The Tour du Mont Blanc – Rick Steves’ Journey Weblog

Earlier this fall, 4 of us — complete novices at long-distance treks — hiked round Europe’s highest mountain. (On the primary day, large birds of prey circled excessive overhead. My hunch: They have been vultures simply ready for considered one of us to drop.)

The Tour du Mont Blanc is a 100-mile, ten-day hike — however we cheated a bit, mountaineering the very best 60 miles in six days from mountain lodge to mountain lodge, catching native buses by way of the much less thrilling elements, and letting a “sherpa service” shuttle our luggage every day by way of France, Italy, and Switzerland, from Chamonix to Chamonix.

This was the primary time I’d loved a slice of Europe with my girlfriend Shelley, and we have been joined by Sue and David from Minnesota. (I’ve labored with David Preston for 20 years at TPT – Twin Cities PBS. Within the public tv world, he’s thought of the “pledge drive guru.”)

Every day, we’d hike what the path indicators stated could be a five-hour hike — that took us six or seven.  Our mantra: “Take our time. This is the reason we’re right here.” Usually, the day would begin at a 3,000-foot climb to a cross (or “col”) 8,000 toes above sea degree. Every col was a bit of triumph, with its cairn of rocks organized in a pile, dramatic climate blowing throughout, commanding views, and congratulatory selfies.

A part of our pre-trip coaching was taking steep hikes nearer to dwelling. As a typical day’s climb on the TMB is a thousand meters (or roughly 3,000 toes), I’d advocate selecting a apply hike with a 3,000-foot elevation acquire so you should utilize it as a reference level. Ours in Washington State was the Mount Si path. We even had a time period for a 3,000-foot altitude acquire: “a Mount Si.”