Yay! No snorers last night. And besides the occasional visits to the facilities my roomies were very quiet.  It doesn’t mean I slept well but when bedtime is 9pm - 6:30am one gets quantity over quality. The forecast today looks a bit like my elevation profiles :/) but I should be able to get to … Continue reading TMB Day 12: La Fouly > Champex-Lac

It’s a bright, beautiful morning and it’s forecast to be much warmer than yesterday. Mother Nature is definitely playing all her cards: 50’s and overcast yesterday, clear and 70’s today, 100% rain tomorrow.  It keeps a hiker on her toes! I took the bus again this morning to the end of the valley to start … Continue reading TMB Day 11: Chalet Val Ferret > La Fouly

I’m staying in Courmayeur again tonight so for today’s walk I decided to go in the reverse direction: I took the bus out to the last stop at Chalet Val Ferret and walked back, hoping I’d get the best of the views in this direction. The way I’m not going…will head this way to the … Continue reading TMB Day 10: Chalet Val Ferret > Courmayeur 

A rest day today and what timing! Thunderstorms during the night and it’s absolutely tipping down with rain this morning.  The mountains which hug this valley town are shrouded in mist - not a view to be had anywhere.  My room at the Hotel Croux is another perfect single - with a huge balcony which … Continue reading TMB Day 9: Courmayeur 

A very short day was planned for today so I drew out breakfast with a long conversation with Emma about hiking. I finally hit the trail about 8am but stopped so frequently as the views in the morning light were magnificent. Morning pack up. We had to leave our backpacks outside in big lockers overnight and … Continue reading TMB Day 8: Combal > Courmayeur

It rained all night and right up till 6:30am, then the clouds broke and bits of blue sky were appearing as I went down to catch the 7:30a shuttle bus to la Ville des Glaciers which is where the TMB finally gets off the road and starts on trail. New snow on the mountains! It … Continue reading TMB Day 7: Les Chapieux > Combal

It was such a relief to see blue skies in the morning as I was serenaded to sleep by intermittent thunderstorms.  After a good continental breakfast at my hotel, many of us guests took the little shuttle bus to Notre Dame de la Gorge to start our hike.   Immediately it was right into the … Continue reading TMB Day 6: Les Contamines > Les Chapieux

It was a good call to hike yesterday as it rained through the night and intermittently today.  As it was a rest day I made a leisurely departure from my hotel and caught the bus back to Chamonix.  I window-shopped a bit then visited the Crystal Museum which was fascinating (thanks for the rec Misty!). … Continue reading TMB Day 5: Chamonix/Les Contamines 

Technically today was to be another day off to explore Chamonix and its surrounds but there’s foul weather coming thanks to x-Hurricane Erin so I decided to get up early and attempt tomorrow’s hike today.  Matters were complicated a bit by the fact I was changing hotels so I took the first bus of the … Continue reading TMB Day 4: Les Houches > Les Contamines

The extra mileage I did yesterday meant today became a day off.  I was a little creaky first thing getting up this morning so I enjoyed a lazy start of coffee in bed and catching up on the news. By 9:30am I was off to my morning’s appointment….. Parasailing! It was a perfect morning for … Continue reading TMB Day 3: Chamonix