The Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc Less than a month ago, Sylvia and I completed the Tour du Mont Blanc, Alpine Europe’s premier walking route. It was an amazing journey. We thought it was pretty challenging, and are proud of our accomplishment. However, this weekend another journey is about to start, one that puts our — and in fact, […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: Our Buddy, Monte Bianco!
TMB Rest Day One: Courmayeur After four days of hiking we were more than ready for a rest. So what better thing to do on our rest day then head up to 11,000 feet for a close look at Our Buddy, Mont Blanc? Our Monte Bianco, as it is called on the Italian side. Fortunately, today we DID finally have […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: The Hard Button
TMB Day 4: Rifugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur *The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous and celebrated hike in Alpine Europe and is the fifth Bucket List Hike that Brian and Sylvia have completed together. It is also our first hike together of any kind in Europe.* After a very satisfying breakfast we said goodbye to the friends we […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: An Improvised – But Full(y)-Ass(ess)ed – Plan!
TMB Day Three: Refuge du Bonhomme to Refugio Elisabetta *The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous and celebrated hike in Alpine Europe and is the fifth Bucket List Hike that Brian and Sylvia have completed together. It is also our first hike together of any kind in Europe.* Morning of Day 3 began with our Isreali roommate bursting […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: And We’re Just Getting Started(?!)
TMB Day Two: Refuge de Truc to Refuge du Bonhomme *The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous and celebrated hike in Alpine Europe and is the fifth Bucket List Hike that Brian and Sylvia have completed together. It is also our first hike together of any kind in Europe.* Day two got off to a gray and drizzly […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: Uphill Both Ways…or, the Circle Begins!
TMB Day One: Les Houches to Refuge de Truc *The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous and celebrated hike in Alpine Europe and is the fifth Bucket List Hike that Brian and Sylvia have completed together. It is also our first hike together of any kind in Europe.* Despite a long and difficult day of travel we were […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: À la montagne, monsieur le chef de train!
TMB: A Travel Lesson It is ironic that the longest single part of the voyage – the 4,035 mile transatlantic flight to Paris – was also the most uneventful, even quite scenic…including my first glimpse of Ireland, lying green, resplendent and out of reach just thirty thousand feet below. It seemed the closer we got to our destination the more […]
Tour du Mont Blanc: Oops, Mind the First Step!
Planning for the TMB Before we could hike the Tour du Mont Blanc, we had to get there, ‘there’ being the alpine hinterlands where France, Italy and Switzerland come together in a knife’s edge rampart of high granite. Events would show this to be no easy thing in itself. The TMB begins in the popular ski resort city of Chamonix, […]
The Great Circle: TMB
*The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous and celebrated hike in Alpine Europe and is the fifth Bucket List Hike that Brian and Sylvia have completed together. It is also our first hike together of any kind in Europe.* I am sure how when exactly when I became seriously interested in the idea of completing the Tour of […]
Salkantay to Machu Picchu: Is this for me?
Salkantay to Macchu PicchuTrek…is it for you? Logistics and details.