What a day! Stairs. Steps, Ladders. Boulders, Rocks. Roots. Climbing. Complaining. Oops, did I type that out loud?

My legs held up well for the first couple of hours of climbing, or should I say stair-stepping?, as right from the start it was nonstop going up rocky steps on the way to the infamous ladders section of the TMB.

Yes, there’s several sets of ladders. Some vertical metal ones clinging to the sheer rock face, others are wooden struts bolted to large boulders which pretty much required bending over and crawling up.  It was great fun but very hard work.  I’m not carrying a big pack but had all the necessities plus 2 liters of water and a big packed lunch which made my legs quite wobbly by the end. 

At 2h15m I made it to the junction of Tete aux Vents. I must say my quads were crying for a bit of a break so I was happy to oblige with this view to enjoy:

Another famous bit of the TMB is the variant to Lac Blanc, so says my guidebook.  It’s an additional 45min & 300 meters up in just under a mile however most of the elevation was in steep steps, ladders or boulders! Astonishingly I was exactly on the pace my book suggested, so I must have crushed the start because I was literally stopping every few stairs at the end 🙂

The lake was pretty and I had a long lunch break there enjoying the view but the descent was miserable. 1.5h of a very steep, narrow rocky path full of loose stones and choked with day-trippers struggling up for their own visit to the lake. I finally bottomed out at the La Flégère cablecar about 1 pm.

I originally planned to end my day here, taking the cablecar down then busing into Chamonix, but I couldn’t check in to my hotel until 4pm and it was only ~2 hours more to the next cablecar so I thought “why not go on?”  Rain is forecast to start in two days time and last for several days so I wanted to enjoy the epic views as long as I could. 

The TMB here is also called the Grand Balcony Sud and true to its name it traverses the side of the mountain however without a much needed railing!  It was generally quite a narrow path with a sheer drop and full of stumbly tree roots, large stones, rock slides, and a  vertical stairway thrown in for good measure.  I must admit it was a bit of a struggle.  I mistakenly expected it to be fairly level but it had sharp little ups & downs with a big climb at the end. 

I finished at the PlanPraz cablecar which whisked me down to the middle of Chamonix in no time flat.  And the place was buzzing with people.  This is the Ultra TMB week with trail running races at towns all along the route.  A 50 km race was finishing when I arrived with music, clapping, and the announcer welcoming each runner home.  Very festive. I’ve a day off tomorrow so I’ll explore more then.