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Path2Peaks Newsletter
Training for the Tour du Mont Blanc
Training Top Tips for the Tour de Mont Blanc
Angela Owen
Mountain Leader
It’s on our bucket list is it on yours? Why not make it happen this summer? I know the statistics look scary and you probably don’t think you are fit enough, I am 42 and I have let far too many adventures pass me by because I didn’t think I was fit or young enough – it’s only been in the past few years that I have learnt that the body will do what the mind tells it to.
“Every adventure requires a first step” – The Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland. We will be led by a qualified International Mountain Leader, to ensure safety and the highest levels of mountain leadership. Icicle Mountaineering ensure their leaders share history and information about the local area as well as showing us the amazing scenery – and we have the added experience of staying in traditional mountain huts for two nights set high in the mountains, away from the valley villages.
During the week we will pass through France, Italy and Switzerland, so we can enjoy the different cultures, architecture, and the food of each country over the week.
The Tour du Mont Blanc is an endurance hike and you can easily increase your fitness levels in the months leading up to it. Walking is loads of fun and great for your mind, body and soul so this doesn’t need to be a chore. Think positively and positive things will happen.
- Make walking part of your daily routine, start walking to work or come home and go straight out for a walk.
- Meet friends for walks at the weekends
- Use your lunch breaks to go for a walk
- Use a pedometer to help you track your steps and set new achievable goals each week.
- Get accustomed to carrying a ruck sack – take one with you on all walks however short they may be.
- Sign up to a challenge walk for charity, if people have sponsored you, you are less likely to find excuses not to go.
- Get yourself booked onto a trek trainning day
- Book a walking weekend so you can practice back to back walking over long distances.
- Practice walking in the mountains we have plenty in the UK
- Climb stairs – ditch the lifts
- Rest when you need to when you are building up your fitness
- Join a walking group
- Set yourself monthly distance targets
- Set target reminders on your calendar
- Get up 30 minutes earlier so you can do a daily walk
- Do spinning or swimming at a local gym three times a week to build up your aerobic fitness.
- Invest it a good quality pair of boots and use my 7 top tips to avoid blisters
- Take plenty of high energy – high protein snacks on your trainning walks
Trekking the Tour du Mont Blanc
Brief Itinerary
Saturday – Travel to Chamonix to arrive for the 17:00
Sunday – Distance: 24km, Ascent: +1750m, Descent: -1300m Les Houches, Col de Voza, Col de Tricot. Night in Nant Borrant
Monday – Distance: 15km, Ascent: +1300m, Descent: -900m Cross the Col du Bonhomme, Col des Fours. Night in Les Mottets
Tuesday – Distance: 24km, Ascent: +1100m, Descent: -1700m Cross Col de Seigne, Arete Mont Favre, Col Checroui, Courmayeur area
Wednesday – Distance: 16km, Ascent: +1600m, Descent: -700m Ascend to Bertoni, Mont de la Saxe, Pas Entre Deux Sauts, Bonatti / Elena
Thursday – Distance: 33km, Ascent: +1600m, Descent: -2100m Trek Grand Col Ferret, Ferret, La Fouly, Praz de Fort, Issert, Champex Lac
Friday – Distance: 31km, Ascent: +1850m, Descent: -2000m Trek Fenetre d’Arpette to Trient, Col de Balme to Tre-le-Champ / Argentiere
Saturday – Distance: 25km, Ascent: +1500m, Descent: -1800m Trek the length of the Aiguilles Rouges, Flegere, & Brevent to Les Houches
Sunday -Breakfast in Chamonix, then the accommodation check out is by 10:00.
How to Walk the Tour du Mont Blanc
Path2Peaks Recommended Walk – Steall Gorge and Waterfall
Walk of the Month March 2018
This is an absolutely stunning short walk through an ancient woodland which opens up onto a beautiful meadow where the Steall Waterfall can be seen cascading rapidly down the mountain. The waterfall was featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is a great way to stretch your legs the day after walking up Ben Nevis.
