The biggest highlight of my time in Europe was hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with one of my best friends, Haylee.  Starting in France and making my way on foot through to Italy and Switzerland then back to France was amazing! If you want an alps adventure this has got be the number one in Europe.

Planning and getting there:

Having already done the 500km Northland section of the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand on my own, I was feeling confident about doing this hike unguided.  However, the mountains and cold weather would definitely take me out of my comfort zone as my hiking experience was from warmer climates and lower altitudes.

I spent a lot of time researching the route and accommodation options and found the best website to use was www.autourdumontblanc.com.  As Haylee and I would be doing this hike in mid September it was important to make sure we knew which accommodation options would still be open.  Many start to close around this time as it is leading into the colder months and the start of the snow.  The final plan had us starting and finishing in Chamonix, France with our accommodation options including couch surfing and refuges along the way.  

We headed to Chamonix from Paris using a popular transport option in Europe called Blablacar.  It is like car pooling where you can find a ride from one location to another with someone who has spare room in their vehicle.  After the six hour drive we arrived in Chamonix to a thunder storm which was not a good sign!  Our first night was spent couch surfing with a guy from Wales who was happy for us to leave the majority of our gear at his place during the ten days we would be hiking.  This was super handy and he even lent Haylee his two hiking poles, such nice guy!

Day 1 of Mont Blanc – Chamonix to Les Contamines

Thankfully the weather fined up and we had plenty of sunshine to enjoy.  We took a bus to Les Houches and decided to take the cable car up the first hill to eliminated about two hours of climbing.  Yes we had only just started and we were taking the easy option already!  One thing I have learnt about me and hiking is that it is important to pace myself so I get to really enjoy the best a hike has to offer.

The first day included walking through many small villages which is like nothing I have experienced before.  It really was like you see in the postcards of the picturesque alpine towns of Europe.  We arrived in Les Contamines just after lunch and it was like a ghost town with not a person in sight.  It was also our first experience of squatting toilets which was a bit of a laugh.  We had the afternoon to enjoy this gorgeous town and soon realised everyone had been at home for lunch when we arrived.  Places started opening about mid afternoon.  Our accommodation on this night was more couch surfing with a host who we had organised to meet after she finished work.  So we found a pub and joined some new friends who were also doing the Tour du Mont Blanc.  One of them was Polly from the UK.  She would turn out to be someone we would see again.

Day 2 of Mont Blanc – Les Contamines to Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme.

Our night in Les Contamines was great! Our couch surfing host was well travelled and very interesting. She shared with us one of her home made liqueurs made with a plant called Genepi which only grows above 3000m. After a good nights sleep we were ready for our second day.

Lucky we did get a good sleep as day two turned out to be a big one!  The first hour was easy and then the climb began.  It took us five hours to climb over 1200m to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme. From there it was still another good hour to our accommodation Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme.  It was our first tough day but we did it and were very happy to find our refuge and our beds.  Dinner that night was really so good and the company even better.  Haylee hadn’t been feeling great so my fingers were crossed she would feel better the next day.

Day 3 of Mont Blanc – Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme to Refuge les Mottets

After two days of lovely weather, we woke to rain, wind and below zero temperatures. Visibility was very poor so for safety reasons we decided to stay put and were prepared to spend another night here.  However, later in the morning, it cleared and we could see fresh snow on the peaks around us. It stayed clear so after lunch we decided to head off to Refuge les Mottets.  This would take about 4 hours, a descent of approx 900m and an ascent of only a few hundred meters.   

Mottets was not on our original plan but due to our late start that day it made sense to make this our next destination.  We were assured they would have spare beds and they did.  Along the way, we met plenty of cows and also came across a mobile milking shed which I had never seen before.  This is a great place to stop for a night, the dinner was good and so was the entertainment!  There was a great crowd that evening and we met two ladies from Aotearoa New Zealand who we sat with for dinner. 

Day 4 and 5 of Mont Blanc – Refuge les Mottets to Courmayeur

Unfortunately, Haylee wasn’t feeling well after arriving at Mottets and the weather was turning again so we decided to not walk the next day and caught a ride with a luggage van to Courmayeur, Italy.  It was nearly a two-hour drive on the windiest roads ever! If the weather had been nice I think I would rather have walked alone.  However, once we arrived in Courmayeur we found a place to stay, pizza and wine so we were pretty happy!

Courmayeur is a gorgeous Italian town below the alps of Mont Blanc.  We happened to time our arrival with the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc which is an ultramarathon.  As the athletes arrived into Courmayeur they were greeted with cowbells and lots of cheering and clapping.  A mean feat for sure!

After two days Hayley still wasn’t feeling better and the weather was still not good so we decided she would take another rest day and I would carry on without her.  Depending on how she was feeling she would either join me in a day or two or meet me back in Chamonix.

Day 6 of Mont Blanc – Courmayeur to Alpage de la Puele

This was not a long day but horrible weather made it a challenging one!  I caught a bus out of Courmayeur to the end of the road where the trail started again.  It was an easy uphill track to Refuge Elena but it was raining the whole way and it was cold!  I had a lovely trio from Israel keeping me company. I decided to make a wardrobe change at Refuge Elena and get into long thermals.  The refuge was closed for the season but I found a dry corner to change in and was ready to carry on. 

