TMB Day 0-Chamonix, France

Looking towards 2025, we knew it was going to be a big milestone year for us. The big 50 demanded a noteworthy adventure to mark its importance. At Thanksgiving as we opened the topic for conversation, immediately Anh Vu suggested Europe’s premiere multi-day hike, the Tour Du Mont Blanc to celebrate his 60th birthday. Since we’ve been eyeing this trek for years, it was a quick and easy decision. Within moments, Anh Bi, without knowing any details, signed up to go too. With Phong and Sandy along, that made us a group of 6. Coincidentally, Sandy was turning 40 in 2025 too. Wow! That’s 4 of us celebrating the entry into a new decade.

There are so many ways to complete the Tour du Mont Blanc, and even though there are countless videos about it online, the logistics of each leg escaped us. Striking up conversations with other hikers on our training hikes, we realized how steep and difficult the passes were each day. We all agree that we weren’t committed to a full-on backpacking trip and completely comfortable with using support services to help us, especially anyway to avoid stress on the knees during the descents. It seemed easier to have someone deal with the logistics of the trip, so once again we reached out to Flashpacker Connect, inquiring about an 8-day tour. They were able to guarantee us spots for 6 people in the middle of August, the busiest month on the mountain.

Our trip began with a full day of traveling for Lyle and I, starting with a rental car ride to San Diego for a domestic flight to San Francisco, then connecting in Heathrow before arriving in Geneva where we met up with everyone else.

After settling into our room at La Croix Blanc, we walked around the charming town to find a bite to eat. It’s funny that even though we were in France with so many options to be had, we all gravitated towards Asian food and ended up at a little noodle place for dinner. But we couldn’t let the night close without some European gelato.

Aguille d’Midi

The next morning, we woke before sunrise to catch one of the earliest gondola rides up to the top of Mont Blanc. Standing at above 12,000 ft. the Aguille d’Midi is Europe’s highest cable car and the complex atop the mountain is literally breathtaking. From its many decks and viewpoints, this is the closest we would get to the white dome of Mount Blanc.

One of the main attractions at the top is another set of cable cars that connects the Aguille d’Midi with the view of Mount Blanc from the French side to Punta Hellbronner, the highest cable car station with a view of Mount Blanc from the Italian side.

The gondola ride consisted of a cluster of 3 cable cars which glided above the expansive glacier affording us a unique, all-around panoramic view of the mountain and the Chamonix valley below. The mountain range of snow-covered pinnacles and needles opposite the summit was mesmerizing. Following the trails cut into the glacier, we spotted multiple climbers in colorful winter suits. Turning our gaze towards the base of the summit, a small group of tents added color to the white backdrop.

Punta Hellbronner, Italy

Punta Hellbronner was a multiple-storied station that housed a cafe, book store, and an exhibition room that was currently displaying crystals found on Italy’s highest mountains. There were a couple of sun decks outside with lounge chairs for those wanting to soak in some sun to keep warm since it was rather cold and windy at this higher altitude of 11,371 ft. The circular terrace at the very top offered an amazing 360 panoramic view. On a clear day one can see all the way to the Matterhorn.

But of course, the main feature is the Italian Monte Bianco. In the middle of this top deck was another smaller raised circular platform encouraging visitors to capture the perfect picture with Monte Bianco unobstructed in the background. We accepted the invitation and waited for our chance for a group picture with the mighty mountain looming right behind us.

Later we met with the local company, a small family-owned operation that seemed like they were just getting on their feet and still needed to work out some kinks. We were scheduled to meet with the representative at 4PM. After waiting for 30 minutes and texting them a few times, we were told that the meeting was at 6PM. Apparently, a younger couple from Australia was completing the tour with the same schedule as us. After 20 minutes of waiting, they left. This was the first of several miscommunications and organizational errors we would encounter. We didn’t even know their business name until the next confusion hit.

TMB Day 1-Chamonix to Brevent

The next morning, our official first day on the Tour du Mont Blanc was just a day hike up to Le Brevent, returning to the same hotel for the night. From the balcony of our hotel, we could clearly see the destination of our hike. We would hike up to the rounded top of one range and take the cable car to the top of the other, higher range. This was such a new way of hiking for us, but we fully embraced the luxury of utilizing them.

Chamonix valley was a hot spot for paragliding. The sky above Chamonix was active with so many colorful sails floating in the air throughout the whole day. Lyle had an ingenious idea. We would hike up to the top and come floating back down to the valley floor on the laps of paragliding pilots, thereby saving us from a steep downhill hike.

Aware of the impending heat and to ensure we make it on time for our scheduled paragliding flights, we left the hotel before dawn. The forest around Chamonix is criss-crossed with so many trails and walking paths; there are numerous routes we could have taken. Instead of the suggested route outlined for us by the company, Lyle mapped out another way that was moderate in the steepness of the ascent.

Turning off the access road, we headed into the forest and were protected under the cover of trees for a good portion of the hike that morning.

To make the hike more interesting, we started looking for mushrooms. We found a few varieties, but those red toadstools from the Smurfs were still so elusive, mainly because they don’t grow in this habitat.

As we approached the tree line, we could hear the whooshing of paragliders flying overhead and see their colorful sails as they rounded the bend standing out so brightly against the white dome of Mont Blanc. It's one of those iconic images of Chamonix and Mount Blanc that is so fun and memorable.

We hopped on the gondola up to Le Brevent, the highest station on this range with a couple of snack services and an amazing view all around making it a popular attraction.

After a little confusion, we connected with our paragliding pilots on a grassy slope. There were so many others getting ready to launch, their sails spread in an arc across the grass. Looking out, we could see that there were already so many gliding through the air. The winds were favorable and strong. We all took off right away. A couple of us were able to catch a thermo and were lifted high above the range. I flew right over Le Brevent and along the ridge to see part of the Tour du Mont Blanc trail on this section, although this would not be a part of our route.