Essentials – Map, compass, walking boots, gaiters, waterproofs, hat, gloves, buff, warm layers, camera, plenty of water, packed lunch and snacks. The walk is short and you could carry a picnic from the car park to the waterfall and make a lovely day out of such a fantastic location.
Wildlife – look out for rowan, hazel, and ash trees, listen out for the calls of tree pipits, willow warblers and chaffinches.
The Glen Nevis Rope bridge – for the very brave only! The other way across is via two fast moving river crossings, which are not recommended unless you know what you are doing. The water is rapid and extremely cold. If you cross the bridge remember you have to get back over it again.
Start Point – Grid reference: NN168691.
Distance – 2.7 miles (4.4 km)
Highest Point – 292 m
Total Ascent – 139.50m
2 hours – Moderate – The path through the gorge is rocky, uneven, slippery, with a steep drop on one side. Take extreme care as fatal accidents have happened here. Wear appropriate footwear and keep children and dogs from the steep edges.
Parking – Park at the car park at the very end of the road up Glen Nevis, Old Military Rd, Fort William PH33 6SY.
Public Transport – Bus service between May and September as far as the bridge at the Lower Falls.
Walking can be dangerous and is done entirely at your own risk. Information is provided free of charge; it is each walker’s responsibility to check it and navigate using a map and compass.
Path2Peaks Recommended Walk – Kinder Dark Peak
Kinder From Edale
Start Point – OS Grid Ref: SK123 860
Map OS Explorer OL1 The Peak District – Dark Peak Area
Distance – 12km
Highest Point – 619.80m
4 hours – Moderate/Difficult Walk
Total Ascent – 716.50m
Parking – Edale Car Park, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S33 7ZL (£5.00 for 4-10 hours, £6 for 24 hours)
Public Transport – Trains from Stockport and Sheffield
Essentials – map, compass, walking boots, gaiters, waterproofs, hat, gloves, buff, warm layers, camera, plenty of water, packed lunch and snacks.
Download – Walk of the Month February Map and Route Card
Places to Stay
Walking can be dangerous and is done entirely at your own risk. Information is provided free of charge; it is each walker’s responsibility to check it and navigate using a map and compass.
Peak District Walking
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
What can I say other than I absolutely loved it!
It was remote – we were the only people to walk on Beinn Odhar that day – even though I got a little excited on the way down to find footprints going up, I quickly realised that they were ours.
Scotland in late February gave me what everyone had promised – lots and lots of the white stuff I was so desperately looking for.
The complete white out came from nowhere and forced us to focus completely and to trust the compass bearing we had taken at the bottom which would get us to the top. It was literally all we had – both iphones were dead due to the cold – so no reassuring sneaky checks on the OS app. My walking partner disappeared out of sight after taking 20 steps. It was too steep to retrace our way back down safely, so the only way was up. Get to the summit and take a bearing from the top was the plan, looking at the map we knew there was a less steep spur we could take down to the valley we just had to get an accurate bearing from the top to it. We knew we could do it and stayed positive.
Stay Calm and Focus in the White Room!
I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being afraid – I was scared. If I had closed my eyes and been spun around I wouldn’t have had a clue where I was. At that point I was clinging on to my sense of direction and memory of where I had been and relating that to the map. I stayed calm and focused on the accuracy of the bearing we were leapfrogging on 20 pace legs. It was a slow process but it felt like the safest thing to do. We were overjoyed when we hit the summit just 2 meters to the left of the cairn. We were so proud that we had trusted the map and compass and our pacing, it had certainly paid off.
On the way down we were able to relate what the land was doing to the map, in conjunction with pacing and timings – which helped reassure us that we were on the right track. This was invaluable in featureless terrain.
Being prepared -planing well helped us know what we expected to see and when –visualising the route before we set off really helped. Trust in our abilities and faith in the map and compass is what kept us calm and positive.
It was an amazing and invigorating experience one which has left me hankering for more Scottish winter days. Watch this space…..
What I packed in my rucksack for a day of winter walking in Scotland.