Where to begin? I guess with, “we did it!” Which obviously sounds ridiculous considering we have one day complete and many more to go. But this intro to the TMB was no joke. Part of wanting to write about this experience was to try to mitigate the typical human experience of only remembering the positives. There were many of those of course, but holy cow were we not prepared for the gradients. In the US, our trails tend to follow certain rules for how steep they can be. We use switchbacks aplenty.
Not so much here. The ascents were steep. And long. But NOTHING compared to the descents. I foresee kt tape in our near future. For now, we have all of our toenails- but that too, likely won’t last.
Stats were 7.5 miles, which is nothing. 2100 ft ascent, 4100 ft descent. The short mileage is actually what made it a rough day- spreading the elevation over more miles would’ve been far more doable. We began in Les Houches and took the Bellevue cable car to get to the trail. We summited Col de Tricot, descended (!) to the valley and stopped at Refuge du Miage for lunch and a break. After lunch, it was back up another steep ascent to the Contamines protected wilderness area, and finally another relentless descent into the postcard worthy village of Les Contamines.
BUT! It was stunning. Glorious in a way we couldn’t have imagined almost to the level we couldn’t conceive of the gradient we’d face. The weather was perfect, the wildflowers were in full bloom, and there was more joy than suffering. Spirits were lifted by tiny butterflies and an abundance of adorable trail dogs.
We made it, we’ve showered, and are about to try walking again to enjoy some dinner before a well deserved early sleep.
Updated to include Trevor’s celebratory “pint” of beer. Pretty sure something was lost in translation….
I can’t believe you are doing this with your family. Fair play to you. ☘️
you all look wonderful! what an adventure. Congrats on completing Day 1.