Chamonix was our home base and our starting point for the Tour du Mont Blanc. One of the town squares had lovely flowers.
Jul-19 View of Mont Blanc from our hotel room in Chamonix
Jul-19 We never did make it to eat at Rose du Pont, but it sure looked beautiful at night.
Jul-19 The view from Aiguille du Midi was absolutely breathtaking
Jul-19 The Auguille du Midi had a box where they torture people.
Jul-19 We watched ice climbers prepare to descend from Auguille do Midi
Jul-20 TMB 01 On the mforst day of the Tour du Mont Blanc, we took the bus to Les Houches which is the traditional starting point.
Jul-20 TMB 01 Les Houches to Contamines. On our first day we climed high above the valley below
Jul-21 TMB 02: Walk to les Chapieux. I took a hard fall on the bordwalk section of the trail on the last part of the day.
Jul-22 TMB 03: Cabane du Combal. Hiking was uncertain due to my fall, so we took a bus past the first part of the trail. After a short warmup I felt good enough to continue.
Jul-22 TMB 03: We transitioned from France to Italy and the scenery just kept getting better.
Jul-22 TMB 03: Cabane du Combal was beautifully situated on the remains of a glacier. The sunset and sunrise were absolutely amazing. Interestingly, we had a dormitory to ourselves and enjoyed the luxurious space.
Jul-23 TMB 04: Sunrise at Cabane du Combal.
Jul-24 TMB 04: After a hard climb we enjoyed a stunning ridge walk to the town of Courmayeur.
Jul-24 TMB 04: We stopped to enjoy the view back towards Cabane du Combal.
Jul-25 TMB 05: After a rest day in Courmayeur we headed out towards Rifugio Elena.
Jul-24 Courmayeur was a great place for a rest day.
Jul-24 Cable Bar. Get it?
Jul-25 TMB 06: We needed the rest day to make the climb out of Courmayeur towards Rigugio Bonatti. Still, the scenery was wonderful and the hike was long but beautiful. Towards the day's end we were hit with some rain to finish the day.
Jul-25 TMB 05: There is a tunnel under Mont Blanc to Chamonix and the entrance is visible just afer the climb out of Courmayeur.
Jul-25 TMB 05: We encountered a herd of sheep. Here are a view taking in the lovely mountain views.
Jul-25 TMB 05: The climb up to Rifugio Elena was steel, slippery, and rainy. It was a tough way to finish the beautiful day, especially after a knee-crushing downhill to get to the foot of the climb.
Jul-26 TMB 06: We departed Rifugio Elena towards the vollage of La Fouly and enjoyed remarkable views over the previous day's trail. Abundant wildflowers made the trail unexpectedly colorful. There were whitout conditions as we approached the pass so we didn't get to enjoy the view from there. Instead we picked up the pace to descend into the following valley.
Jul-26 TMB 06: As we transitioned into Switzerland the scenery transitioned as well. Abundant wildflowers and whispy clouds made for an enjoyable day on the trail.
Jul-26 TMB 06: The view from our hotel balconey in La Fouly.
Jul-27 TMB 07: The walk from La Fouly to Champex was more populated than earlier sections of the trail and we encountered several villages and quite a few people along the way.
Jul-27 TMB 07: Small rock in the garden.
Jul-27 TMB 07: As we climbed towards Champex Lac we started seeing lots of these little carved animals along the trail.
Jul-27 TMB 07: Another carved animal. We probably saw about 20 of them.
Jul-28 We enjoyed a planned rest day in Champex Lac, which is in the Freench-speaking canton of Valais. It's really a beautiful place.
Jul-27 TMB 07: I asked for a room with a lake view and instead we basically got a small condo. It gave us a good excuse to host some friends we met along the trail.
Jul-27 TMB 07: We arrived the day of an annual festival in Champex Lax and the whole place was humming with activity, food, music, people, and crafts.
Jul-29 TMB 08: The walk from Champex Lac towards Trient was another beautiful one. We had to pause for a while for a rescue helecopter who picked up a lady and flew around with her dangling by a rope for what seemed like a little too long.
Jul-30 TMB 09: It took us a while to figure out how to leave Trient, but we managed to find our way out of the village. We decided to do a variant that would take us high into the mountains before passing back into France.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This is how wine gets to mountain huts. He was faster than we were carrying all that weight.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This mountain hut is where all that wine was headed. We stopped here for a bite and had the best fruit tarts ever.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This stretch of trail headed into the mountains and was pretty well maintained.
Jul-30 TMB 09: Following the variant we climbed high into the mountain.
Jul-30 TMB 09: We stopped at a mountain hut for a snack and looked back over the Fenêtre d'Arpette, which is where we would have come the previous day weather-permitting.
Jul-31 TMB 10: After leaving Argentiere we headed up the mountain towards Rifug de la Flagere. Here we had several secured sections with cables and ladders that made the day more interesting from a hiking perspective. The views over the valley below towards Mont Blank were spectacular.
Jul-31 TMB 10: We stopped at this Rifug for lunch and enjoyed the view. It was here that we first spotted some ibex.
The views over the glacial till and over the valley towards the Mont Blanc massif were really enjoyable.
Aug-01 TMB 11: We decided that it would be more fun to enjoy another day in Chamonix that to finish the hike in Les Houches. So we enjoyed watching the parasailors and got some lunch.
Aug-01 TMB 11: It was fun to watch the gondola heading from the peak back down to Chamonix.
Aug-01 TMB 11: OWe were surprised by several playful ibex who were not too shy around people. They appeared to be family units hanging out and taking care of little ones. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
Chamonix was our home base and our starting point for the Tour du Mont Blanc. One of the town squares had lovely flowers.
