TMB Trials and Tribulations

What started as a google search for “popular hikes around the world” put the wheels in motion for this trip. Pictures looked amazing and the blogs I read made it sound simple enough. I wish I could say that our hike was only full of beautiful scenery, blissful walks and joyful memories – but that would be too much of an embellishment! The truth is, we had some tough times. So, before I get into describing the beautiful scenery, blissful walks and joyful memories, let me tell you what we learnt from this:

1. Just because the TMB is described as a hike AROUND Mont du Blanc doesn’t mean it will be a flat walk around a mountain. 170km sounded like a long enough trail to walk when I thought it was a straight walk. BUT it wasn’t. Every day began with either a descent down a mountain or an ascent up a mountain. Had I done more research beyond “which refuges serve the best food” I would have known that there are countless mountains along the whole trail around Mont du Blanc!

first break 30 minutes into the first day

    2. One should not laugh at the thought of buying hiking poles and assume they are for the unfit or elderly. I’ll tell ya, the second day we were only ¼ done our hike and we still had more than 500m of climbing to do when I sat on the side of the mountain to catch my breath and muster up enough energy to keep going. I sure swallowed a lot of pride when I had to step over to the side and tell a group of middle-aged men to pass me. But, their response was a laugh and one of them said “oh no worries, we are going slowly too. You keep going and that way if we pass you later we will feel really good about ourselves.” Naturally my response to that was to speed along as fast as I could so that I wouldn’t have to feel the embarrassment of them ever passing me. Unfortunately, 10 minutes of this had me nearly gasping for breath, hunched over, faking a laugh (while silently cursing) as they made their jokes and passed by me on their way up.

The first stop the next day was to the local hiking store to buy ourselves some hiking poles.

Life's just better with poles

   3. Don’t even think about lugging along camping gear and sticking to a budget. For two reasons: One – to hike for 170km, even a little extra weight feels like you are carrying a horse. Two – after a long day of hiking (and often in the rain) it feels like you have just finished a marathon. And in my world, when one is finished a marathon they are ravishing, feeling starved to death. The last thing one cares about at this point is a budget. Instead, the comfort of stepping into a warm refuge, taking a shower (sometimes hot, sometimes ice cold) and having a home cooked meal is pure delight. Especially when that home cooked meal is accompanied by a large mug of hot chocolate… or more often than not, a soothing jug of wine.

    I’ll admit, this was a hard and expensive lesson for us as we ended up leaving 20lbs of excess weight at the second refuge – tent, sleeping bags, 2 books, a towel, pair of mitts and a bottle of shampoo.

    4.  Don’t always opt for the cheapest option when choosing your accommodations. Sometimes a difference of 10 euros can make the difference between sleeping in a comfortable and clean room or sleeping in a converted cow barn with 12 mattresses piled beside one another. With the second option one should not be surprised when they wake up to one of their fellow hikers running out the door after being woken up by a rat.

our GREAT room at Refuge Bonatti

our NOT GREAT room at Refuge Mottets

Now, lessons aside, obviously we had beautiful scenery, blissful walks and joyful memories. For those of you who don’t know, the TMB is a 170km hike around Mont du Blanc. It passes through Italy, France and Switzerland. We started in Courmayeur, Italy and walked counter-clockwise towards Switzerland and then France. Our first day was one of our favourites. We hiked 6.5 hours up to Walter Bonatti Refuge. Here we had an amazing view at the top of a mountain, looking right at Mont du Blanc. 

View from Refuge Bonatti

The refuge was a rustic mountain hut with beautiful wooden architecture. Although the beds were set right beside one another in a room of about 20 people, it didn’t feel cramped, it felt cozy. The main floor had a dining room and a bar. Everyone gathered in here and outside, enjoying conversations and planning the next day of hiking. Like every refuge we visited, at 7:00 pm they put place cards on the table and you find your name and wait for dinner to be served. 

