Adventures on the TMB

Adventures are ace, fact. Adventures with friends are acer!

I think this adventure idea came about some time during the night of the CCC in 2022 when I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to see what all this looks like in the daytime? Most of the 2nd half of the race was in the dark and I felt like I was missing out. What would it be like to do a whole loop round Monte Blanc fast packing. Well not really that fast, more chilled packing. I just needed an excuse.

Again, I am not entirely sure exactly when it became a real idea. Maybe Jules and I were out on a run, and as usual, conversations lead to ideas, which lead to plans. Anyway, we are born about 5 days apart in the same year, and in 2024 we would be 50. Yes, that old! We wanted to do something running related to celebrate and I knew that I didn’t want to do a big race in the summer of 2024 as Spine Challenger was supposed to be my A race for the year. In the summer of 2023 I said, let’s do the TMB and Jules was in, then our friends Jay and Ale overheard us talking about it somewhere, again probably on a run. That made it a foursome and the rest is history.

Ok that’s a boring write up. Perhaps dear reader you would like some more details? Ok fair enough. Well, this will be a long one, because there is quite a lot to explain and I hope this to actually be of use to people who might want to take on the TMB in the future. To make it easy to digest I am going to break this blog into sections, that way you can skip bits if you like.

• What is the Tour Du Monte Blanc (TMB)
• Planning
• Kit
• Execution
• Thoughts & Learnings

WHAT IS THE TMB?

Well, simply put, its a hiking route around the Monte Blanc massive through France, Italy and Switzerland. At the most basic it is 100ish miles (160ish KM) with 10,000m (CBA to work out ft) of elevation gain and loss. It starts and finishes in Les Houches, there is a start/finisher arch. The TMB is not the same route as UTMB but some of it is on the same paths. The TMB also has variants to add in bonus fun. It is a mountain trail but you do not go above 2200m unless you do some more wilder variants. It is usually hiked over 10-12 days. Many runners will do the UTMB version in 4 days as training for the race or just because. The idea, is you can make up your own schedule to get what you want to out of the adventure. The trails are mountain, there are steep drop offs, the weather can be changeable and should be respected as such. There are technical sections, not really scrambling but rocky paths, long climbs and long steep descents. It is well sign posted as most popular trails are but you should be able to do some basic navigation, even by a gpx. You can stay in refuges, hotels (when available) or camp (where allowed). Usually people take this on from mid June until late September but there is high chance of snow in June and even in September depending on the weather.

Most people do the route anti clockwise. Starting in France, then Italy, then Switzerland and finishing back in France. But of course you can go the other way. You can book on tours with mountain guides. I know some great ones but that comes at a cost as you pay for their expert experience. You can also pay for baggage transfer between accommodations if you don’t want to carry everything and add in some luxuries.

We opted for neither of these, we all have enough experience in mountain races to know our limits and how to be safe on this type of trail. Although I had never fast packed anything, I was pretty confident I would be fine as I have spent 24 hours on the mountains before in races.

PLANNING

Now this was the fun part. I really enjoy this shit!

Initially I suggested 5 days but after some persuasion from Jules we made it 6 and she was 100% right. For us this was a holiday, not a training trip. It was to celebrate 50 years on this earth with friends, we wanted to enjoy all the food and take those moments in every day. Not being too stressed about making dinner each night.

What I did next, was try to work out how to split the route up into 6 days so I would know where to start and finish each day. Where could we stay? How much distance and elevation would each day be? I was struggling to do this in a simple way until I discovered Komoot by accident. I knew about it from a couple of people I follow on Instagram but didn’t know about planning multi day adventures. It’s perfect for this. I found someone had created a TMB template and just took that. You can then say how many days you want to do the route in, it then breaks it up and this is the cool bit. You can then adjust each start and stop point based on where you want to stay. It will show you options for refuges (not all, but enough). You can then add notes and create gpx files for each day. I started a google spread sheet to keep things in place, this would be invaluable later.

Here is our plan for the whole trip in simple terms with accommodation, distance and elevation gain.

Day 0: Fly to Geneva and bus to chamonix and bus to les Boucher to stay in Gîte Michel Fagot

Day 1: Les Houches to Refuge De La Balme, Via Col de Tricot variant (29km 2000m+)

Day 2: De La Balme to Refugio Combal (30km 1800m+)

Day 3: Combal to Refugio Bonatti (26km, 1500+)

Day 4: Bonatti to Champex Lac Bakery (34km, 1400m+)

Day 5: Champex to Gîte D’etape le Moulin (29km 1800m+)

Day 6: Le Moulin to Les Houches (27km, 1500m+), then staying in Chamonix

Day 7: Spa and food

Day 8: Travel back

The reason I picked the Col du Tricot variant at the start is because I wanted to avoid the Saint Gervais to Les Contamines section, because it’s boring. I ran that the previous year on a training weekend. Plus there is a nice refuge at the bottom of the col with great food! The rest of the route was pretty much the standard unless a path was closed here or there. I agreed this with the team and they seemed happy to be on board. I purposefully put in a short day to go and stay at Bonnati as I had run past it twice before and just fancied staying there for the views.

