PERFECT LOG of your TREK for us viewers! Thank you for providing right off the bat your itinerary with meticulous detail. I also really liked how you showed us the elevation gain and losses of each day with a map to watch your progress. I was truly impressed with this helpful hiker's vid!!! Thank you. Plus, you guys really gel; so happy and clearly having a blast of a time on the TMB. Way to go! This vid will help me plan for my upcoming July 2024 trek on the wondrous TMB!!! Nice to see hikers like you guys enjoy the cows and wild flowers along the way. You clearly enjoyed this journey and thank you for sharing with us all.
I absolutely loved this video! My daughter, (24) and me, her mom (64) are hiking this in Sept 2024, so excited and I hope we both have as big a smile as Nattie did!!! Beautiful photography and information along the way. Thank you for taking us on this trip! Tell Nattie her "Mary had a little lamb" rendition was spot on!
Really wonderful video. I’ve watched around a dozen good videos of the TMB and your is the best. I really like the way you put it together and the selection of stills, videos, music and maps showing where you were going each day.
Hi Dorea, I have watched countless videos of TMB, yours is one the most enjoyable ones. I am glad to see that you have included a lot of info which will be very useful for the future TMB'ers. Very nice. Although, it could have been a bit longer! (This is a compliment not a complaint! )
Still watching... Day 11. Like how you organized this with narration and map showing each day. Truly a time you will cherish forever. Thanks for documenting and sharing your experience with us.
Did this with two other guys in Sept 2012. Stayed at many of the same refuges (Bonhomme, Soldini, Bonatti, Arpette, LaBoerne). Soldini and La Boerne had "interesting" sleeping arrangements. Impressed that you did the Fenetre d'Arpette (the glacier has visibly receded in the last decade) ! I was (nervously) interested in that cliff-side stone-road variante, but we took easier route from Trient to Col de Balme. Then did the Ladders (!!) up and stayed over at Lac Blanc. So high up that, during lightning, they would cut off the refuge lights to prevent the bulbs from blowing out ! Dismal rain the next day, so we cut it a day short, canceled our last refuge stay, and wet-hiked back down to Chamonix and Les Houches. That cable car side trip to Tofino (and the ice field) looked spectacular ! We hung out a couple days after in Chamonix, and took the cable ("bus") up to Aiguille Du Midi (13000+ ft - which took our wind out even after all that alpine trekking !). Fantastic video (and score). Brings back great memories. Thanks !
Beautiful... just watched through twice now, and planning my trip. Thank you so much for sharing. Think July would be a good time for me to visit as well... even just for the blueberries ! :)
First video I have watched had to subscribe loved it This has been on my bucket list but do to health reasons maybe awhile hope someday Your friend with the big smile gives me hope Thanks
I'm going to do this hike in August this year, but try to get it done in 4 days, I have the same hotel as you guys did booked for Courmayer. So excited to get on the trail!
@@Marcus_Aurelius. yeah, I know I've been running ultras for a few years so I know I can get in that milage and vert without it being a problem I'll just have longer days on trail than most people.
Absolutely beautiful video! Wow, what an experience😁 I’ll do this trek with my friends in July, if anyone have any advice that he wants to share I’d more than happy to listen
Hello, from Richmond VA! thank you for the beautiful video, it looks very professional! I see you describe someone being lost on the trails. did this happen in the French, Italian or Swiss section. Is this a common event? I was told there are clear marks all along the trails. I am excited, too! I'll do the TMB hike the first week of September.
by the way killer music.....just added Hollow Coves to my pandora list... old guy here (68 years old) need some help to find new music...love it ...thank you
Loved this video! I'm planning to do the TMB solo next summer (2023). Your Gaia maps and Planning Guide docs are so helpful. I wanted to ask a couple of questions: 1) How did you pick the dates of your trek? I'm looking at probably July or August, but not sure how to narrow in. 2) I noticed y'all were carrying packs with your stuff for the whole hike. You didn't use a baggage transfer, right? What size packs did you have that allowed you to fit all your things? Thanks for sharing your journey!
Hi ! I'm not from this girls group but I can answer some of your questions. 1) To pick up the dates and do reservations for refuges, you can go to the Tour du Mont Blanc website. You have access to a lot of informations and a booking plateform. You have a map with all the refuges. Count 7 to 10 days to do the Tour, depend on how fast you walk and if you take variations or not. 2) For a trek, you can carry 10% of your body weight. Thats usually what we go for, so it depend on you! Calculate the weight, and you can find ressources on internet to find the best size for you. Try it on before you go, and pack it with the weight you'll have to carry. Normally the 10% rule works, but for some people adjustements are needed. The size of your bag also depend on where you sleep, if you plan on camping or sleeping in a refuge at every stage of the hike. Just know that if you go during summer, you will not find a place at a refuge if you don't have a reservation. Hope I could help. Have fun!