Typical Dinner: 

1st course: Soup (often with cheese in it), 

2nd course salad or bread (with more cheese) 

3rd course: main course (quiche with cheese was a common theme with us vegetarians) 

Dessert: A platter of cheese 

Let’s just say it took us a few days to get used to all of this cheese, but we are now embracing this cheese way of life. (In fact, if we make it to lunch without some type of cheese it’s a rarity). It was on this first day that we made friends with an elderly couple from Australia. One of which was also a teacher. Early to bed and early to rise to start the next day of hiking was a common theme. We were often on the trails between 7-8:00am.

The second day is definitely worth mentioning. It was the day that broke us both... It began with a long descent, taking us down to the Ferret Valley. I was having such a wonderful time literally stopping to smell and photograph the flowers that Justin soon left me in the dust.

one of my many flower photos

I slowly hiked along, taking in every sight and smell that I could. (The views and the flowers were made so much more beautiful by the fact that our views at home consist of sand and more sand). Getting to the bottom, I was in for a rude awakening when I met up with Justin and got a view of the mountain we had to climb. Close to 1000m of ascending to tackle. After 300m and dozens of water breaks later, we made it to a refuge for a pit-stop. After catching my breath enough to muster a conversation, we ran into our friends, the elderly Australian couple who quickly exclaimed “Wow! What a magnificent view!”(Meanwhile, my thoughts were about how I would keep my breaths constant enough to speak). I was just about to congratulate us on making it to the top when I noticed the monstrous climb behind the refuge that still had to be done. Feeling deflated, I commented that it looked tough and rather than agree with me they enthusiastically replied “It will be great, see you later!”  and “Make sure you have the pie here, it was delicious!” (Pie? How did they beat us there AND have time for pie already?) After the monstrous climb, we hiked down into Switzerland, and after a “shortcut” that we took with some fellow hikers, we arrived at our refuge after 9.5 long hours of hiking. And by arrived, I mean crawled to our refuge. This day took such a toll on us. Justin ended the day with a rolled ankle and I ended the day with two sore knees and one bad hip! 

Some highlights from the rest of our trip were the Swiss lake town Champex, meeting an elderly couple from Israel (who who gave us some insight into what life is like for them and their family in Israel) and staying with a French teaching couple who live in a school in Chamonix, France. We also loved the variety of sights and challenges along the way. From standing beside waterfalls to crossing streams or glaciers to looking for marmots and birds.

Champex - a beautiful lake town hidden up in a mountain

We also really enjoyed spending a couple days with another older couple from Australia. They were fellow animal lovers at heart and I stayed up longer than any other night chatting with the woman about our shared views of life and the world. Justin spent the night chatting with her partner about his time in the Australian army, survival in the wild and different hikes and rock climbs.

One of my favourite days I had to hit the trails solo because Justin was still injured. It was pouring rain so the trails were empty for the first few hours. I remember standing still and not hearing a single sound other than the rain. It was a beautiful but slightly eerie feeling. 

my quiet solo hike

crossing one of the waterfalls

To sum it up, the trip was a mixture of rain, tough ascents, injuries, scenic views, delicious food and great conversations at refuges. We met a lot of like-minded people on this hike which at first seemed like a random coincidence. But after reflecting on that, I think it’s more than that. People who spend their lives appreciating nature and the world around us are likely to respect it more. They are likely to have similar views about protecting the world and the species that live in it. It is with people like this that I feel the most at home.

and this is the beauty of our world - please join our cause!

Amidst all of our failures and trials, I am surprised at how joyful the hike was. Maybe the feeling of accomplishment every day when we would make it to the top of a mountain was enough to keep us going. Or maybe it was the people we got to meet along the way. Or maybe it was the strength we felt knowing that we were hiking for a cause we are passionate about. I guess it is a combination of all of those things. But overall, the experience was such a positive one that we are already talking about our next hike. Any ideas?

feeling great after reaching the top of Col du Bonhomme