Next up is accommodation booking. Luckily Jules knew that you have to book early for most of it, especially at the smaller refuges. They open bookings in October. You need to keep an eye on when this happens. There is a site which does most of the bookings so you can do in one go I’ll link to it here. It wouldn’t do Bonnati as they have there own thing going on. The tricky one was Champex Lac. I wanted to stay in the village but it’s mostly full of more expensive hotels. Again Jules to the rescue as she had heard about some rooms above a famous bakery, which is run by the family who created PTL (a crazy long race that’s part of UTMB week). I put her in charge of that booking in french. I managed to book all but Refugio Combal in one session. They were having issues with the booking system. There was a delay of about a month but I asked the lovely manager to let me know when it would open and I managed to get us in there as well.

Booking these was a big relief. Also being a group of 4 made it much better, we would either request a 4 person room or just be given one. I think it was only Bonatti that we had to pay extra for it.

Right, for those that don’t know about the refuges here is a low down. They are basic mountain huts. Most have bunk beds. They give you a mattress, a pillow and warm sheet but you need to bring a silk liner to sleep in. They come as half board as standard, dinner, then breakfast included in the price. They can also provide a picnic lunch as an extra if you want it. They have showers to varying degrees of quality. Usually each 4 person room has one plug socket. You also have to arrive by a certain time or they might give your room away. Most only accept cash as well. I will review each accommodation place in the execution section. They are not hotels, so please do treat the people who run them with respect and expect not to sleep that well in most. It is what it is and often they have to helicopter in supplies.

Back to this being a holiday, we booked a hotel in Chamonix for two nights to finish up and it just to happened to be a spa hotel!

I guess you want to know costs, I think its good to be transparent here, so you have an idea

Gîte Michel Fagot (4 person dorm, turned out to b 4 person room) €63.50 pp

Refuge de la Balme (4 bed dorm) €70.80 pp

Refugio Combal (4 person room) €95 pp

Refugio Bonatti (4 person dorm) €90 pp

Bakery Champex Lac (2x 2person rooms breakfast only) €70 pp

Gîte Les Moulins (turned out to be 4 person room) €49

Hotel Chamonix 2 nights (2 twin rooms no breakfast) £142 pp

That’s a total accommodation cost of roughly £517 for 8nights.

Now some places charged a local tax of €2, some didn’t. Also, you pay a deposit for most in advance and the bulk in cash on site. I think this is because you can cancel sometimes and if they fill the rooms then you get your deposit back. Be prepared to take a few hundred euros on the trip in cash though. You’ll also need it for drinks, which come at mountain prices too!

A little more on planning though. In my spreadsheet I put in rest stop options for each day, with distances and what type. Is it a refuge or a shop. These are important to figure out as you need that motivation to keep moving sometimes! I could find these on Komoot and google maps. The team liked to know each day where we would be stopping. Sometimes we found some bonus ones, which was super helpful and a lovely surprise.

One final thing on accommodation, if you have food allergies, are vegan, vegetarian etc, please email the refuges and they will do their best. I did for all as Jay is vegan and nearly all responded 🙂

KIT LIST

This is super personal BUT, there are some things that really are mandatory IMO for mountain adventures. I am going to break this down into a few sections and then explain my reasoning.

Think about what you might need and then consider the bag you might want if you don’t have one already. I had the Montane 20L bag from my spine adventures. I did packing test using this and everything fitted pretty well, I decided it was not worth buying a new bag. Ale had a Salomon 25L, Jay a Black Diamond 22L and Jules a UD 20L. This is all a personal choice, ask friends, go to a store if you can and look at different ones, think about where you will put snacks etc. I was mainly worried about where to stow my poles as I don’t like putting them on the front, so last minute I bought an Inov8 pole belt as it is adjustable for bloating.

Clothes

2 x pairs of running socks

2 x sets of running pants

2 x running tee shirts

2 x running shorts

1 x long sleeve top

1 x warm layer (primaloft jacket)

1 x leggings

1 x spare shorts with liner

Trail Shoes

Flip flops

With having two complete sets of running clothes, this would allow a change at a refuge and a wash of that days kit. The spare shorts were for sleeping in only. The leggings were for safety or as an option to wear post run if it was cold. The primoloft jacket was there, again for safety or wearing in the evenings if sat outside. We knew that some refuges would provide crocs but we also wanted our own flip flops. I found a reasonably lightweight pair that would travel flat. I wore everything here and was super happy for the leggings.

Safety kit

3 x soft flasks (keeping one as a back up or for any days when water might be more tricky)

1x Buff

1 x set of arm warmers

1 x WP jacket

1 x WP Trousers

1 x warm hat

1 x liner/thin running gloves

1 x warm WP gloves

1 x goretex overmits

1 x small headtorch

1 x Micro spikes

First aid kit

Blister/taping kit with scissors

Leki Poles

Sunglasses

Suncream

The arm warmer are a key piece of kit for me. I was expecting some cooler mornings, so these are perfect. Plus if it rains they provide a layer from your skin without having to put another layer on with your WP jacket. The Goretex overmits have become a staple also, since my friend Cajsa gave me this tip. Keeping my hands dry with the thinner glovers underneath really makes a difference. The micro spikes were a precaution as there had been quite a bit of snow on the route this year even with us going late July, we were not 100% convinced it had gone enough.

