Well here we are, sitting at the airport in the Swiss Air lounge waiting for our flight back to Frankfurt and then onward to Denver. Yesterday’s journey was supposed to be a 2,600 vertical climb, followed by about 6 miles of hiking and then taking a gondola down to Chamonix. However upon waking up and looking out the window there were lots of clouds/fog and realized our path might not let us see anything. Sitting next to us at breakfast was a couple from Oregon saying “we’re taking the easy route to town today…”

Well I’m not sure there are really easy routes here, but as it turns out this 5 mile hike with only about 500 vertical feet was exactly what we needed. Cindy’s drugs seem to be working, but a hard climb didn’t feel in the cards that morning and a gentle stroll sounded great. As it turns out, it was a great little hike with almost no one on it except for locals – so we had finally found the tourist path less traveled.

What we have picked up on here is that there are a lot of people doing the Tour de Mont Blanc. So many so that someone said there are about ten emergency helicopter evacuations per day. You see if something happens in these hills getting down is pretty tough – so I think you get to a point where they can get to you and you fly out. Of course if they cannot land the helicopter that means you are either hoisted in a basket up, or clipped in and ride up with another rescue person. We walked by teams doing training on our way down – and that was pretty neat.

To our delight we walked right by the paraglider landing port – and even better there was a little cafe where we sat outside and just enjoyed the sun. Very nice to have a relaxing day to just sit and enjoy the views with a casual flow about it. We then walked into Chamonix, found lunch, then walked to our hotel – which we canceled that night, found our bags and sat outside and waited for our van. The van came around 3 pm and took us to Geneva. After an hour or so in the van we were back to the first part of our trip. We unpacked then went out and found some dinner and back. I think we were both pretty tired from the week of hiking and that was that.

Today was pretty casual, got up, grabbed a taxi and now we’re here.

Yesterday as we were hiking down we talked about what we have learned that are key takeaways from our journey here. First and foremost I do think having some basic first aid training (wilderness first aid) is a good thing. There are so many places to slip/fall and really do a number on ankles, scrapes, etc. Knowing how to wrap an ankle and having the stuff to do it would be one of my top things.

Second thing: trekking Poles. These are a must – the vertical going down is tough on the knees and the poles help a great deal – almost everyone had them. If you don’t I think you are paying a price. When it was pouring rain and muddy you really appreciate the extra grip and support the poles provide.

Third: lots of people: There are lots of people on the trek and some spots it’s like a single file line – if you are slow – or fast – it sort of can feel and get crowded with people wanting to pass. Courtesy is to step out if you can, let others pass. Rude is just sort of pressing up behind the person in front of you – which happened a couple of times. The other thing – there are also mountain bikers on these trails – we had 3 come down really fast right at us – no bell – just expecting us to move – not very cool. They then barreled through about 30 people behind us – folks yelling “bike” – but in all honesty these guys should have slowed or even gotten off as it was a very narrow path and lots of people.

Fourth – don’t be impatient. Seems like a lot of folks pretend they are on some form of track and sport challenge. There are runners doing the trek in a cross country style pace, while others are hiking. But boy some of them are trying to set new personal bests for time. Again, just need to go with the flow and relax a bit.

Fifth – bring the right gear. Too many folks were not following the scout motto of “be prepared” – with not having the right rain/cold gear. I saw a lot of people on the summit in 40F temps and rain standing in shorts – no gloves and probably freezing. Chatting with one woman who said they only brought summer gear – ugh, you should understand the conditions you are going into before showing up – it’s not always summertime and being September it can snow – and did at the higher elevations.

Sixth: bring proper meds. Cindy’s week was not fun due to not having the right antibiotics – our mistake for not bringing some and/or not getting her checked out right before leaving. She was sort of mentioning her ears/throat/nose before we left and just thought it was a head cold. It’s hard to guess – but the day of hiking with her in a very bad state and having to navigate down was not fun. Navigating the doctor/pharmacy situation in these small towns is hard – you’re not in major cities – weekend dr? Nope. So having a broad spectrum antibiotic with you would be good. We did have Cipro for food, but that wouldn’t do ear infection. Of course you cannot be a walking hospital but what do you do. Cindy’s ears do seem to be getting better on the antibiotic…

Seventh: less is more. In the end I think I wore about every piece of clothing I brought, except for long John’s. So that was good, but feel I could do a bit better on packing. You effectively only wear the same one or two pair of pants – having zip off trekking pants is key. Also having ones that fit – one of my pair is too large and it makes it uncomfortable since they always want to fall down – so you have to ‘belt them up’ which is uncomfortable. But generally for our ten day trip only brought three pairs of pants, and two shorts. We did do a little laundry in Courmayeur and that helped with the smelly side. I brought my sun hat – only wore it once – baseball hat did the trick. Rain gear – wore it a couple of times – more jacket than pants. Neck gator – always handy device for sure. Socks are the most critical – good hiking socks – and paying close attention to your feet for hot spots, etc. I bought new La Sportiva hiking shoes for both of us before – and we bought at least 1/2 size too big to protect our toes – and that was the exact right call. 3000+ vertical down per day really means your toes will be riding up front so you have to make sure you’re not killing your feet.

Anyway – that’s about it for the blog and the TMB trip. It was a good one – we learned a lot. Would I come back? Maybe – I do think there are other treks that we want to explore as well. Turkey & Balkans seems to be high on the list. Going back to Scotland would be nice. A friend and colleague did the Japan coast line. Who knows. Next adventure? Closing up the cabin for winter in Leadville – that project is almost almost done after five months.

Bye for now.