 We, Dane and Led from Haikeholics, decided to hike the Tour de Mont Blanc, a scenic long distance trail around the highest mountain in Europe, the Mont Blanc. To take you around the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland. The Tour de Mont Blanc is one of the most popular trails in Europe and is 170 kilometers long. It starts in France in a town called Les Houches, one hour from Geneva. We are hiking this trail in 11 days while sleeping in refugees along the way. With 10,000 meters of climbing plus descent, it is considered a pretty challenging trail. This is the Tour de Mont Blanc. Okay, we're at the start of the Tour de Mont Blanc. Finally starting our long trip. And it's going to be a fun challenge, right? Yeah, true. Today is a very short day, an eight kilometer hike. It will take about three hours to oberge the Bionacie. That's our first hut. We decided to split like the first stage into two days so we can get an easy start, have an easy day today and an easy day tomorrow. Yeah, but we're really excited for it and we can't wait to get into the mountain life again and really enjoy all the beautiful place we're going to be in the next days. Yes, and as you can see now the weather is very beautiful, but the forecast for this week and the week after is all over the place. There are thunderstorms predicted, snowfall on higher altitudes, so we brought our microspikes just to be sure of rain gear. And there are some heat waves in between, so we don't know what to expect. But we are like prepared for everything. So we're now at the trailhead that is in La Housse. That's the start and the finish line of the Tour de Mont Blanc. So let's go! Let's go! So right now we're at Gaule de Faça. That's the highest point of today. That's at 1650 meters high. Yes, and it's named a Gaule. And a Gaule is like a mountain pass in French. And behind us there's a train station as well. And the train is called like the Mont Blanc Express, the Mont Blanc Railway. And it takes you all the way up to a glacier which is behind it. So it's pretty cool. It took us two hours to get here and from here it's one hour down? Yeah, one hour down to the first hut we are sleeping in tonight. Yes, that's Aubert's Bionacie. It's at 1300 meters. So a little hour and then we're there. It's day two of the Tour de Mont Blanc. Yesterday we slept at the mountain hut at Bionacie. Yes, and it was a really cozy hut. We had a little surprise during dinner because when the curtains opened next to our table we saw a llama. So we had dinner with a llama yesterday. Yeah, it was pretty cool and we had a very good night. We woke up early this morning and today we have a 12 kilometer hike. Normally today you have two options. A good weather option and a bad weather option. And like you see the weather is not that great today. So we're choosing the bad weather option which runs through a valley. 12 kilometers and it should take about four hours to get there. Yeah and actually it's even like the original route of the Tour de Mont Blanc. So yeah, I'm really excited for today and let's see how the valley looks. As you can see we're underneath the shelter. Yeah, I think it's someone else's garage but it suddenly started like thundering and storming and raining and we were like okay we have to find the shelter right now. Yeah because it's raining like crazy. We have one more hour to go but luckily it's just 12 o'clock. So we have the whole day. Just wait for the storm to pass and then continue. And this lady across the street of us who gave us tea and a chair and everything so we can keep warm and dry right now. I see you Ruko. Wow, that lady is so nice guys. Salud, cheers. Yes we just finished stage one of the Tour de Mont Blanc trail. Yeah like we said in the beginning we divided this stage into two days so we can get used to the trail. Like yesterday was like an easy walk and today was quite easy as well. We took the low route like expected and we chose very wisely. Yeah exactly because like the rain was intense. It was literally storming. We hid in a garage or someone and we got some trail magic luckily and at the end the sun was shining again and now we arrived at the camping. So now we're really going into the high mountains of the Mont Blanc massif so make sure to stick around. Good morning. Good morning. Stage two of our Tour de Mont Blanc tour. Yesterday we had quite a rough day with like thunderstorms and rain and we were soaking wet and we were hoping for a peaceful and quiet sleep but that turned out to be a little bit different as well. The fire alarm went off so you can imagine how our night went. Yeah and guys today we're really going into the high elevation of the Tour de Mont Blanc. One of the highest points actually. One mountain pass at 2300 meters and one at 2500 meters and it's 1300 meters climbing from here and it should take about five hours to get there. And at the top of our climb is the hut where we will be staying this night. And today we are very lucky with the weather because it's only sunny all day long so completely different experience than yesterday and we're really excited to do the climbing in the sun and maybe we have some snow crossings. Yes we climbed 1000 meters 300 more to go. We're almost at our first mountain pass and if you can see correctly we have to cross a little snow field so we're almost there really exciting. How do you like the snow? This is good snow