Other Kit/Accessories

Sleeping bag liner (silk)

Ear plugs

Deodorant

Toothbrush/toothpaste

Life adventure camping wash (good for clothes and body)

Micro towel

Charging cables (watch, phone & camera)

Multi use USB plug

Cabled headphones (for listening to audio books/podcasts at night)

Insta 360 camera

Toilet kit (wipes/tissues and bags)

Lightweight charge pack

Bed bug spray

Dry bags, a mix of two larger and 2 smaller to keep things separate.

Lots of cash and banks cards

Passport

Helicopter rescue insurance (like the one ITRA does)

My one luxury was the Insta 360 camera. I wanted to capture a few shots of the route using the amazing device. The bed bug spray we considered a requirement. France has had a bed bug problem for the last year. The Refuges do lots to help but we all had a little bottle and planned to spray our beds each night before dinner. The plug was key. The one I purchased can be used worldwide and has 3xUSBC and 2xUSBA sockets in, plus you can plug a regular UK plug in if need be. We were also told to carry our passports as we would be travelling between countries and could be asked for them at anytime.

Carried Fuel

Right, this we had a lot of discussion on. The plan was always to pick up some snacks/sweets on route plus try and stop for lunch each day. As we would be moving slower than in a race we wouldn’t need quite as much as that kind of effort. I figured on 2 gels, plus some sweets or veloforte/scratch and one Skratch drink per day. Then added in some extra gels for safety.

15 x Veloforte gels

2 x Veloforte chews

2 x Skratch chews

6 x Skratch drink sachets

Fuel weighs quite a bit, so think about this carefully but don’t scrimp on what you need for yourself as we are all different. I mention stopping points in the day by day write up as this is important. We also figured on 7-8 hour days as well, which is fairly chill but not ambling.

I never fully weighed my pack with water but I think around 7-8kg fully loaded. I have some experience of training with the spine bag, so was used to this weight but if you don’t I would suggest some test walks/runs to see what works for you. I’ll cover what worked and what didn’t in the learnings at the end.

EXECUTION

Before we went out we had a planning call, where I went through the route, accommodation and spreadsheet. It was a nice time to just have some banter and talk about how we felt about the trip. Jules was coming back from running after a stress reaction, Jay has a dodgy knee that is awaiting surgery but she was fine to run and was in fact easier for her to run than walk. Ale loves his down hills but struggles on the climbs. I’m better on climbs and ok at the downs. We were a real mixed bag of talents but I felt it was a good mix and like I said, this wasn’t a race, it was a holiday 😉

Something else I need to mention before I get into the days, is that we planned to leave two bags at the starting refuge for the week. These would have travel clothes and items for after the adventure. The refuge charged us per day based on weight. It was €60 per bag for 6 days, split between two. Just something to think about.

Right let’s get on with the actual story. What’s an adventure without starting with an adventure! We were supposed to be flying to Geneva with EasyJet on Saturday morning. On the Friday there was a global IT issue when a software update went wrong. It affected many companies, including some airlines and airports BUT everything seemed fine with EasyJet. A friend even landed ok in Geneva on the Friday. I set my alarm for 4.45am to have a quick shower before a taxi to Gatwick, only to awake to see the dreaded notification that our flight had been cancelled! Cue panicked messages in our WhatsApp group. The evening flight was sold out, there was not Sunday morning flight, the only one easyJet could offer was a Sunday night with a layover arriving Monday AM. That’s was not acceptable as we wouldn’t be able to access our accommodation very easily or cheaply at that point. Other flights were over £500 and also involved a layover. We jumped on a call to discuss and Jules found a way via trains, plural. We just missed the last few regular class tickets so had to buy First class Eurostar and then the follow on trains, which cost us £455 each! We just agreed to worry about claiming this back from the airline later and met up at St Pancras for a long ass journey. Long story short, we made it with a final little car pick up from a friend about 7pm to our refuge in Les Houches in time for a delayed supper. I had messaged it to let them know. It was a long day and we essentially lost our relaxing time in Chamonix but also very glad to not be missing any of the route.

Gîte Michel Fagot, is about 3mins from the starting arch of the TMB. Food was ok. I hadn’t managed to arrange Vegan option for Jay, but this this was my fault for emailing the wrong address. Room was ok. We had a 2 bunk, 4 bed room. 1 wall socket for charging. Showers not bad, no limits on water (it is in the village) and pretty quiet at night as not a big hostel. We showered Saturday night so our towels could dry. Breakfast was the usual fare of cereal, breast, toast and some eggs. We left just after 8am to start the real adventure.

DAY 1 – Les Houches to Refuge De La Balme

We knew it would rain at some point but the weather really can be unpredictable. There was also the chance of thunderstorms. We planned to be up and over the Col (de Tricot) by 12.00am hoping to miss any potential danger. Of course it started raining on the way out of Les Houches, jackets went on. Then the climb started getting steep, poles out…except one of my Leki poles was stuck. Cue some comedy trying to sort and Ale to the rescue with an elastic band! This is my own fault for not checking them before I came out. I decided that day I wouldn’t fold them away and see how they would be in the evening. The drizzle continued on and off on the climb up to Bellview cable car. Note you can just skip this climb if you want to have an easier day. Once up there it properly started raining and we could even hear some thunder, but it wasn’t close or appearing to be coming our way, so we felt safe to continue, even if we did make a small nav error and had to back track a little.

On the variant to the Col, it was a lovely woodland path, which sheltered us from the heavy rain. Unfortunately Jay took a bit of a tumble on a tree root and cut her good knee open, not adventure ending but a bleeder for sure. I enjoyed this section of the trail, even though it was busy with some larger groups. Everyone let us past and lots of smiles. We also got to go over the suspension bridge near the Glacier Bionnassay (last time I was here it was too early in the year and Jay and I had to reroute, due to no bridge). As we came up to the traverse to the Col, the rain eased off and slowly the cloud started to disperse. The views were not as good as last year but it’s still a great place to be. The descent was not though. The rain had made the 2nd half tricky as it’s a dirt path, which was basically mud for quite a bit and our poles were needed to keep us up right, but the promise of a lovely lunch kept us moving.

Refuge de Miage was our choice of lunch. It was approx half way for the day and we got there about 12.00 as planned. Jay and Ale were feeling the cold a bit with stopping, luckily we were given a lovely inside dining area with a wood burner for them to warm up. Jules, Ale and I shared the biggest omelette I have ever seen! We couldn’t even eat it all but still made room for the famous blueberry tart, that’s made with the alpine blueberry’s. In hindsight it was probably too much food but hey, everyday is a school day. We even made friends with a doggy before heading off. Next Stop Les Contamines. A small climb then a fair bit of downhill on a mix of fire roads and woodland trails. We decided we didn’t need to stop here though as we were pretty full, apart from Jay, but she was snacking on bars. Sadly that refuge didn’t really have much for vegans. There are shops if you might need some snacks though.

You then have a fairly chilled riverside run out of the village. It’s on a slight incline though, so we ran walked it. Got to hate those douche climbs! The sun came out to play, which was nice and made the afternoon quite enjoyable, then we started the real climb. It’s another 700-ish metres up to the refuge, mostly along a fire road/wider track. Jay’s and my pace was a little quicker so we pushed on while Jules and Ale were doing their pace. I do find if I’m feeling good I just have to keep moving. We made it to the refuge about 4.30pm and the cloud came back in. Ale and Jules were about 10-15mins behind.

This was to be my first mountain hut experience. First off they told us to take a plastic box to put the contents of our packs in. The packs, poles and shoes had to stay outside. The plastic boxes are to help with keeping bedbugs away. No clothes on beds and nothing on the floors. We had another 2 bunk/4 bed room to ourselves. There was plenty of space but the annoying thing is the plug socket was outside the room. The shower block was just round the corner but outside, as were the toilets and wash basins. We all showered and washed our clothes but due to it being quite moist were pretty sure they wouldn’t dry by morning. That was a tomorrow problem though.

We sat outside and had a drink, it was chilly and I was glad of the layers and leggings. Dinner was served inside at 7pm. The hostel was full but not too big, so felt ok. Dinner was ok, fairly hearty affair. The vegan menu I requested for Jay was just a best endeavours and I think she missed some hot food here. They do the best they can, but be prepared. Her pudding was an apple.

Note that a lot of Refuges you pay for your drinks and any room extras after dinner. Then they shut it all down as you are expected to be quiet/in your bedrooms by 9ish.

DAY 2: De la Balme to Refugio Combal

I was super excited for this day as everything would be new. We would also cross into Italy. There is something about traversing to another country by foot that warms my heart and makes me smile.

We slept averagely. Breakfast was ok, cant really remember now what we had, I just remember Jay having 4 cups of coffee and Jules forgetting her tea bags, again. I think that happened every morning. It was misty again, but not quite raining. Just before we left I was trying to get a small bit of phone signal, so that I could do my Duolingo for the day (got to keep the streak going), when a female runner came blasting past up hill. She was so quick but I did a double take and noticed it was Lucy Bartholomew. She was gone so quick that I didn’t even have time to say hi. Well that was a nice start to the day. We took a group photo and started on the climb up, yup always start with a climb. This became a tradition for the trail but it feels ok as you have just had breakfast and you can ease into the the day, yeah that’s my mentality. The mist soon became drizzle and the jackets came on but spirits were high. We agreed to take it a bit easier on this first climb and stick together, especially with visibility quite low and the possibility of some snow to cross. It was a shame there were no views but it also gave it a kind mystical feel. The terrain was quite rocky in places but then a bit muddy too. A real mixture as we headed to Col Bonhomme. It seemed we must have been almost last to leave as we overtook most of the people from our refuge on that climb. One pair took a slight wrong turn and ended up in a snow field rather than on the path, luckily they noticed the error. We had a couple of small snow crossings but it wasn’t until we got to a snow bridge that we had something more technical to deal with. Ale, just went across, but the rest of us elected for a more of a rocky scramble up stream. I think it looked silly to him and he was kinda right but safety first IMO. There was even a refuge up there, which must have been fun to stay in, maybe we would have stayed there if doing in 5 days.

The descent in to Les Chapieux was a real mixture too. The damp muddy bits were hard, the rocky easier. It started off pretty steep, then eased off nicely as we came out of the cloud below 2000m. Even though we slowed down a bit, we were still making really good time, which was good to see. We had a quick stop in the little village for a soft drink, use the loo and buy some crisps for later. Something I should point out is that you can expect to pay anything from €3.50 to €5 for a can of Coke or Fanta/Orangina! Be prepared. I wish we had kept a count of how many we drank for laughs, it would have been a lot.

