Description of Tour du Mont Blanc

A view of Mont Blanc from the trail

The Tour du Mont Blanc or TMB is one of the most popular long distance walks in Europe.  It circles the Mont Blanc Massif, the highest peak in Western Europe which reaches 15,770 ft. The walk covers a distance of roughly 105 miles through the French, Italian and Swiss Alps starting and finishing in Les Houches near Chamonix.

The highest point reached by the standard route is 8,475 ft and the height gain and loss around the whole Tour is around 35,000 ft. Trekkers typically take 10 days to complete the circuit. It is manageable for normal fit mountain walkers who are happy to walk for between 5 hours and 71/2 hours per day. By the time a hiker finishes the loop, he/she has climbed the equivalent height of Everest from sea level.

Les Houches is a little South of Chamonix on the left side

The TMB is considered one of the classic long distance walking trails. The circular route is normally walked counterclockwise. It is also the route of an annual mountain ultra marathon in which the winner normally covers the entire distance in less than 24 hours. WHOA!

The official route has changed over the course of the years and many alternatives/ variantes exist to the standard route. Some of these take the walker on to paths requiring greater fitness, awareness and skill. Others provide conveniently less demanding options which are often quicker than the accepted route that provide lesser viewpoints onto the mountain ranges. If the weather is good we hope to take the variants to Col des Fours in France and the Fenetre d'Arpette in Switzerland, both at an altitude of 8,743 ft.

We will stay mostly in small hotels/inns and a couple of nights in mountain refuges/huts. We'll  begin in Les Houches, France, move on to Italy's Aosta region and then walk a bit in Switzerland before returning to France. The last day we'll pass just 10 miles from Mont Blanc's summit and view it from Col du Balme at 7,230 ft.

The TMB is well marked and we hope that we'll be able to make sense of it and arrive at each night's lodging without too many problems.  At times though we can be directionally challenged. So say a prayer or two for us. Below is the a symbol for the Tour du Mont Blanc. This is what we'll be looking for ...

I think we'll have to be on the look out for these red and white blazes too ...

And THEN there are signs. Note the expected time to walk the distance on each sign -we're wondering how much longer it will take for us ... or maybe we'll be an average walker.
 

Up, down, up, down .... here we come !

Growing in a flower garden we passed by today.