I'm from Geneva, and I've hike in the Swiss/French/Italian Alps a lot. I guess July and August are the most popular months. Weather is usually quite nice, but you have to count with thunderstorm (hagel and even snow). In June, you may have extensive patch of snow on the pass (but 2022 was a very dry year), and september is another option, but more risky (sunny and warm or pouring rain). I did the southern part in late October (alone as everything is closed), on foot with much snow, and during spring on ski. Weather is sometime only a matter of luck. Except between _Les Contamines_ and _Courmayeur_ , you may find alternative routes or take public transportation if bad weather strikes.
I'm going in July 2023 and I recommend booking the refuges early! They can mostly be booked on the tmb site. You'll know you have the right site if you see the green circular logo. They have refuges available to book directly on the site and only require a deposit. Again, do it early! We planned 10 months in advance and most dates are already booked for critical stops along the way.
This was July 2021. It was a particularly high snow season in the alps before we arrived and we heard that things were more green than they usually are.
I didn’t use an agency (I prefer to make my own itinerary as to customize it to my preferences). Many of the Refugios have reservations available online. For those that don’t do online reservations, I sent emails in the appropriate languages. I’d suggest making reservations about 1 year in advance.
Hello! I found the climb up to the col Fenetre d’Arpette to be somewhat challenging - it had some large steps and boulders to climb over but was doable. I did see some people with dogs along the route, but I’m not sure which portions of tue route dogs are allowed. The Tour Du Mont Blanc Facebook group might be a good source for that information.
Terrific video, very well done. My wife and I are head out this summer... hope to make a video similar to yours. How do you create the map clips? form Gaia? ..
Yes! I use Gaia on my computer (where it shows the elevation profile and map with route on the same screen). I then do a screen recording as I move the cursor over the elevation profile.
I use a Gaia pro membership. it gives me access to a ton of maps including the France and Swiss IGN maps. I plot out my GPS tracks ahead of time on the Gaia website and then download these maps and tracks to the app on my phone for offline use while I am hiking.
Wendy Fisher - I have a Gaia pro membership. It gives you access to a ton of maps world-wide (Italy,France IGN maps, USA National Geographic park maps, cell service maps etc).I plot out my daily tracks ahead of time (what you are seeing in the video is the Gaia website screen recording the track I plotted). When I hike, I download those same previously created website tracks onto my Gaia phone app to help guide me in the right direction when I don’t have cell service! While hiking, there is a little icon that shows up on the map that shows me the gps location of where I am! It is important to keep a paper map copy incase you phone breaks and you do have to make sure that each track is downloaded on your Gaia phone app before heading out where you don’t have service. Your phone doesn’t need cell service to have its gps working. Gaia is a bit clunky to learn at first but has incredible capability of you can bear with the initial learning curve.
@@TheMaecki - an iPhone 12 Pro. They have pretty incredible cameras! (You do have to practice stabilizing your video with your arm as you walk though, for moving shots). I think the go-pro does a better job with moving image stabilization. I just don’t like to carry the extra weight of an additional device while backpacking.
@@DoreaMartin What device did you use to track your elevation gain and lose, and the map? 3 girlfriends and my brother are doing the TMB in 2022. I just purchased the iPhone 13 Pro for the trip. Super Excited. Your video is very will done. Excellent
@@barbarasilva3916 - I have a Gaia pro membership. It gives you access to a ton of maps world-wide (Italy,France IGN maps, USA National Geographic park maps, cell service maps etc).I plot out my daily tracks ahead of time online (what you are seeing in the video is the Gaia website screen recording the track I plotted). When I hike, I download those same previously created website tracks onto my Gaia phone app to help guide me in the right direction when I don’t have cell service! While hiking, there is a little icon that shows up on the map that shows me the gps location of where I am! It is important to keep a paper map copy incase you phone breaks. You do also have to make sure that each track is downloaded on your Gaia phone app before heading out where you don’t have service. Your phone doesn’t need cell service to have its gps working. To save battery while hiking, put your phone on airplane mode (gps still works in this mode and you can still take photos and video).Gaia is a bit clunky to learn at first but has incredible capability of you can bear with the initial learning curve.