We glided around for a long while. Some of our pilots gave us control of the reigns. My pilot kept wanting me to go around and around in a circle, but I was starting to get lightheaded and that would only result in motion sickness. I just wanted to go straight. Anh Bi’s pilot had him doing tricks and loops way up high. Sandy’s pilot took off first and kept going forward, away from the rest of our group. Lyle’s pilot was really good at chasing others in our group.

Overall, we had a wonderful time up in the air and even better, we did not have to hike all that way back down.

TMB Day 2-Les Houches to Les Contamines

Europe was experiencing a 3-digit heat wave and even though we were at a higher elevation, we knew we weren't high enough to escape the heat. We wanted to start out as early as possible, but because we were depending on public transportation, we couldn’t start earlier than the first rides. We left the hotel in time to catch the first bus out of Chamonix heading to Les Houches where the official Tour Du Mont Blanc starting gate stands. After taking the obligatory photos with the gate, we walked along the empty street to the gondola station. I just love the bridges decorated with lively flower baskets. It makes me so happy to see them.

Since we had time before the next gondola ride, we visited a bakery across the street for some good French pastries. We didn’t get too much because we were already carrying lunch the hotel had prepared for us.

On the TMB, there is the main trail, and then there are a multitude of other alternative trails called variants. By taking the gondola up, we were taking a variant that would take us up and over le Col de Tricot, our first and highest pass of the day.

On the gondola, Lyle was right next to a couple who were applying sunblock and he received a sprayful in his face. The rest of the day, he kept tasting sunblock every time he licked his lips.

Tall pink fireweeds greeted us as we approached the top station. These were the first wildflowers we had seen so far. It gave us hope that we were not too late and had missed all the early blooms. In the alps, early batches of wildflowers bloomed from June to early August and the later batches bloomed from late August into September. I was afraid we were right in the middle of both blooming seasons and had missed out completely on all the flowers.

From the map, it looked as if we were heading straight into a pretty steep climb, but it was the complete opposite. We started descending back into the forest on a mostly flat and easy path for a while, with a couple of fun obstacles to overcome.

The stretch down to the Suspension Bridge of Bellevue was steep and slippery though. This was the first of many steep and slippery descents on the TMB.

After the bridge, the climb up to the pass began. Walking up in the middle of the valley was quite stifling as the sun was getting stronger.

When a junction appeared, we decided to take another variant that led to a trail along the ridge hoping to catch some refreshing breeze and a view into the next valley, and it panned out.

Le Col de Tricot

The first three miles of the hike had been entertaining and picturesque with wonderful views of rugged mountains and green valleys sitting between tall, steep slopes. At the pass Le Col de Tricot, we saw the snaking trail that led down the almost vertical mountainside, it was quite intimidating. After having reached the bottom, dropping 2000 ft. in elevation in about a mile and a half, all our joints were complaining. Coming down was in my opinion harder than the hike up to the pass.

Perfectly situated at the bottom of the pass, the village de Miage was an ideal spot for a lunch break. Because this was such a popular area, many of the tables at the restaurant were already reserved. We couldn’t just sit down wherever we wanted, and we were repeatedly reminded of that by the waiters. So in order to secure one of the few open tables, we all had to order a real lunch from their menu. We thought a salad would be light and simple. When the first plate of salad came out, we thought it was for the whole table to share. And then the rest of our orders followed. Each plate was humungous. The salad was fresh, filling and delicious, more than we should have eaten, but we ate it all anyway. There was no wasting food while trekking.

We refilled our water bottles at the running fountain before our second big upward hike of the day. Even though this climb was less than the first one, we were attempting it under the scorching midday sun. Thankfully, some sections of the trail were shaded by tall trees and provided good resting spots. We had to stop a few times to cool off and catch our breath before reaching the top.

As we walked along the top, we heard a loud boom. Looking back, we saw that the warm day had caused an avalanche off the side of the mountain.

We passed by another refuge but did not stop, instead, we quickly headed towards the tall, shady trees that signaled the beginning of our way down into the next town, Les Contamines.

Walking along the main road in town, we stopped at a convenience store for cold drinks and snacks. Since we were ahead of schedule and our rooms wouldn’t be ready for check-in just yet, like Hobbits, we decided to have our second lunch of the day and eat the food packed by the hotel that we had been carrying with us all day. The French bread was so good.

We walked through town to where we thought our night’s accommodation would be, the Gite le Pontet in a large campground. When we arrived, they didn’t have us in their registry, so we had to contact Emile to straighten everything out. He sent us an updated list of our hotel stays for each night. We were booked at a different place, Hotel La Chemenaz. After a ten minute walk back towards town, we found the hotel, which was a much nicer place than the gite, so we were happy. Within minutes of settling into our rooms, it began to rain. Big, round drops that quickly stained the whole ground. We really couldn’t have timed it any better.

It was so nice to have our own rooms with private showers and restrooms after such a hot and sweaty day. We even took a little nap in our air conditioned rooms before dinner. For the TMB, this type of trekking made perfect sense. Our only complaint with this hotel was that we were required to wear hotel-provided crocs so that we woudn’t dirty their floors with our filthy hiking shoes.

For dinner, we had some type of bland, tasteless, green soup and pink fish that we were told was trout. We thought it looked and tasted more like salmon and that perhaps it was one of those lost in translation situations. A couple days later, when talking with the Aussie couple, they informed us that it was trout. Pink trout was common in Australia too. Several months later, back in the states, Abraham caught a big rainbow trout. Once it was baked, the flesh inside was pink too. And so we learned something new.

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