As a way to mark a few important milestones in our family, we decided a long walk somewhere really beautiful was in order. A New York Times article on the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) sparked our interest last December, and thus began our first family trek.
The purpose of this post is to give armchair and potential self-guided TMB trekkers a taste of the trail, and also give people in the planning stages some suggestions on how to avoid some of the missteps we made. For starters, in spite of the warnings we read about bringing too much stuff, we could not resist the temptation to overload, which we regretted before we even stepped foot on the trail. I have, for my own future reference, put together a list of essentials based on our experience. If you stick to those your pack should not weigh more than 12-15 pounds, unless you are camping.
We started our walk the first week in June, just as many places along the trail were opening for the season. The advantages were that we weren't sharing the trail or refuges with scores of other hikers, and there were loads of spring wildflowers everywhere giving me ample opportunities to stop and catch my breath! The disadvantages were we had to skip parts of the trail that were impassable to most self-guided hikers like us, because it was too snowy, and a good number of the refuges and huts were not open yet, limiting our options. We worked around these obstacles with ground transportation and a sense of adventure, since we had decided at the outset we were going to make it up as we went along.
I read several places that you should not walk the TMB to get in shape. I could not disagree more! In fact, it can be a terrific way to get in shape, as along as you allow plenty of time. For us, it got progressively easier as the days went by, and we felt great by the end- even though I managed somehow to fracture my ankle on the second to last day.
The purpose of this post is to give armchair and potential self-guided TMB trekkers a taste of the trail, and also give people in the planning stages some suggestions on how to avoid some of the missteps we made. For starters, in spite of the warnings we read about bringing too much stuff, we could not resist the temptation to overload, which we regretted before we even stepped foot on the trail. I have, for my own future reference, put together a list of essentials based on our experience. If you stick to those your pack should not weigh more than 12-15 pounds, unless you are camping.
We started our walk the first week in June, just as many places along the trail were opening for the season. The advantages were that we weren't sharing the trail or refuges with scores of other hikers, and there were loads of spring wildflowers everywhere giving me ample opportunities to stop and catch my breath! The disadvantages were we had to skip parts of the trail that were impassable to most self-guided hikers like us, because it was too snowy, and a good number of the refuges and huts were not open yet, limiting our options. We worked around these obstacles with ground transportation and a sense of adventure, since we had decided at the outset we were going to make it up as we went along.
I read several places that you should not walk the TMB to get in shape. I could not disagree more! In fact, it can be a terrific way to get in shape, as along as you allow plenty of time. For us, it got progressively easier as the days went by, and we felt great by the end- even though I managed somehow to fracture my ankle on the second to last day.
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