Jul-19 View of Mont Blanc from our hotel room in Chamonix
Jul-19 We never did make it to eat at Rose du Pont, but it sure looked beautiful at night.
Jul-19 The view from Aiguille du Midi was absolutely breathtaking
Jul-19 The Auguille du Midi had a box where they torture people.
Jul-19 We watched ice climbers prepare to descend from Auguille do Midi
Jul-20 TMB 01 On the mforst day of the Tour du Mont Blanc, we took the bus to Les Houches which is the traditional starting point.
Jul-20 TMB 01 Les Houches to Contamines. On our first day we climed high above the valley below
Jul-21 TMB 02: Walk to les Chapieux. I took a hard fall on the bordwalk section of the trail on the last part of the day.
Jul-22 TMB 03: Cabane du Combal. Hiking was uncertain due to my fall, so we took a bus past the first part of the trail. After a short warmup I felt good enough to continue.
Jul-22 TMB 03: We transitioned from France to Italy and the scenery just kept getting better.
Jul-22 TMB 03: Cabane du Combal was beautifully situated on the remains of a glacier. The sunset and sunrise were absolutely amazing. Interestingly, we had a dormitory to ourselves and enjoyed the luxurious space.
Jul-23 TMB 04: Sunrise at Cabane du Combal.
Jul-24 TMB 04: After a hard climb we enjoyed a stunning ridge walk to the town of Courmayeur.
Jul-24 TMB 04: We stopped to enjoy the view back towards Cabane du Combal.
Jul-25 TMB 05: After a rest day in Courmayeur we headed out towards Rifugio Elena.
Jul-24 Courmayeur was a great place for a rest day.
Jul-24 Cable Bar. Get it?
Jul-25 TMB 06: We needed the rest day to make the climb out of Courmayeur towards Rigugio Bonatti. Still, the scenery was wonderful and the hike was long but beautiful. Towards the day's end we were hit with some rain to finish the day.
Jul-25 TMB 05: There is a tunnel under Mont Blanc to Chamonix and the entrance is visible just afer the climb out of Courmayeur.
Jul-25 TMB 05: We encountered a herd of sheep. Here are a view taking in the lovely mountain views.
Jul-25 TMB 05: The climb up to Rifugio Elena was steel, slippery, and rainy. It was a tough way to finish the beautiful day, especially after a knee-crushing downhill to get to the foot of the climb.
Jul-26 TMB 06: We departed Rifugio Elena towards the vollage of La Fouly and enjoyed remarkable views over the previous day's trail. Abundant wildflowers made the trail unexpectedly colorful. There were whitout conditions as we approached the pass so we didn't get to enjoy the view from there. Instead we picked up the pace to descend into the following valley.
Jul-26 TMB 06: As we transitioned into Switzerland the scenery transitioned as well. Abundant wildflowers and whispy clouds made for an enjoyable day on the trail.
Jul-26 TMB 06: The view from our hotel balconey in La Fouly.
Jul-27 TMB 07: The walk from La Fouly to Champex was more populated than earlier sections of the trail and we encountered several villages and quite a few people along the way.
Jul-27 TMB 07: Small rock in the garden.
Jul-27 TMB 07: As we climbed towards Champex Lac we started seeing lots of these little carved animals along the trail.
Jul-27 TMB 07: Another carved animal. We probably saw about 20 of them.
Jul-28 We enjoyed a planned rest day in Champex Lac, which is in the Freench-speaking canton of Valais. It's really a beautiful place.
Jul-27 TMB 07: I asked for a room with a lake view and instead we basically got a small condo. It gave us a good excuse to host some friends we met along the trail.
Jul-27 TMB 07: We arrived the day of an annual festival in Champex Lax and the whole place was humming with activity, food, music, people, and crafts.
Jul-29 TMB 08: The walk from Champex Lac towards Trient was another beautiful one. We had to pause for a while for a rescue helecopter who picked up a lady and flew around with her dangling by a rope for what seemed like a little too long.
Jul-30 TMB 09: It took us a while to figure out how to leave Trient, but we managed to find our way out of the village. We decided to do a variant that would take us high into the mountains before passing back into France.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This is how wine gets to mountain huts. He was faster than we were carrying all that weight.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This mountain hut is where all that wine was headed. We stopped here for a bite and had the best fruit tarts ever.
Jul-30 TMB 09: This stretch of trail headed into the mountains and was pretty well maintained.
Jul-30 TMB 09: Following the variant we climbed high into the mountain.
Jul-30 TMB 09: We stopped at a mountain hut for a snack and looked back over the Fenêtre d'Arpette, which is where we would have come the previous day weather-permitting.
Jul-31 TMB 10: After leaving Argentiere we headed up the mountain towards Rifug de la Flagere. Here we had several secured sections with cables and ladders that made the day more interesting from a hiking perspective. The views over the valley below towards Mont Blank were spectacular.
Jul-31 TMB 10: We stopped at this Rifug for lunch and enjoyed the view. It was here that we first spotted some ibex.
The views over the glacial till and over the valley towards the Mont Blanc massif were really enjoyable.
Aug-01 TMB 11: We decided that it would be more fun to enjoy another day in Chamonix that to finish the hike in Les Houches. So we enjoyed watching the parasailors and got some lunch.
Aug-01 TMB 11: It was fun to watch the gondola heading from the peak back down to Chamonix.
Aug-01 TMB 11: OWe were surprised by several playful ibex who were not too shy around people. They appeared to be family units hanging out and taking care of little ones. Definitely a highlight of the trip.