In the middle of a summer heat wave we kicked off a 12-day hike through the Alps. In spite of the heat, it was an unforgettable journey, one that I would gladly repeat. The climbs were hard, the descents were sometimes harder, the views were spectacular, and the experience was incredible.
To cope with the heat, we started hikes early, waking up before sunrise on some of the longer days. Each day we would race the sun as it rose over the surrounding mountains, shrinking the long shadows that kept us climbing in the cool shade. On some days we were able to finish half our climb before the direct sun caught us and started heating the trail. Twice, we even got lucky with a light afternoon rain, the second time we didn’t even bother pulling out our rain gear, just enjoyed the brief cooling shower.
The route for our hike around the Tour Du Mont Blanc is below.
Day 1: Les Houches to Les Contamines
Day 2: Les Contamines to Les Chapieux
Day 3: Les Chapieux, France to La Visaille, Italy
Day 4,5: La Visaille to Courmayeur
Day 6: Courmayeur to Lavachey
Day 7: Lavachey, Italy to La Fouly, Switzerland
Day 8: La Fouly to Champex-Lac
Day 9: Champex-Lac to Trient
Day 10: Trient, Switzerland to Argentiere, France
Day 11: Argentiere to Chamonix
Day 12: Chamonix to Les Houches
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