Tour de Mont Blanc Gallery
The Tour de Mont Blanc is one of the world's classic long distance walks. It is just over 100 miles long and jam-packed with breath taking mountain scenery.
I have run around the TMB twice - the last time in July 2014, over four days, with my friend Andrea Priestley. I took along a little camera with the intention of painting some of the scenes when I got back home. This gallery is a painting journal of my run. It was a fantastic trip - we stayed in mountain huts each evening - great places full of interesting people from around the world embarked on their own adventures. I can't recommend this trip enough - walking, running, cycling whatever you like.
Aiguille de Midi
The Aiguille de Midi is a satellite peak of Mont Blanc. I painted this picture from a photograph taken by my friend Ellen, at day break while we climbed the Mont Blanc du Taquel, during my first trip to the Alps. With some friends from University I climbed some of the classic beginner's Alpine routes.
Since then I have been back to the Chamonix valley many times to go climbing, biking and running - this trip to run around the TMB is one of lots of adventures I've had in the mountains around Mont Blanc.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Chamonix
We started our run a few miles down the valley from Chamonix, having stayed the night before in a hotel in Les Bossons. I love sitting in the central square in Chamonix gazing up at the mountains. The statue in the square of Jacques Belmat - one of the first ascentionists of Mont Blanc - and his benefactor Horace Benedict de Saussure is always an evocative sight. Belmat points up to the mountain with a palpable sense of enthusiasm.
Signed glicee prints are also available.
Bossons Glacier
The Bossons Glacier plunges down off a flank of Mont Blanc towards the valley below. It's one of the many striking features of the Massif visible from Chamonix and the southern side of the valley.
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Eglise Notre Dame de la Gorge, Les Contamines
From our hotel in Les Bossons we ran down the valley to join the route and our starting point of the TMB at Les Houches. From Les Houches we climbed the Col de Voza and descended into Les Contamines.
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Col du Bonhomme
From Les Contamines the route of the TMB climbs to the head of the valley at the Col du Bonhomme. It's a long stretch that starts off pretty flat, then gradually ascends until a final steeper stretch of ground up to the col. It was raining for most of the way for us, this picture is painted from a photo I took during a clearer spell when I could clearly see up to the col (and how far we still had to go).
After reaching this col we carried on climbing a little more to the Col des Fours - the highest point of the TMB. From here we headed off into the gorgeous Vallee de Glaciers to spend the night in the Les Mottets hut, overlooked by the Aiguille de Glacier.
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Into Italy
After the rain and cloud of our first day, we woke to perfect blue skies. The Mottet hut sits at the bottom of the Col de la Seigne. After a 600 metre climb we crossed from France into Italy and were met with a wonderful view into the Vali Veni. It was a brilliant morning to be in the mountains, the beginning of a memorable day.
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Above the Elizabetta
After the high point of the Col de la Seigne, the route of the TMB steadily descends the Val Veni, passing the Elizabetta refugio. The Petit Mont Blanc towers above this hut, the Glacier de la Lex Blanche descends the mountain side to just above it. We stopped here briefly for a bite to eat and to take in the view.
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Looking back to the Aiguille de Tre La Tete
Shortly after passing the Elizabetta we climbed again to cross over a ridgeline before a long descent into Courmayeur. At the high point of this climb the view across the valley to the Massif were stunning. After this a long, contouring descent that gradually took us down the mountainside. This painting is a view looking back towards the high point during this descent.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Old Courmayeur
We reached Courmayeur in the early afternoon. After the cooling breeze up in the mountains it felt hot and sultry. It was cooler passing through the old town, rows of beautiful terraced houses and narrow streets sheltered us from the sun. What a place to live! I would have been happy to stop for a while but we pressed on as we still had a way to go before the evening.
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Mont Blanc from the Bertone
The climb out of Courmayeur towards the Bonatti refuge where we were staying for the night was mostly through pine trees. When we reached the tree line just below the Bertone hut I sat down for a break and to eat a sandwich. My legs were tired and we still had a way to go - we were taking the higher TMB route along the Mont de la Saxe and over the Tete de la Tronche. Following the sandwich I had a handful of jelly babies and felt lots better.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Descending to the Bonatti
After reaching a high-point at the Tete de la Tranche, I was looking forward to reaching the Bonatti refugio where we were going to stay for the night. From this peak we had to descend into a peaceful coire, cross it and then climb a little further to a col after which it was a few kilometres downhill to the hut. By then it was early evening, and we were keen to finish our day in time to grab a shower before dinner. We thankfully got there with time to spare to relax a little before sitting down to eat a fantastic four-course meal.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Looking to Mont Blanc from the Bonatti
The front of the the Bonatti refugio looks across the Ferret valley to the massif. As the sunset behind the mountains I sat outside with a load of others marvelling at the beauty of the evening and the view to Mont Blanc.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Descending from the Grand Col Ferret
We left the Bonatti early the next morning, following the Valli Ferret up to the Grand Col Ferret and crossing over into Switzerland. Like the Col de la Seigne the previous morning, the sun shone brightly, casting long shadows across the mountains. A ribbon of a path led from the col to the village of La Fouly, where we stopped for welcome coffee and cake. After this we had a 10 mile relatively flat stretch, heading towards Champex.
La Portalet
Running along on the flat for seven miles or so, down the valley towards Champex, didn't really give much respite. If I am honest I don't really like flat running (probably because I'm not that good at it), I much prefer to climb or descend. The view up the Portalet valley reminded me how lucky I was to be running in the Alps, and that I should stop moaning inwardly to myself and enjoy the mountains :o)
Signed glicee prints are available.
Champex du Lac
We reached the small town of Champex after climbing up from x in the y valley. Champex feels a very refined place, albeit one that must be used to sweaty and grimy walkers and runners doing the TMB. Given that this was towards the end of our third day and I only had one set of clothes to run in, I was very grimy by then and felt slightly out of place. I would have loved to have a swim in the lake but we had to press on, over our final climb of the day - the Bovine - to reach our beds for the night at the Col de la Forclaz.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Col de Balme
The Col de Balme was our final border crossing of the TMB. We could see it when sitting outside the Hotel Col de la Forclaz, where we stayed for the third evening of the tour. The sun shone again the following morning, another early start saw us dropping down into the Trient valley and climbing most of the way to the Col de Balme in the shade, before the sun rose above the mountains above us. When we came out of the shade, the sun lit up the col, the yellow flowers in the green pasture shone golden, contrasting with the bright red door and window frames of the Chalet de Balme. We crossed over into France at the head of the Chamonix valley.
Signed glicee prints are available.
Grand Balcon Sud
From the Col de Balme we briefly descending then climbed the small peak of the Aiguille de Posettes, following its ridgeline down towards the Col des Mottets. After this we climbed up to the Grand Balcon Sud, the high trail on the side of the Chamonix valley that offers superlative views of the Mont Blanc Massif. It was a fitting finish to our four days running around the TMB. I have to admit that we cut the full route a little short, descending into Chamonix from la Flegere, rather than climbing to the Brevent and finishing back where we began in Les Houches. This short cut meant we could grab a quick shower, chips and a large ice-cream in Chamonix before catching our shuttle back to Geneva airport and a flight back home.
Signed glicee prints are available.