Hello! We did book our reservations well in advance. I started making reservations about 1 year in advance and had everything completely booked 6-7 months in advance (not every Refugio takes reservations 1 year in advance but many do).
How did you find the temp in July? Im heading in July as well and is worried it will be too hot.. Ive watched your vid so many times now lol i love it the views you captured.. gorgeous.
The temperature was perfect! I felt like I would have been a bit cold in shorts on rainy days, but then again, I never really hike in shorts. I hope your July trip is awesome!
It’s a bit hard to list the variants we took- for that, I’d refer to the maps in the video from each day (you can view it in a large screen at high def 4K to see all the details). I have a Gaia folder with the gpx routes including possible alternates for each day. Heres the Gaia link to this folder with all the GPX routes. Please note- this folder contains all of the possible variants we considered on each day- it’s not just the actual route we ended up taking. For details on what her actually ended up doing- see the maps in the video. www.gaiagps.com/public/ipm8bR0YoDE0HQBYGdeBSs1P
Did you book your huts/hotels through a certain tour guide or did you do them on your own? If through a guide would you mind sharing who you used and if you would recommend them?
I booked the huts on my own. It’s significantly less expensive to do so and gave me more of an ability to stay at the Refugio’s/hotels I wanted. Im not familiar with which booking companies are reputable. The Tour Du Mont Blanc Facebook group might be helpful for that!
@@DoreaMartin I was wondering because I saw one clip of your video where you had a hot tub to relax in and I thought that has to be such a needed luxury after being on your feet all day! Can I ask where that /what stop that was at and how advance did you book the huts/hotel prior to your departure. I joined a few TMB groups recently so hoping to figure it all out. Thanks for your time!
@@jenniferlagua7412 - allot of the reason I chose to book on my own rather than with a Guide/booking agency, was so that I could look through all the possible Refugios/hotels and choose the best ones in my booking. On our rest day in Courmayeur, I knew, for example that I wanted to stay at a bit of a nicer place and I specifically chose the Hotel Svizzero because they had a hot tub, nice rooms and a good restaurant. Its a bit more pricey than other places in town in Courmayeur, but I would definitely recommend staying there. The owners were extremely friendly, and even brought us free food/drinks while we soaked in the hot tub! With the guide agencies, you don't have much of a choice where you stay and you will pay 3-5x as much as just booking the places by yourself (if you are feeling up for it). I'd recommend booking the Refugios almost 1 year in advance. They book up way in advance on this trek! Other places that we loved and I'd highly recommend included Refugio Miage and Refugio Elisabetta). I hope you have so much fun doing this trek!
This is just beautiful. Beautifully edited and crafted. It looks as if you had the trail to yourselves. Was this due to covid deterring people? I did it in 2018. Please feel free to watch my video of it here. Its Tour Du Mont Blanc-Solo Trip Conor Ryan. I did it almost the same as you. I got Lac Blanc on the way to Le Flegere. walked down then to Les Houches. I didn't take the Fernette des Alpais pass as was advised against it due to rockfall. I was blessed with great weather the whole way.
Hi Keith, in planning this, I did not use a company. I used a combination of the Cicerone guide book in addition to online blogs, Gaia gps online map planning and the tour do Mont Blanc Facebook group to plan our trek. I generally prefer to book these types of treks on my own rather than going through a tour company in order to see everything I’d like to see and stay at the exact places I decide I want to stay.
I'd love to do this in a trek group if there are any organised tours anyone could recommend where I can meet other hikers and do it together let me know! 😁
Omg I love your video so much! It's so peaceful and all 3 of you look great! So surprised It's only filmed by iPhone. Was july crowded? I am going this end of June to avoid crowd. And for making a map on Gaia, did you buy any TMB map or book to know original route of TMB? Because I go there with my dog, so I need to find some alternative routes for Tre le Champ to Les Houches. I tried to make my own trail route on All trails but since I don't know the original route of TMB and side route I couldn't make my own... can you give me any advice?
July wasn't crowded for us, but I think trail volume was unusually low due to the ongoing pandemic. I bought a paper map in Chamonix of the whole trek (can't recall what brand it was), but primarily used the Spain and French IGN maps on Gaia to find the various alternatives/routes. I'd highly recommend doing this for you and your dog! I would be wary of only using all trails to navigate, one person we met on the trail was using all trails to navigate and got lost on a rather horrible part of the trail to get lost on.