I heard the next section on the road would be a little boring but the sun was back out, jackets were off and suncream was applied. It was a long, not so steep climb up the valley. There is an option to take a path on the other side of the river to La Ville Des Glaciers if you fancy it but we just felt the road was fine. There is also a bus if you want to avoid that section all together.

Now as the sun was out, we used this time to pin our slightly damp clothes to the outsides of our packs using safety pins. It was at this point I noticed my socks hadn’t been washed so well, sorry for that stink guys. As soon as we passed a stream I stopped and just gave them a damn good rinse. This seemed to do the job.

Back on the trail and it was time to stop for our planned lunch at Refuge Des Mottets, sitting around 2000m again. This was a funny place. The bunk rooms seemed spaced out like army barrack rooms. It had a large toilet shower block and then a main dining room. Our first error was not knowing that the menu was just inside the door and that you just go to the door by the kitchen to order. This wasted 20mins, we then got stuck behind some other orders. So we spent about 90mins or maybe even 1hr 45mins there, which was too long really. I did have a very nice savoury crepe but ordering a large salad to share with Jules was silly. Must get better at this eating portion control. Sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach and it’s not cheap either!

Off we went post lunch heading up to the Italian border. This was a nice climb of 500m more, as we had technically started the long climb back in to Les Chapieux. The col was lovely, the sun was out, smiles all around. We were in Italy and it was all downhill for the rest of the day. Just before we started that descent, Irish Ultra runner Emma Stuart (who I had met at Laverado) came blasting past. This time I did shout “Hi” and she stopped for a few mins before saying that she had to get a bus in Courmayeur and had to motor. I later found out the bus was 5mins late and so was she, so it all worked out.

This next section in Italy was lush. Officially in the Aosta Valley now, the mountains just looked different and it was lush. The descent not too steep and flowing. The only hiccup was when we didn’t quiet know which path to take near Rifugio Elisbetta and Ale took a tumble, giving him a nice knee wound to go with Jays. Something to note about this section is there is a diversion to the Pyramids, which they do on the UTMB, we didn’t do that. Just headed off to our accommodation for the night.

I think Cabanne (or Refugio) Combal was my favourite place to stay. It’s a lovely looking building nestled at the perfect point in the valley. Again, I had booked us a 4 person room, but what I didn’t realise was that it was 4 singles beds, we had our own toilet and shower, plus towels and we didn’t need to use our liners. It had an inside seating bar as well as outside, then a separate dining area. Again you had to leave backpacks, shoes and poles outside. They provided crocs if you needed them. It was lovely sitting outside having a beer with some crisps after a lush day on the trails. Cool again, once the sun went behind the mountains but dinner was soon served and it was really good. They even had some hot food for Jay, which was very welcome. Staff really helpful too. One thing to note, is they turn the generator off at 9pm, so you have to make sure you have everything charged and unplugged by then. It comes back on at 6am I think, so not a problem. Also the skylights don’t have blinds, but wasn’t really a problem. I enjoyed seeing the stars above us.

DAY 3: Combal to Bonatti

We slept well, and were up at 6.30 as usual. Breakfast was a simple affair, toast, cereal etc but we filled up and left the around 8am again. We were all excited about this day. It was shortest day but also featured a longer stopover in the Italian town of Courmayeur where we promised Jay we would have pizza. She wanted a big hot meal.

First we had our morning climb to get up and over. The sun was out from the start but it wasn’t too hot yet. I found the climb a little tougher than I was expecting to start, which was really weird, maybe just was a little fatigued from the previous two days but I soon perked up. At the top we had lovely views across to the Mont Blanc Massif and down the valley. Another moment where I was just thinking how lucky I was to be here, we asked some lovely Norwegian women to take our photo and then proceeded to get stuck into the descent, which was around 1200m over 8km. It was really enjoyable all the way to Refugio Randoneur, where we stopped for a drink and a little rest before the final drop into the town. The route we wanted to take was closed though so we had to take the ski road instead. I heard the actual path is less fun but it was a shame to miss it.

We dropped into the old town of Courmayeur, which was a delight before moving over to the main drag. Last time I was here, was just before the start of the CCC, with Jay as well. We were too early for lunch though! It was just after 11am, so we went for a drink in a cafe, more expensive coffee and coke. Then hit up a pizza restaurant at 12.00, food was good but I was now a bit worried about sitting down for too long and the temperature had gone up a lot! The town thermometer was showing 30c and we had a beast of a climb to do up to Refugio Bertone, another 800m in around 6km. On the road section out of town we were already starting to feel it (apart from Jay who was super happy), the joys of midday sun and belly’s full of food. The climb was a beast, steep, technical and so many switch backs. I was really feeling the effort, I stupidly stuck with Jay though, we had little rests every 200m or so but it didn’t really help. When we finally got to the top and Refugio, I was done, so very done. Jules and Ale came up about 10mins or so later looking not too bad. In hindsight, I wish I had just slowed down and stuck with them. We had a little rest, I couldn’t even face Fanta or Coke, just some juice.

The next section of the trail is just stunning. I have run it twice before, it’s a rolling balcony, which I had been looking forward to all day. Alas, right now it was a death march, I was overheated, dehydrated and just wanted to get to the Refugio Bonatti to end the day. The others were super supportive of my bitching and moaning. To be honest it ruined the day for me.

