Trekking the Tour du Mont Blanc: Classic 170km hut-to-hut hike with two-way route description

By Kev Reynolds, Lesley Williams and Jonathan Williams

A guidebook to hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), a spectacular circuit around Mont Blanc. Covering 170km (105 miles), the TMB takes around 11 days to walk from its official start at Les Houches (France), passing through Courmayeur (Italy) and Champex (Switzerland) before returning to France via the Chamonix valley. A well-serviced introduction to high-level mountain trekking for walkers with good levels of fitness, it can also be run, fastpacked or hiked in 5–9 days.

The route is described in both directions in 11 daily stages between 7 and 21km (5–13 miles) in length. Variant routes and alternative stages are also provided, giving the option of visiting cols, refuges and viewpoints not included on the official TMB route.

• Contains step-by-step description of the route alongside 1:100,000 maps
• Handy facilities planner, route summary tables and accommodation listings help you plan your itinerary
• Includes transport info, a French–English glossary, notes on local history and sites of interest
• A map booklet, containing 1:25,000 IGN mapping and route line, is available separately from Cicerone
• GPX files available to download

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Mar 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781787650541

Kev Reynolds

A lifelong passion for the countryside in general, and mountains in particular, drove Kev's desire to share his sense of wonder and delight in the natural world through his writing, guiding, photography and lecturing. Spending several months every year in various high-mountain regions researching guidebooks made him The Man with the World's Best Job. Kev enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Cicerone from the 1970s, producing 50 books, including guides to five major trekking regions of Nepal and to numerous routes in the European Alps and Pyrenees, as well as walking guides for Kent, Sussex and the Cotswolds. 'A Walk in the Clouds' is a collection of autobiographical short stories recording 50 years of mountain travel and adventures. He was also the contributing editor of the collaborative guide 'Trekking in the Himalaya' and Cicerone's celebratory anniversary compilation 'Fifty Years of Adventure'. A frequent contributor to outdoor magazines, Kev also wrote and illustrated brochures for national tourist authorities and travel companies. When not away in the mountains, Kev lived with his wife in a small cottage among what he called 'the Kentish Alps', with unrestricted walking country on the doorstep. But he also travelled throughout Britain during the winter months to share his love of the places he wrote about through a series of lectures. Sadly, Kev passed away in 2021. He will be remembered fondly by all who knew him and by many more he inspired through his writing and talks.

Book preview

About the Authors

This book is a collaborative effort featuring the work of original author Kev Reynolds, and Jonathan and Lesley Williams, who updated and refreshed text, photos and maps based on several research trips prior to and after Kev’s death in December 2021.

Kev Reynolds was an exceptional freelance travel writer and lecturer. His close association with Cicerone began in 1978 with a guide to the Pyrenees, followed by over 50 guidebooks covering the Alps, the Himalaya and the gentler landscapes of southern England. Kev’s enthusiasm for the countryside in general, and mountains in particular, remained undiminished through a lifetime’s activity.

Jonathan has been Cicerone’s publisher and managing director for over 20 years while Lesley has been Cicerone’s marketing director. Although they met at sea, they quickly gravitated to mountain trekking before taking on Cicerone to communicate their passion for mountains, wild places and adventures on foot or by bike. Based on the edge of the Lake District, they are gradually retiring and have few excuses for not spending days in the hills.

TREKKING THE TOUR DU MONT BLANC

CLASSIC 170KM HUT-TO-HUT HIKE WITH TWO-WAY ROUTE DESCRIPTION

By Kev Reynolds, Jonathan Williams and Lesley Williams

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,

OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL

www.cicerone.co.uk

© Cicerone Press 2024

Sixth edition 2024

ISBN 9781787650541

Fifth edition 2020

Fourth edition 2015

Third edition 2011

Second edition 2007

First edition 2002

Printed in China on responsibly sourced paper on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Route mapping by Lovell Johns www.lovelljohns.com

Text: The routes of the GR®, PR® and GRP® paths in this guide have been reproduced with the permission of the Fédération Française de la Randonnée, holder of the exclusive rights of the routes. The names GR®, PR® and GRP® are registered trademarks. © FFR 2024 for all GR®, PR® and GRP® paths appearing in this work.

All photographs are by the authors unless otherwise stated.

Contains OpenStreetMap.org data © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA. NASA relief data courtesy of ESRI

Updates to this guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/1228/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time.

The route maps in this guide are derived from publicly available data, databases and crowd-sourced data. As such they have not been through the detailed checking procedures that would generally be applied to a published map from an official mapping agency, although naturally we have reviewed them closely in the light of local knowledge as part of the preparation of this guide. For more information refer to the sheet maps recommended in this book.

We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [e-mail].

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, create a Cicerone account and register your purchase via the ‘My Account’ tab at www.cicerone.co.uk.

Front cover: Trekkers enjoy the fine view of Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley from the Col de Balme

CONTENTS

Map key

Overview map

Mountain safety

Route summary tables

Overview profile/staging options – anti-clockwise TMB

Overview profile/staging options – clockwise TMB

Stage facilities planner

INTRODUCTION

What is so special about the TMB?

The TMB route

Clockwise or anti-clockwise?

Planning your trek

Planning resources and staging

Using this guide

Essential information

When to go

How to get there

Accommodation and booking

Languages

Maps

Apps

Waymarking

Training

Equipment

Mountain safety

Top 10 tips for a first-time Alpine trekker

Chamonix and the Mont Blanc region

Time in Chamonix

Chamonix’s history

The early TMB

Climbing Mont Blanc

The geology of Mont Blanc

Wildlife and flowers

THE TOUR DU MONT BLANC

Stage 1 Les Houches to Les Contamines via Bionnassay

CLOCKWISE: Les Contamines to Les Houches via Bionnassay

Stage 1A Les Houches to Les Contamines via Miage

CLOCKWISE: Les Contamines to Les Houches via Miage

Stage 2 Les Contamines to Les Chapieux via Croix du Bonhomme

CLOCKWISE: Les Chapieux to Les Contamines via Croix du Bonhomme

Stage 3 Les Chapieux to Rifugio Elisabetta via Col de la Seigne

CLOCKWISE: Rifugio Elisabetta to Les Chapieux via Col de la Seigne

Stage 4 Rifugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur

CLOCKWISE: Courmayeur to Rifugio Elisabetta

Stage 5 Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti

CLOCKWISE: Rifugio Bonatti to Courmayeur

Stage 6 Rifugio Bonatti to La Fouly via Grand Col Ferret

CLOCKWISE: La Fouly to Rifugio Bonatti

Stage 7 La Fouly to Champex

CLOCKWISE: Champex to La Fouly

Stage 8 Champex to Trient via Alp Bovine

CLOCKWISE: Trient to Champex via Bovine

Stage 8A Champex to Trient via Fenêtre d’Arpette

CLOCKWISE: Trient to Champex via Fenêtre d’Arpette

Stage 9 Trient to Tré-le-Champ via Col de Balme

CLOCKWISE: Tré-le-Champ to Trient

Stage 10 Tré-le-Champ to Refuge de la Flégère

CLOCKWISE: Refuge de la Flégère to Tré-le-Champ

Stage 11 Refuge de la Flégère to Les Houches via Le Brévent

CLOCKWISE: Les Houches to La Flégère via Brévent

Appendix A Accommodation listings

Appendix B Camping on the TMB

Appendix C Useful contacts

Appendix D Further reading

Appendix E French–English glossary

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLES

STAGE FACILITIES PLANNER

Overnight snow on the Grandes Jorasses gives the morning a wintry feel (stage 6; photo: Kev Reynolds)

INTRODUCTION

The Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB), the circuit of Western Europe’s highest mountain, is one of the great mountain treks of the world.

Looking across to Mont Chétif and the route from near Rifugio Bertone (Stage 5)

The bare facts of the trek can be easily stated – 170km long with 10,000m of ascent and descent taking 1–2 weeks (8–11 days). The trails are excellent and there are refuges, gîtes and mountain villages all along the route. Fitting comfortably into a two-week holiday, the TMB can be achieved by most walkers and provides a superb trekking experience; for many it may be their first introduction to mountain trekking. Perhaps you have read about the TMB, perhaps a friend recommended it, but is it for you? Why should you walk it?

What is so special about the TMB?

Mont Blanc, the Monarch of the Alps, rises 3700m above the valleys, more than Everest reaches above Base Camp. Mont Blanc’s 4808m snow-covered dome is seen throughout the trek, with glistening sunrises and rosy sunsets. It floats above the range, seemingly benign but a big and complex mountain.

The Mont Blanc massif holds 40 major mountains and as many glaciers, with eleven 4000m peaks. While Mont Blanc itself is, from the French side, apparently gentle (a false assessment), many of the other mountains are sharp aiguilles or vast rock or ice peaks, such as the Aiguille Verte and the Grandes Jorasses. And on the southern, Italian, side Mont Blanc itself is a sheer array of buttresses, glaciers and rocky peaks, each a mountain in itself.

Chamonix, at the foot of the mountain, is one of the world’s centres of mountaineering, a vibrant place with many activities and a good base for a holiday, and to prepare for and relax after your TMB.

The Bureau des Guides in Chamonix (Photo: Kev Reynolds)

This is the range that the TMB encircles: a compact major range of peaks with different, often spectacular, views every hour, every day.

