
I first heard about the tour of Mont Blanc through a couple of friends that had taken part in the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) a crazy race that sees hardy individuals complete the 170km route through 3 countries dipping down into several valleys and raising up many cols to total 10,000m of climbing in one go. Having not really spent that much time on my two feet in the mountains and the fact that you need to gain sought after qualification points and be successful in a ballot before even gaining your place on the start line completing the UTMB is currently out of my reach (for now).
After a bit more digging I found that the Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB) is a well signposted trail that circulates Mont Blanc and pretty much covers the same route as the UTMB. Every year from mid June to September 10,000 hardy walkers take on the 10-11 day trek around the ever-present Mont Blanc I decided to do it in 4 days! I would run a marathon a day for 4 days and I was excited to see if I could do it!
Day 1 – Les Houches to Refuge des Mottets
Day 2 – Refuge des Mottets to Refuge Elena
Day 3 – Refuge Elena to Le Tour
Day 4 – Le Tour to Les Houches
I got my backpack ready that I would run with and had everything I needed for my four day adventure and headed to Chamonix! With a bit of nervousness I started my journey that would see me go up and over mountain passes, drink from water falls and have a crazy German boy follow me for 2 days (it’s not as creepy as it sounds). Four days later when I reached Les Houches again I was dusty, tired and a bit chafed but super proud that I had run around Mont Blanc by myself and hadn’t got lost! The TMB still today is one of my favourite things to do. It is beautiful, the trails are runnable and the food along the route is great I mean you can have fresh croissants and ice cream every day! DREAMY!