In July, 2009 I completed the Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB). I could not have anticipated how beautiful the alpine scenery would be during this trip. The sight of the glacier covered Alps and the surrounding deep valleys is stunning. The steepness of the mountains surrounding villages such as Chamonix is amazing. Our group would hike switchbacks upwards for hours, then stare directly back down to the villages we originally started hiking from in the morning. If we had parachutes, if felt like we could dive directly off the trail and land in our (former) campsite. Now that I’ve experienced the Alps, the mountains in Utah seem so small and gentle. Mont Blanc itself is 12,000 ft higher than the valley of Chamonix. Contrast that to Snowbasin, where the vertical drop is a measly 2,900 feet, and the mountains are rounded and gently sloping.
The views during the hike each day was beyond my wildest expectations: white snowcapped peaks, crumbling glaciers, jagged rocky outcroppings, and tremendous varieties of wildflowers along the trail. I even saw Ibex on the first day of hiking!
There were 16 people in the Exodus travel group; I was the only American in a group of Brits. We slept in tents each night.
The towering peaks of Mont Blanc (15,771’) are the centerpiece of this hike. The 105 mile Tour de Mont Blanc circumnavigates the mountain. There is a tremendous amount of altitude gain and loss each day unless you stay at the higher refuges (which we did not). My GPS registered over 33,000 feet of vertical gain over the fourteen day trip. Most of the Tour is in France, but we also crossed into Switzerland and Italy. Three countries, three different cuisines, three languages (although most spoke French) and two currencies.
Highlights of the trip included a few snowy summits, wonderful pastries almost every day, and a gondola ride over some of Mont Blanc’s massive glaciers.
The Mont Blanc Circuit (TWB) has been described as the best walk in the world by many people and it is hard to argue otherwise. Throughout the hike, the ever- changing vies of Mont Blanc’s 400 summits, 40 glaciers, and seven valleys are phenomenal.
Click a picture to see a larger view
and explanation.
