Here at Inupia we aim to re-kindle the hunger for adventure that has been somewhat lost in the last decades, and show that it doesn't necessarily mean spending lots of money and time in the process.
To help show that adventure in well and truly attainable we have started our Adventures under $500 series in which we find, complete and share our budget adventures.
The first (and very epic) adventure we have taken on for this series is the Tour Du Mont Blanc. The Tour du Mont Blanc or TMB is one of the most popular long-distance walks in Europe. It circles the Mont Blanc massif, covering a distance of roughly 165 kilometres with 10 kilometres of ascent/descent and passing through parts of Switzerland, Italy and France.
We flew from London Luton to Geneva (the simplest start point) for $140, and took one of the regular shuttles from the city centre up to Chamonix. Having unintentionally packed three two man tents between 4 people we also left a tent in storage once we had arrived Chamonix.
Each team member had a 60-80L backpack that, after a lot of struggle, we had got down to 15kg (with water) each. As a result we had about 3 t shirts to go around the 4 of us but if we had gone any heavier it would have made the trek significantly harder. We hiked that evening a pleasant 10km to Les Houches to camp before properly starting the hike the following morning.
Day 1 - 24km from Les Houches to Refuge Nant Borrant
A huge shock to the system, beautiful views but my god did our feet hurt by the time we set up wild camp just up the road from Refuge Nant Borrant in a dedicated "wild camp' with a toilet.
Day 2 - 22km from Nant Borrant to (the abandoned) Refuge des Mottets
The feet being somewhat recovered we set off up what was the craziest climb of the trip. The climb up to Col Du Bonhomme was tough but nothing out of the ordinary you might find in the UK. It was after reaching the Col where things got interesting. We hiked in very early July and there had been exceptionally late snowfall this season so we were faced with a huge snowfield on what felt like at least a 45 degree camber. Only two of us had some micro-crampons (an essential it turned out) so we precariously edged our way up the face. The exposure was insane and if you fell you were looking at a several hundred foot fall to rocks.
Once we crested the La Croix Du Bonhomme we faced more gentle snowfields downhill (where one of our team slid a healthy 10m down into a small stream :) and trudged down to Les Chapieux very tired and ready to air out our aching feet.
After a refresh from the local bossman (where we discovered Charlie's camelback had leaked throughout his bag), and stocking up on food for the next couple of days, we set off to find wild camp for the night up in the abandoned grounds of Refuge des Mottets. The spot was very busy but we found a little patch that we could pitch on and settled for the night.
Day 3 - 34km from Des Mottets to Capmsite Tronchey
A huge day. We started off early and powered up the first ascent in thick cloud and snow, reaching Col de la Seigne early. We descended more steep snow fields and then the view hit us properly for the first time on the trip. We had a straightline view down the entire valley, huge blue glaciers towering up to our left, Mont Blanc at 11 o clock and a huge snowy ridge to the right. We blasted along the flat bottom of the valley rejoicing in the easy k's.
After a baguette and some Gruyère we headed up for the second climb of the day. This is where the fatigue hit somewhat and had to really put our heads down and grind. The top of this climb had one of the most panoramic views of the trip. You have a full frontal view of Mont Blanc and the entire massif, it would be easy to stare at the glaciers and ballooning snow fields for hours.
We embarked on the descent and this is where the difficulties of the day really began. One of our team (James) rolled his ankle about 3 times in 5 minutes and pace dropped due to pain. We hiked for hours downhill (quickly becoming our enemy) until we reached Rifugio Maison Vielle. At this point it was already 6pm and we had another 1000m to drop to Cormayeur. James was in a fair bit of bother so we sent him down on the cable car and the remaining trio half walked half ran the last 1000m descent in order to make the shops before they shut (we had ran out of food).
After flying down the last descent, costing our legs and feet dearly, we made it into Cormayeur, stocked up on food and then at 8pm continued an extra 10km on foot along the valley road to Tronchey. This was a small deviation from the standard route but the only campsite we could use was in Tronchey so we had no choice. We arrived at camp at 10pm and hit the sack.
Day 4 - 28km La Tronchey to La Fouly
We headed on along the road for a couple of k's, next to the coolest golf course I have ever seen, before climbing up to join the TMB route on the ridge. The morning consisted of more incredible views, a few snowbridges and some much needed sun (to dry wet clothes). We had lunch down again at the base of Grand col Ferret before climbing the most testing climb of the trip. With fatigue high we plodded up with burning legs for what felt like an eternity. The summit featured some very long snowfields on a shallower gradient than the like of Bonhomme but still a bit sketchy. Some groups had intentionally slid down these as there was less exposure if you slid too far. It was a big descent into La Fouly and foot pain by the end was an all time high, but we had a great campsite, good food and a much more chill day the next day to recouperate.
Day 5 - 23km La fouly to Champex d'en Haut
A lovely relaxed day walking along the valley in the sun. Ended up with a big climb up to Champex-Lac but overall a nice respite from the big days beforehand. We were caught out by the campsites though, there is one in Champex-Lac but the one in Champex d'en Haut is only a Refuge and does not take campers. We ended up chatting to a local and finding the most maical little wild camp spot in the woods but we were lucky as it is illegal to wild camp in Switzerland.
Day 6 - 24km Champex d'en Haut to Trient
Another relatively relaxed day with some incredible views over La Fontaine. One big climb in the rain and then a stretching downhill into Trient. We stayed at an amazing campsite in Trient which had its own shop with all the essentials, a fire and they even had the euros on a TV in a marquee (where we watched england beat Switzerland in switzerland).
Day 7 - 28km Trient to La Flegere
We had prepared for a huge climb up Col de Balme (shown as the biggest on our paper map) and locked in hard. We were very happy when 2 hours in we were sat in the Refuge at the top playing cards having blasted up it with relative ease. After crossing Balme you set eyes on the final valley on the Chamonix side of Mont Blanc. It is a beautiful descent down the valley before starting back up again onto the last ridgeline. After the big climb in the morning and climbing 3/4s of the way up the second climb we had pretty achy and shaky legs. That is when we reached the infamous ladders.
The ladders are very secure steel bolted into rock and without bags would be mildly hair raising. When hanging on with achy legs and a 15kg bag these were quite sketchy. There are very narrow ledges with a small hand wire to keep you from falling. We ran into a group coming down as we went up which took a few tight squeezes to clear. Once clear it was a very long meandering descent down (and occasionally up) to camp at La Flegere. We wild camped on the shores of the gorgeous glassy lake that overlooks Mont Blanc directly.
Day 8 - La Flegere to Les Houches (The end!)
We set off expecting a relatively chill summit of Brevent and were suprised to be once more climbing steep snow fields amongst those training for summits of Mont Blanc and other big peaks using ice axes and ropes. After summiting (the only proper summit) and cutting our way through the day hikers in air forces who took the lift up we started the mammoth descent. The views throughout this entire day were second to none, with a clear veiw of the whole Mont Blanc massif and the Chamonix valley. The descent, although hard on the feet (over a mile of altitude) was a nice winding singletrack which seemed to fall away effortlessly as the building excitement of nearing the end grew.
Alongside the sense of euphoria was a underlying feeling of sadness that the trip was ending, despite the suffering, trench foot, and moments where we didn't think it was possible, it had been the most rewarding hike of our lives.