The weather really was miserable and visibility was poor but there were plenty of other people heading in the same direction as me.  This gave me peace of mind as I was hiking solo and very much out of my comfort zone hiking in this weather at this altitude.  About half an hour from the Col Ferret the rain turned to snow and it was pelting down.  It was one of those ‘are we there yet?’ moments and I was checking my GPS every five minutes to see how much further it was.  It was miserable! I was pretty happy getting to the col but I only hung around long enough to get a photo and then I was out of there. 

It was a quick descent and it didn’t take long before I got low enough to get out of the snow and back to just rain.  I was even happier when I got to my accommodation for the night, Alpage de la Peule.  Somewhere I had crossed the border from Italy into Switzerland but I have no idea where.  At La Peule I enjoyed a hot drink and a hot shower before I felt half normal again.  A number of people had stopped here for the night but I was the only female.  This accommodation felt like a real taste of the Swiss countryside with some Yurts outside, cowbells ringing the distance and they make their own cheese.  This is a great place to stop and grab a bite from the cafe or definitely worth spending a night.

Day 7 of Mont Blanc – Alpage de la Peule to Relais d’Arpette

I hadn’t realised I was so far out of La Fouly which added over an hour and a half on to my day.  It was fog the whole way so I have no idea what the countryside looks like in this area.  I could still hear cowbells in the distance though, so probably some good grazing hills.  I stopped in La Fouly for a few supplies and then enjoyed an easy three-hour walk following a river.  Somewhere along the way, the sun decided to come out and it turned into a gorgeous day!  Such a contrast to the day before. 

I arrived in a little town about lunchtime and was really thankful to find a cafe that did omelets!  I was overeating so much bread so eggs were a welcome change.  After lunch, it took me about an hour and a half of mostly uphill to Champex.  It was a really nice walk through the bush and there were these cool wood carvings along the way.  I got a nice surprise when I arrived in Champex, Haylee was there to meet me.  I was happy to find she was feeling much better.  Champex is a gorgeous town with a lovely lake and I would have been happy to stay here a night.  However, we had other plans.  We had a coffee and then walked another forty-five minutes uphill to our accommodation, Relais d’Arpette.  After more than twenty kilometers and seven hours of hiking, I was ready for a good dinner and a good sleep.  I got both.

Day 8 of Mont Blanc – Relais d’Arpette to Hotel de La Forclaz 

Today was probably the biggest for me!  We got away about 8.30am and the first 500m ascent was a gradual climb but the next 500m was hard work!  At one point we were scrambling big rocks and then pretty much on all fours to get up the last bit of scree.   It took us about four hours to get to the Fenêtre d’Arpette at the altitude of 2665m. We were treated to the most amazing views which included the Trient glacier.  We stopped long enough to rest, eat and enjoy the view but it was super windy and cold so we didn’t stay longer than we needed too. To start with the descent was a nice change.  It was pretty steep but the track was better than coming up, there actually was one!  However, the novelty of downhill wore off after the first hour and we just wanted to get to the bottom.  There was a total of 1200m and it took us about three hours.  From there we had a nice fifty-minute stroll to our accommodation at the Hotel de la Forclaz.  This is just above the town of Trient, another picturesque place in the Alps.

Day 9 of Mont Blanc – Hotel de la Forclaz to Gîte Boerne 

The weather was not looking good and after my experience getting over the Col Ferret I was not at all interested in doing another day in bad weather.  So Haylee and I decide to catch a bus to our next stop.  This proved a challenge with the language being a barrier.  We were in the French-speaking part of Switzerland heading back into France.  Trying to figure out the bus time table and then changing buses onto a bus with a French only speaking driver was a bit of an adventure.  We had no internet data but luckily I had downloaded French into Google Translate which was super helpful!  So between that, a helpful French/English speaking passenger and some luck we made it to our next stop, Gîte Boerne.  We were back in France. 

It was quite early when we arrived so we got the first choice of beds in our cute little dorm.  Just after lunch Polly from the UK turned up, the girl we had met at the end of our very first day.  She was so happy to see us as she was close to packing it in and not walking the last day, she was over the bad weather.   It turned out to be a real collection of familiar faces on this night.  These were people we had crossed paths with along the way, some of them we had met several times.  One of the cool things about multi-day hiking.  My company for dinner was an older English gentleman who has some great tales to tell and was quite entertaining.  Polly and I talked about doing the last day together via Lac Blanc.  Haylee was not going to join us as she had had a footwear malfunction.  The weather was meant to be fantastic so I was super excited about finishing the Tu du Mont Blanc on a high.

Day 10 of Mont Blanc – Gîte Boerne to Chamonix

The last day was absolutely the best day of all!   The weather was fantastic and the views were amazing!  It was another decent climb of about 1000m up to Lac Blanc with approximately 100m worth of ladders.  There were some really steep parts to the track but luckily I am not afraid of heights.  We got to Lac Blanc around lunchtime and were able to relax and enjoy the most incredible views including a clear sight of Mont Blanc. 

I took some time to reflect on the last ten days, the challenges and accomplishments, the people I had met and some of the most stunning nature I have ever witnessed. The outdoors is my happy place, it is when I feel most alive.  This experience absolutely fulfilled every expectation I had and more.  I wasn’t disappointed that I had missed out on a few days walking because those days also provided their own adventures and new experiences.  It was a long walk downhill into Chamonix and I don’t think we took the easiest or quickest route but we got there in the end, tired and hungry.  Haylee was waiting for me with some chilled wine which I enjoyed while soaking in a nice hot spa.  We then met up with Polly and a few other hikers for dinner to celebrate our completion of the Tour du Mont Blanc.  An unbelievable ten days that I will never forget as one of my top hiking experiences.

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