Arriving at the Refugio, was great. I could stop and sit, I could chill and rehydrate. It’s funny though, my thoughts on this place changed during the evening. I had been excited to stay here. It does have the amazing views. Sitting outside is magical but it’s just too big. The shower situation of having barely 2mins (using a token) of hot water is a bit of a nightmare. Then tying to wash your dirty clothes in freezing cold water also doesn’t help. I understand why they do it but maybe 3mins would be a bit kinder. At dinner time it was so noisy as the place was rammed and we could barely chat to each other and the other TMBers on our table. The food was alright but I was feeling really rough and was forcing food down to help with recovery. I just wanted to go to bed. I barely slept though as some mild heat stoke came on, I was so hot, I was drinking and trying to regulate myself, it took a few hours. Then the diarrhoea came on. I was in and out of the toilet 3 times that night and then wondered what the hell I was going to do. Would this be the end of my TMB adventure?

Day 4: Bonatti to Champex Lac

I am always one for problem solving. I worked out that I had two options. 1, quit and get the bus back to Courmayeur and then a bus through the tunnel to Chamonix or 2, make it to Switzerland and see how I felt. When we got up at 6.30 again, the heatstroke had gone but my stomach was a bit of a mess and I was tired. I ate some bread at breakfast and continued to drink plenty of water but didn’t want to risk anything else.

My plan, was to not quit. I found that I could get a bus to Champex Lac from La Fouly. This would mean skipping a fairly flat runnable section through some pretty Swiss villages, before the little 300m climb up to the finish. It was the longest day at 34km but the least elevation. Sadly most of that was at the start. There was the small matter of getting up and over Grand Col Ferret. Another climb I knew well from the CCC. I was determined though, I wouldn’t let this beat me. I would go slow and steady, I would fuel on a couple of gels and some Skratch drink. Then see how I felt in La Fouly. Everyone else was in good spirits and kept up the encouragement, it was really appreciated. We had 5km before we even got to the climb and I actually did a little running, which was nice. It’s another evil climb up to the col but I was actually feeling better than the previous day because it wasn’t as hot. We took it steady, had a couple of short stops but on the whole just kept moving. We were soon at the top, in fact it was a little cold, so we didn’t hang around. The descent to La Foully is long but not too steep, the only tricky bits were the small amounts of snow, where we made sure not to slip over but it felt good to be moving. I ran/walked it down at the back, sticking to my plan of easy. As we got lower in the valley, the path became a bit more rooty and I slowed, plus it was getting a little warmer. I made my choice, I would get the bus and rest to hopefully be good for the next two days.

As we entered La Fouly, I checked the time of the buses, and found one in 15mins. I asked at the tourist info centre (where there is a toilet and water tap), where the bus stop was and bought a ticket (you can also buy on the bus and pay with cards). I even had time to grab an ice lolly at the shop, which was to be our lunch stop. The others bought sandwiches and I bid them farewell.

The bus took approx 1 hour, it went via Orsieres, but I didn’t have to change bus, we just had a 10min stop. I got off the bus by the Lac, to enjoy a little walk up by it to our accommodation. It was about 2pm and I was hoping I could check in early as really wanted a nap. As I mentioned before, we were staying above a bakery. This was a place Jules had found out about. It’s a famous bakery run by a couple who also are part of the UTMB, the PTL is named after the husband. The wife and son were working while we stayed. It was no bother for them to let me in early. We had two twin rooms, there were 3 rooms available. Also a lounge, two toilets and a washing machine, which I will come to in a bit. 

I basically just put my phone on do not disturb and fell asleep for around 2 hours. It was the best nap I had in ages and it really helped. I still hadn’t eaten much, just a small sandwich from the bakery, so I was still low on energy but feeling much better and happy with my life choice that day

When I loaded up my run to Strava, I saw that I’d hiked the climb up Ferret quicker than on the CCC, which made me chuckle

Jay had shared her live location so I could see when they would arrive. They came in about 4.30pm-ish and were pretty happy to be done especially Ale, who had taken a tumble, whilst trying to chase elite runner Tom Evans, who was out on a UTMB recce. He had smashed himself quite badly and was wondering if he would run the next day or not. It wasn’t hospital level injuries but more of a precaution and to add to his already cut knee from day 2, he was a bit worse for wear.

Everyone showered and we decided to use the washing machine to do our clothes as having a proper spin dry plus placing on clothes rack would mean they would be dry and not needing to be safety pinned to our packs. This would be the last wash of the trip as we already had dry clothes for the next day. Small things like this make all the difference on fast packing.

That night we all went out for dinner as our room was breakfast only. Switzerland is expensive, plus my stomach was still being a little off, so I elected to have some simple pasta in tomato sauce, just in the hope some calories would stay in. Jay had a terrible pizza, so she ate the rest of my giant bowl of pasta. We stayed up a little later than usual but still planned to be up for 7.30 breakfast.