The TMB route is on very good, well-signed mountain paths. Following the outside of the French and Italian valleys, the route ensures the best views of the mountains. And it’s a ‘pure’ route, making a single loop around the mountain, albeit with options for easier or harder variants, designed to provide the walker with the best trekking experience. There are steep sections, some parts with short cable sections or ladders, but it is always safe. There are harder options in places, for strong walkers with good weather. Under early season June snows and often into July, parts of the route can be challenging and need good mountain sense.

The route takes in 11 high passes around Mont Blanc, walkers’ passes but requiring 1000m of climbing per day. Some are gentle, some sharp and most are remote, usually with some of the best views of the massif. Some have sudden and spectacular views, such as the Col de la Seigne and Col de Balme, highlights of the route.

Along the way, the route passes through Mont Blanc’s seven surrounding valleys of very different character: the hustle and bustle of Arve, Chamonix’s valley, the wild and protected Montjoie valley, the secluded Vallée des Glaciers, the pastoral Swiss Val Ferret and narrow Vallée du Trient, and the Italian Val Veny and Val Ferret, with the immense rocks of Monte Bianco and the Grandes Jorasses rising above. Wooden chalets and grazing cattle speak of the unchanging lives of the people of the valleys.

Sharing the pastures of Mont Favre with the summer residents (Stage 4)

Accommodation is plentiful on the TMB, in mountain refuges, gîtes and small hotels, sometimes in a small dortoir (dormitory), sometimes in a room, perhaps shared, all providing meals and drinks and the opportunity to get to know fellow trekkers. Lunches can be bought, and refreshments are available throughout the day at these unique spots. The joys of a dorm may be new to you but embrace the experience and open the window. Camping is possible in many places and often combined with staying in huts.

Experienced trekkers need no introduction to the pleasures and the challenges of a mountain journey, but for many TMB trekkers this may be their first trek. The daily journey, the plans made and achieved, the early starts and afternoon breaks with tarte myrtille (bilberry tart), the friends made on the trail and over meals in refuges are all pleasures they will come to savour and hopefully love and repeat.

Trekkers make the trek as much as the mountains do. Visitors come from all over the world, and all have a common interest – to complete the tour and experience the mountains – but everyone comes with their own stories. Meet and get to know them; there are lifelong friendships to be made.

These are just some of the things that make the TMB a great trek.

The TMB route

Les Houches to Italy over the Col de la Seigne

A modest start/finish arch in Les Houches marks the beginning of the adventure. The Col de Voza poses two options: a direct descent through pretty villages to the bottom of the Val Montjoie and on to Les Contamines, or a more interesting higher route over the Col du Tricot with better views, passing near the Bionnassay glacier with an option to stay high in the Chalets de Miage.

The arch at the start of the TMB in Les Houches. As it’s a loop, the trekker can start anywhere but Les Houches is convenient

Entering a nature reserve, the Val Montjoie broadens as the TMB climbs on a Roman road above a gorge, passing inviting refuges, bubbling streams and waterfalls. The climb to the Col du Bonhomme and across rougher ground to the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme is not to be feared, but relished, as the views south to Mont Pourri and the Tarentaise mountains are spectacular and a fitting reward for the first major effort.

The continuing route descends directly from a high refuge just below the col to the hamlet of Les Chapieux in the Vallée des Glaciers, while a fine-weather alternative for more experienced trekkers heads over the Col des Fours, with a surprise view of Mont Blanc peering above a distant ridge.

Constant views of the Aiguilles des Glaciers entice you up the Vallée des Glaciers towards the Refuge des Mottets and the climb to the Italian frontier. Reaching the Col de la Seigne after two hours of stern climbing reveals one of the best views of the Mont Blanc range and sets the scene for the days in Italy as you pass the whole of the southern side of the range – the Peuterey ridge, Aiguille Noire and Grandes Jorasses in turn competing to impress you. It’s one of the finest panoramas of the whole walk, and one to absorb.

Italy and the south side of the Mont Blanc range

The TMB takes two balcony routes facing directly onto the south face of the Mont Blanc range, the massive rock walls of the ridges, spires and peaks almost overwhelmingly vast and close. Between the Col de la Seigne and Courmayeur, the route enters the Val Veny, passing the popular Rifugio Elisabetta then just before reaching the massive moraine left by the Miage glacier, it climbs onto a high balcony route for a day of extravagant views and photography, descending steeply to Courmayeur, where Italian hospitality awaits.

A steep, wooded climb leads to Rifugio Bertone, beyond which the main TMB follows the vast and impressive scenic north flank of Mont de la Saxe to Rifugio Bonatti, which, sited directly opposite the Grandes Jorasses, is a special place to spend the night. A more