Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), Europe

June 2003, trekking, 12 days.

This walk is like a fresh dose of spirituality.

Tour du Mont Blanc circles the Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco or Mt. White) crossing three countries: Switzerland, France and Italy covering 120+ miles. The walk was part of my 3 months travel around Europe. It was another solo walk, which I enjoy doing. I followed the anti-clockwise route.

I started from Champex, Switzerland and arriving back in Switzerland 12 days later. Every day the route pointed to high passes before trekked down to a lower altitude for the night rest. The accommodation was normally in a little village or chalets which often provided demi-pension arrangement i.e. dinner, simple bed and breakfast. 

Because I started early in the walking season, some of the refuge were still closing. That forced re-planning the route on the spot. Also, the snow had not completely melted which could cause serious hazards. I brought two IGN maps: 3630 OT and 3531 ET. They were excellent apart from missing/uncovered section around  Lavachey (Italy). And a compass, my precious compass.

The walk was beautiful, every corner was like a Christmas present surprise. The first few days covered difficult terrains. That caused pain on my left knee on the following days. The pain climaxed on the ninth day that I had to  drag my leg in agony to get to Col de Checroui across a blowing windy rocky turn. But the amazing thing was, I met two walkers who happened to be doctors in the refuge. Andy, an English doctor, and Guy, a France doctor, gave me medicine for the pain. This made me through to the 12th day.

How funny was that, things sorts itself. Do not be afraid.

The anti-clockwise route was as follow: