Tour du Mont Blanc

The Tour du Mont Blanc or TMB is one of the most popular long distance walks in Europe. It circles the Mont Blanc Massif covering a distance of roughly 170 km with 10 km of ascent and passes through parts of Switzerland, Italy and France.

It is considered one of the classic long distance walking trails. The circular route is normally walked in an anti-clockwise direction in 7 – 10 days. It is also the route of an annual mountain marathon in which the winner normally covers the entire distance in less than 24 hours. Usual start points are Les Houches in the Chamonix valley or Les Contamines in the Montjoie valley (in France), Courmayeur from the Italian side, and either Champex or a point near Martigny in Switzerland. The route passes through seven valleys around the Mont-Blanc massif, an anti-clockwise start in Chamonix would lead through the Chamonix (or Arve) valley, then Montjoie, Vallee des Glaciers, Italian Val Veni, & Val Ferret, Swiss Val Ferret, and either the Arpette or Trient valley in Switzerland, dependent on route taken.

The ‘official’ route has changed over the course of the years and many alternatives, or ‘Variantes’, exist to the standard route. Some of these take the intrepid walker onto paths requiring greater fitness, awareness and skill. Others provide conveniently less demanding options, which are often quicker than the accepted route but provide lesser viewpoints onto the mountain ranges. For a part of the way, between the summit of Brevent and the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, the route coincides with the European long distance footpath GR5 as it makes its way from the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. A link can also be made with the walkers Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt in the Swiss Alps.

Plentiful accommodations exist along the entire route, allowing the route to be broken into segments to suit virtually any fit person. The accommodation takes a variety of forms, from separate bedrooms to large mixed sex dormitories. One can normally obtain cooked meals at many of these places. With a start at Les Houches one might expect overnight stops at Les Contamines, Col de la Croix du Bonhomme refuge or Les Chapieux (depending on variant route taken), Elisabetta Soldini refuge, Courmayeur, Elena refuge, Champex, Trient village, Argentiere, La Flegere refuge and finally back to Les Houches. The sheer abundance of accommodation makes for very flexible route-planning and many options exist besides these. Despite this wealth of choice the tremendous popularity of the trail can lead to problems finding accommodations, especially towards the end of the day. It is, however, possible to book accommodation in advance.

The highest points on any variant of the trail are the Col des Fours in France and the Fenetre d'Arpette in Switzerland, both at an altitude of 2,665m (8,743 ft). Although, for most, this is not high enough to cause altitude sickness, the trail nevertheless represents a tough physical proposition. Experience of walking in mountain country should be considered vital. In addition the weather can change very rapidly indeed and one should always be suitably equipped for the challenge.

It passes through (or near) the towns of
Martigny,
Courmayeur and
Chamonix

Legs

Measured with a GPS device and a barometer-clock.

Start Destination Kilometer Hours Ascent Meter Descent Meter Les Houches Refuge du Truc 12.8km 4:59 1536m 775m Refuge du Truc La Balme 11.4km 3:10 544m 601m La Balme Les Mottets 15.9km 4:23 1166m 995m Les Mottets Col de Chercroui 18.9km 5:34 1136m 1038m Col de Chercroui Courmayeur 5.78km 1:20 88m 796m Courmayeur Rifugio Bertone 4.12km 1:47 727m 0m Rifugio Bertone Rifugio Elena 19.5km 5:06 1163m 1086m Rifugio Elena Champex 28.2km 7:44 1045m 1656m Champex Le Peuty 13.6km 6:01 1213m 1274m Le Peuty Tre-le-Champ 15.7km 5:25 1219m 1108m Tre-le-Champ Refuge Flegere 7.99km 3:18 855m 413m Refuge Flegere Les Houches 19.6km 6:25 889m 1773m Total: 173.5km 55 hours 11.603 Meter 11.895 Meter

UltraMarathon

The route of the Tour du Mont Blanc is used for an annual ultramarathon event called the Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc. The winning time is usually around 20 hours to complete the entire circuit.

ee also

* Wonderland Trail, a trail circling Mount Rainier in Washington, USA

External links

[http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/532/iid/4/show/introduction Cicerone Tour of Mont Blanc hiking guide]

[http://www.leshouches.com/uk/ete-tourmontblanc.html Les Houches Tourist Information]

[http://www.aiat-monte-bianco.com/ Courmayeur Tourist Information]

[http://www.walkingthetmb.com Walking the TMB web based guide]