Tour du Mont Blanc Trek

Day 1 is arrival day. If you require pick-ups from Geneva airport, please let us know otherwise we’ll meet you at the Rockypop hotel or Chamonix central train station. Check-in starts at 3pm but we can store our bags at the hotel and roam around if we arrive early. Chamonix is a beautiful village and we highly recommend taking the time to explore it. A team dinner and briefing will take place at 7:30pm with your team leaders and mountain guides at the Little Boxes restaurant in Chamonix Sud.

Our first day together will start at 8:00am. We’ll depart from the hotel in the direction of the Bellevue cable car to park the cars for our return leg. From their we’ll catch the bus to the Plan Pras cable in the middle of Chamonix. Yes, the first day won’t include any big ascent. We’ll be catching the cable to the Brevent and making a gradual descent towards Argentiere to ease ourselves into the experience. The first moments on the trail are actually amongst the most spectacular from the French side of the mountain with clear views across the valley of the entire Mont Blanc massif. As we descend the trail, the environment will shift towards deep forest before arriving to the town of Argentiere. The town itself is quite vibrant and worth checking before dinner. We’ll be staying at the Le Dahu hotel for the night.

We’ll be catching an early bus from Argentiere to Le Tour to skip a boring road section and get ourselves straight onto the trail for our first big ascent of the trip. From Le Tour we’ll be trekking up to the Col du Trient, the natural border between France and Switzerland. It’s usually a great spot for lunch and there’s a cute little hut with a coffee shop for those of us who’d like a little java or some tea. From the Col we’ll descend to the Swiss town of Trient, a picturesque mountain village with an iconic pink church. We’ll be staying at the mountain lodge Auberge du Mont Blanc. Dinner will be at the accommodation.

The following morning we’ll head out in the direction of Col de la Forclaz. Depending on the team’s progress we may choose to follow the trail to Bovin or Col d’Arrpette. Both are spectacular and the choice of trail will depend on the conditions of the team, the weather and the pace. Arriving to Arrpette is beautiful. The accommodation itself is at the foot of the valley in a meadow surrounded by forest. Dinner will be at the accommodation. The nearest village to us will be Champex-lac however it’s a bit far to visit after a long trekking day.

The day will start with an hour private van transfer to La Fouley. We avoid walking this section as it is largely by the roadside and would necessitate adding another trekking day to the trip that we feel is unnecessary. From La Fouley we’ll ascend the trail to Col de Val Ferret. This is the natural border with Italy and is one of the most spectacular valleys on the planet. The descent to the valley is a little steep but easily walkable. Once at the valley floor we’ll walk along the forest trail until we reach the main road where we’ll be catching the local bus to downtown Courmayeur, Italy’s version of Chamonix! We’ll be staying at a comfortable hotel in the town with plenty of free time to roam around. Dinner will be a la carte at a trendy local restaurant.

We’ll be catching the bus once again to leave Courmayeur but this time in the direction of France via the beautiful Val Veny. On the trail we’ll be able to see the Italian side of the Mont Blanc summit including the route that mountaineers take to go to the top. The trail starts flat as we pass two beautiful lakes. From their we’ll begin a gradual ascent to the top of the pass which forms the natural border between Italy and France before descending to Les Chapieux, a tiny farming community at the western top of the Mont Blanc massif.

Our last big ascent of the trip starts just outside the hut as we make our way up to Col De La Croix Bonhomme on our way to Nant Borrant. The trail is clear and the views are spectacular. Before reaching the top, we can see deep into the adjacent Vannoise massif. As we descend from the top, we’ll have views of the Mont Blanc from the French side. Our accommodation is the most picturesque mountain hut of the trail.

Our last day starts with a descent to the valley floor where we’ll link up with a road. From there we’ll be catching a bus to Les Contamines and rejoining the trail for our last brief ascent. Once we reach the top, we’ll be having lunch and grabbing the Bellevue cable back down to where we started. The afternoon is for shopping and free time in the town before our last team dinner altogether in the evening.