Day 5: Champex to Gîte Les Moulins

I slept pretty well considering, didn’t really eat much at breakfast as didn’t want any early trail incidents. It was a shame as the breakfast looked amazing. This is a worthwhile alternative to a hotel if staying in Champex but book early. Ale decided to take a day off and catch a bus and a couple of trains to meet us at the Gîte. Again we headed off around 8am. For a change it didn’t start with a steep climb but I forgot to test my poles, they had been fine for a couple of days, when I remembered, about 15mins away, there were of course stuck. So I had to leg it back to Ale to ask for his elastic band! Once that was sorted we were properly on our way. It’s nice and rolling to start, some woodland, some road, some fire road. Lots of other TMBers were asking us if we were taking the bovine route, I thought we were but couldn’t remember 100% and when I came this way in 2022 it was dark. It turned out we were heading that way, so sorry to all those hikers. A 800m climb up it was, of course but lovely to see everything.

My plan for the day was to stick behind Jules and just go at her pace, whatever that was. I had some gels and chews to fuel. This first climb wasn’t too bad, a few switchbacks but also some more easier gradients, it just took a little while, but that was ok. The morning sun was nice, not too hot. Jay pushed on at her pace and we regrouped at the Bovine hut, Jules grabbed a coke and we topped up our water before we headed down. We took it steady down as well, enjoying the views. Soon we arrived at Col de La Forclaz. I used the toilet here, lucky they had one! I also bought Jules and I an ice lolly in the shop, while Jay had some crisps and a red bull. Maybe it would have been good for me to get an isotonic drink here in hindsight. Jules and I walked off with our lollies and were soon at the little metal gangway above the road, not at all scary btw. The route we took avoided Trient which is on the UTMB races route. There isn’t much there tbh, we were now on a new path to us all. 

The original plan was to stop for lunch at refuge La Peuty before climbing up to Col de Balme. It was 12.20 ish though and I could see Jay didn’t want to stop as did I. Sorry Jules. We thought we could do the next climb fairly swiftly and make it to the refuge for food. It was another 800ish climb but this one was not easy at all! Jules and I quickly decided that Jay should just push on, it was steep as fuck and technical. Plus we had to get past some pack horses carrying peoples stuff on TMB round. The first set of switchbacks went on forever and it was getting hot again. Luckily there were plenty of streams to dip our buffs in once it levelled out a bit before more switch backs. I remember the climb out of Trient being evil on CCC, this version was just as bad.

Some light relief came in some less than 20% climbing and come views down the valley. We were being much slower than I thought we would be but there was no sign of heat stroke coming back so that was a win. When we could finally see the refuge, that was a good sign but alas, there were more switch backs to deal with…sigh. Then we finally saw Jay at the top, which was a welcome sight. I think she had been waiting for around 20mins, bless her. We had a quick chat, Jules and I wanted or stop at the refuge (de Balme), Jay obviously had been waiting a while, so we said she should just truck on. It really was one of those days but we were all cool with it. You have to find people you can just be honest with about this stuff on these adventures. You are together but also not sometimes and that’s fine.

Jules and stepped in to the refuge hoping for some kind of yummy food. Alas it was 2.15 and they had stopped serving hot food at 2. Dang it! They offered pudding, cake or crisps plus drinks. I opted for a packet of crisps, an Orangina and a banana for later. Still worried about my stomach, I needed to keep if fairly safe. Jules had a big slab of cake. It was really nice to chill for a bit but soon it was time to finish the day off. Not before spending 10mins trying to find the toilet. It’s not marked! We looked at the rest of the route. Seemed simple, a down, then a shortish up then along down hill to the finish for the day…well it wasn’t quite so simple.

The down hill to start was pretty easy, nice and runnable trails. The climb, well it was steep, technical and around large boulders, slow going all the way to Aiguillette des Posettes. But the view once up was amazing, looking down into the Chamonix valley. We could see Mont Blanc again and the sun was shining. Hard not to be too pissed off at that climb with views like this. We met two lovely South African guys, who were doing the trip in 7 days but camping and carrying all there stuff. Amazing, made me feel bad about bitching about my little bag!

Now it was all down hill to the finish…except this was one of the most evil descents I have done. This isn’t on any of the UTMB race routes and I can see why. It starts of all nice and flowing but then soon descends into steps, rocks rooty hell. Oh and is very steep and has some not so fun switch backs. Jules and I took it super easy…well it was mostly me as was starting to feel a bit tired now. The lack of big fuel was starting to hit hard. I then had my first and only bush toilet dash, shortly followed by puking up the half a banana I had had 30min earlier, sigh. I am sorry if I am sounding a bit grumpy. I mean I was still in the mountains having fun but it was bordering type 3. The relief when we got to the bottom was pretty darn big. Seeing the road made me happy, I knew it wasn’t far to the lodgings and I was looking forward to staying at this place.

When we rocked up Ale, was sat outside. Apparently he had hiked up that last climb then ran down. Well not really ran but hobbled as his leg was giving him a bit of jip, that’s a medical term by the way. We were too slow for him and Jay was too quick. She had gone to get snacks at the shop. We sat outside and had some soft drinks, then some crisps when Jay returned. Gîte Les Moulins turned out to be a delightful place. Small but perfect for us. Loads of showers and we even got a 4 person room to ourselves, which was nice. The food was really nice too.I took a calculated risk and ate most of it. They even did some fab food for Jay too. One thing to note, there is very little signal inside, there is Wi-Fi right next to the kitchen though, we sat at that table as I really wanted it catchup on some admin. The owners here were super lovely. 3 of us even requested just a sandwich for the next day as food options would be limited and they were happy to do that rather than the “full picnic” option.

