Day #6 - TMB Trek
Tuesday, August 8
Hiking Day #1 - Les Houches to Les Contamines via Refuge de Miage. 7 miles. 2,231’ ascent. 4,314’ descent
It 5:50pm local time - I’m sitting in the common area at the Hotel Gai Soleil in Les Contamines, France. We got done our hike today around 1pm. We’ve been down at a restaurant near our finish area most of the afternoon- enjoying the sites while having a couple drinks/appetizers.
Today was the official start of the TMB for us. It’s been a really good first day! We got it started at 8am after breakfast at our hotel (included in our Macs Adventure package). The TMB offers some options and different alternate routes on most days. We are going in the traditional counterclockwise direction - meaning we start in France - then go through Italy - then Switzerland - and finish back in France.
Right away - you have an option to take a ski gondola to the first starting peak. This is typically recommended - as it makes the first day more doable- eliminating a 5 mile, 2,500’ climb out of the gate. (Note - we will do this section when we get back to Chamonix to complete all the miles of the TMB). Greg and I decided to take this option to avoid completely killing ourselves on Day #1. Korby did the 5 mile climb and caught up to us later in the day (he’s also one of the best hikers I’ve ever been around - a superior hiker by any standard). At the peak of the gondola - you could go 2 directions: the low route or the more difficult (more climbing) higher route. We opted for the more difficult higher route - for the better views.
The day was tough - but the views all day made the effort worthwhile. Stunning!! We got to climb across a suspension bridge around Mile #2 and then made a slow, steady ascent to the top of the Col de Tricot. This was the high point of the day. We next descended 2,000’ of really steep terrain into the Refugio de Miage. Here we lounged on some deck chairs for about 15 minutes looking at incredible scenery.
The remaining 3-1/2 miles had us climb a steep 800’ ascent and then another 2,000’+ descent into Les Contamines. There were hundreds of hikers out on the trails today - many day hikers and several TMB adventurers such as ourselves
We’ve got to know a few of the hikers throughout the day - as many people are doing tours with Macs Adventures. The hiker community is pretty cool in general- and it’s always a favorite part of mine to meet new, interesting people.
Getting ready for our 7pm dinner provided at our hotel. Be back to finish up a little later
Dinner was great! A dinner salad, a combination turkey and roasted potato main course, and some pears with ice cream for dessert Tomorrow is a really big day with nearly 5,000’ vertical (probably the 1st or 2nd hardest day of the trip). Here’s to keeping it going and staying strong! Good night from the Chamonix Valley!
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