day we would have picnic lunches, which included the local bread, cheeses, meats, tinned fish, peanuts and fruit. After lunch we walked steeply down to our campsite in Trient, in Switzerland. After dinner the heavens opened, but luckily we managed to stay dry.

The next day we found ourselves walking between a the typical cows with bells around their necks. Really strange to see, and I'm certain it makes them totally insane. A swiss sport is cow pushing, and we witnessed 2 cows giving us a bit of a show, barging each other respectively up and down the hill. We stopped at a few refuges, which are like mountain huts that make coffee and cakes, and then headed into a hanging valley, and a town called Champex.

The next day was an easier day of walking, and gave us the opportunity to experience some small swiss villages. We ended up at Le Fouley, a great open campsite with huge rugged peaks on one side. The weather had turned a bit chilly, and Jacks slept with a couple of layers of clothes on. My undies seemed to once again be just right.

The 5th day of walking was pretty tough, taking us up to 2537m, and pretty chilly conditions. Our descent into Italy gave us awesome views over Courmayeur, and it was our first chance to test out a refugio (italian mountain hut). We had great cappucino's, and then headed off ot our campsite. We ate a great dinner, and a couple of Grappas and Lemoncellos. The whole group was pretty festive as the next day was a rest day.

We had a great sleep in, and then headed off in the rain to Courmayeur Town. We looked around a couple of shops, and ended up at a great pizzeria. Later we had some great ice cream, and spent a relaxing evening in the campsite. We had been told that the next day was tough, so we had a good rest.

We headed off the next morning and started climbing straight away. The walk was fantastic, and we ended up on the Col de Forclaz. We had our usual picnic lunch, and then headed steeply down into Courmayeur. After a quick ice cream, we caught a bus off to our next campsite.

First thing the following morning we found our way up to the horseshoe glacier morane. Basically, a huge collection of rock, deposited by a monster of a glacier. The walk then took us up and up and up, onto the Col de Ferret, our highest point of the Tour Mont Blanc. It was really cold, and we headed down the other side pretty soon. We had some great views of the valley ahead, and for a short while the weather cleared. The last 6km of the trek was in the rain, and finally we ended up at our soaked campsite. The whole group went straight into the communal tent, and got stuck into a couple of drinks. Supper turned into quite a party, with plenty of wine and cognac drunk by all. The weather didn't seem to be too much of a problem after dinner.

The next morning took us steeply up a ridge, and we ended up on a snow-packed summit. We found shelter, and fantasticly fresh cake, at a refuge, and then continued our trek down the other side. We had a great sighting of some Ibex (mountain goats with huge straight horns), and carried on downhill to our campsite in Les Contamines.

Again a rest day, and we took in the sights of the local village (Les Contamine), which included a french market and a fantastic restaurant, where we spent the afternoon.

Day 12 promised 2 things, hard walking, with one of the steepest climbs, and the best blueberry tart. Both were more than I could ever have imagined. The steep climb (half way through the days walk), took around an hour, but the gradient was about 65, and that was the bugger. From the top we had views of the Col de Balme, which we crossed on the 2nd day. We had amazing views over the Benassy Glacier, and up towards the summit of Mont Blanc. We crossed over a rope bridge that was suspended over the bottom of the glacier, and then headed down into Les Houche.

Our final walking day, and our hardest climb. 1600m of up, and about the same down, about 22km of walking. The weather was magnificient, and with the best views of the whole tour, our final day of walking turned out to be the most unforgettable. The climb was never ending, and with the heat, our 3l of water (each) was running out pretty quickly. The walk took us onto a steep path along the edge of the Brevant, and then up onto a ridge that took us all the way to the top. 2500m above sea level, up close and personal with the summit of Mont Blanc. Most of the group took the telephonique down, from halfway, and in minutes we were sipping lager at a cafe in Chamonix. The whole group was holding thumbs that our final rest day would be good weather. We had the opportunity of taking a telephonique up to the summit of the Aigulle du Midi. We wanted to get an early start, and were quite buggered, so we had a pretty early night.

We woke up to clear skies, and after a quick bite we were off. The ride to the top was unreal, taking us over steep cliff face, onto a rugged peak, 3800m high. Luckily my fear of heights has completely vanished. The top was freezing, but totally clear. We had views of the summit of Mont Blanc, and could even see the Matterhorn in the distance. We spent a good while on the top, taking in the scenery, and watching numerous climbers suspended on shear rock. After the ride down we treated ourselves to a great lunch in town.

The whole experience was amazing, and we were truly fortunate to have very good weather. I was amazed that even though it is one of the most popular and famous treks in Europe, there we very few other people on the route. Generally we had the path to ourselves, and it made the experience much more natural. A lot of mountaineers say they climb mountains just because they are there. On a documentary I was watching the other night, a historian stated that centuries ago, people walked up mountains to prove that they were physically fit, and therefore receive higher status in their communities. Jackie and I walk up mountains because we enjoy it. It puts things in perspective, and you become far more aware of the important things in life.