Day 6 Les Moulins to Les Houches

Sleep was a bit broken but ok, last night in a bunk! I even ate a bit more at breakfast. I was nervous about this day as it had the infamous ladder section in it. I had watched some videos to hopefully give a bit of confidence, which had helped but until you are actually there you just don’t know. I had told the others and they were super supportive. I was determined to face this fear though.

We were excited for the final day, today we would all finish together, today we would complete the loop but first there was 26km and another 1500m of climbing and 1800m descending to be accomplished. The day started at the usual time of around 8-8.30, we retraced our steps  back up to the road. The first climbing section wasn’t too bad, a few switch backs and rolling rocky rooty paths, standard. Steadily making our way up, taking it easy, fuelling well. Then came the ladders, the weather was perfect, no wind and clear skies (yes that meant you could see all the way down but hey). It actually was ok. Even the little traverses didn’t bother me, I think I have got much better at this kind of exposure. I did have a gel before going up and made sure my HR was stable. The bit that got me was steep steps/scramble bits in between the two ladder sections. My HR was really high and I had to take little breaks but when we got to the top, to Tête aux Vents, I was super happy and proud of myself. 

I remembered this summit from CCC and knew what the next section to La Flégêre would be like. It’s more rolling rockyness, it was pretty warm now and we were all looking forward to a little stop. On the way up to the shop there is ski ramp, which I remember cursing during the race. This time we were passed by elite athletes Hayden Hawks and Dan Jones, on their cool down. They were very kind and cheered us on, I think I had seen Dan a few days earlier, he passed us doing his UTMB recce. At the shop, we took an extended break to have a bunch of drinks and use the toilet. I decided it was time to try poweraid in a flask, my Skratch was gone and felt I would need the extra energy and electrolytes today. We also had to buy water as there was no drinking water here, that we could find. We headed off towards Plan Praz.

Something about this whole day was different. We all noticed it, as we were closer to Chamonix, it wasn’t just TMBers on the trail, there were a lot more families and day runners/hikers out. The trail was much busier, I guess it was a little annoying but it is what it is right. 

At Plan Praz, there was a Jazz festival going on, really funny to hear live music up in the mountains, seemed so out of place but also appropriate at the same time. We stopped here for 20mins so Ale and Jules could eat their sandwiches. I just had a couple of bites on mine, I was a bit worried about my tummy still and no where really to dive off trail in case of emergency. We also made a choice here to not go up to Brévent on the traditional path and use the ski track. Jules, Jay and I had done the traditional before, so fancied a change. It’s steeper but less technical. I actually felt pretty good on this climb, the final climb of the TMB! There were some snow patches to cross but no need for the spikes if just being careful. Lots of families with just simple trainers on. Does make me wonder, really does. It’s still the mountains people!

At the top, we decided not to go up to the Brévant viewing point. It was super busy and I’ve been there a couple of times before and Ale wasn’t too bothered either. Now it was a simple 1500m downhill over 10km! I actually really enjoyed this, it started off with a big boulders path, which was super fun to skip over. The power aid and sweets kept me going. There was a welcome stop at one last chalet, Refuge de Bellachat provided some more water and Coke to top us up. Final push now. Roots and rocks as usual but now the trails were quiet. Just the TMBers and a few locals. I was running really freely now (when I could), it was the best I had felt in a while. Maybe it was the feeling of the big bag soon coming off or the sweet sugar rush. We had one little diversion due to trail repairs but otherwise it was plain sailing into Les Houches. A little bit of road and we were back at the sign, we had left 6 days earlier. Smiles and photos.

We went to the refuge, where we left our bags and ordered some beers and crisps. Time to celebrate. We had two nights in Chamonix, seeing friends and hanging out in the spa and enjoying comfy beds, clean clothes and some nice food.

An adventure for sure, not how I expected it to be but that’s the whole point right.

THOUGHTS & LEARNINGS

What to say really. I am just so thankful to have this opportunity, to have friends who will join in on these adventures and a supportive family. It wasn’t the best for me but it wasn’t the worst, I am proud of myself for planning and executing the TMB. Learning about managing my kit and body over 6 days of hard mountain running/hiking. Are there better/quieter routes, of course but for a first time multi day it’s so well supported. You can find plenty of information on the Facebook group and by asking people like me who have done it.

What did I learn though? Well I should have taken some more electrolytes. Even a tube of tablets would have helped. Bring tape! I used it most days and also gave bit out to the team, especially the small Hapla band, its perfect for the toes. Carrying the spikes for 6 days felt silly but also, it could have changed at any point. We had been keeping an eye on the snow levels via the Facebook group for the weeks in advance. This year had been a big late snow year. Otherwise I wouldn’t really change a thing or the kit I took. Everything worked, most things were used.

Travel with people you trust 100%, at no point did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable expressing worries or concerns and I feel they were the same back.

The joy of everyday, waking up in the mountains and seeing the views is something I will never take for granted. I miss it but it will be there for another trip.

Last piece of advice, make the trip your own. It’s your time in the mountains, do it your way as they are your memories to make.

PHOTO CREDITS: Jay, Ale, Jules and Me.