for our first snow patch on the Tour de Mont Blanc. It's a really good one because it's like a flat snow patch. So yeah I hope not many more to go but we're now at the top of our first mountain pass. It was a tough climb but a very rewarding climb because the scenery is very beautiful here. It's at 2300 meters and yeah it's breathtaking here. One more hour to go and then we're at our hut. We just finished stage two of the Tour de Mont Blanc. Yeah it was a pretty long day like long climbing but it was a fun climb. Now we're at the mountain hut. It's a beautiful mountain hut it's like on top of a beautiful valley and it was a 1300 meter climb today and we just took it step by step. Pretty exhausted but it was okay right? Yeah it was a pretty good hike. I really liked it and we saw a lot of marmots there on the way and the views were just amazing so we can't wait for the next stage. Good morning are you ready? Good morning yeah we are ready. I think we don't have to walk because we're gonna blown away by the wind to our next destination. Wind is very strong today. Stage three today of the Tour de Mont Blanc tour and we're gonna cross our highest point and that's already 200 meters from here so very nearby. And we're gonna cross the border of France and Italy. Yeah and we're really lucky with the weather because the weather forecast said that it will be thunderstorming and raining and all the heavy weather all day long but people at the hut told us that it's only gonna be very very windy. The end destination of today is Cour Meur which is a beautiful town in Italy and to get there we have to climb 1500 meters and descend 2000 so it's a big day and we have an early start at 7 o'clock now so let's go. We just had our big first descent of the day. Yes and from here now 700 meters climbing and then we're at Col de la Seigne which is the border of France and Italy so a big climb but we're looking forward to it. We're now at 2500 meters it's one of the highest points of the Tour de Mont Blanc. We took like an alternative route this day it was one and a half hours shorter because we have a very big day so our highest point was this morning and otherwise it will be in a couple of days. So one more big climb and then we're almost there. Two and a half hours from here 500 meters up and then a little down and then we're at our hut. We're already almost 10 hours on the way so it's a very long day but we're still happy going strong. It was a brutal climb right? Yeah it was. Ready for some food. After a very long day of 13 hours of hiking we finally arrived at our hut for a well-deserved rest. Buongiorno! It's our first morning in Italy and we woke up in a really really nice hut. After a really long day yesterday the map said that we had like 27 kilometers but it turned out in 32 kilometers of hiking and filming but it was a really beautiful hike and we were lucky that it was like really long so we could hike to like eight. Yeah the weather was perfect actually they like the forecast was bad but it was sunny all day so we were very lucky with that. Today we have a short day first a 700 meter descent to Curamaglia which is the first big city on the Tour de Mont Blanc in Italy where we're gonna do a nice lunch maybe something to drink? Probably yeah I'm really looking forward to it because we can buy some fruit there and supermarket as well and we supply on our snacks and yeah I'm really looking forward to the descent. Yeah and after the descent it's an 800 meter climb to Refugio Bertone which is four hours from here and that's where we're gonna stay the night as well. I'm feeling good but there's thunder and now right now we're still in the woods but we have like a next climb which is like in an open field so right now we are counting the thunder and the lightning just to be safe. We made it safely to the top we're really happy but it's very strange look there's blue skies and behind us whoop dark gray clouds but we're finally there now check into our hut and we booked a private room tonight so chill rest for a big day tomorrow. What you doing? Chilling. Good morning. Good morning today we woke up at Refugio Bertone in Italy because yesterday we hiked from come here to here and in come here the nice Italian city we had a big pizza right? Yeah the pizza was very great it was a short day yesterday and in the end just before we arrived we encountered some thunder. Yeah yeah it was like a huge thunderstorm but luckily right before the thunder we met a mountain guide and he told us what we have to do with the thunder but luckily we already knew all the information so that was like a comforting um knowledge so when we arrived at the hut like the real rain and real thunder started so. Was the perfect timing for us today we have a pretty pretty long day again a little bit similar like the day not yesterday but the day before that two come a year and today we're crossing the border of Italy as Switzerland the first part of the trail it's pretty flat like the first 13 kilometers and in the end we have a big mountain pass and we hope that the weather will be staying like this. Because in really good conditions this stage promises to be one of the highlights of the Tour de Mont Blanc so we hope that our view will be good but well let's see and pray to the weather gods. just imagine what our love could be you belong with me i belong here i belong with you every day always feel so new it's amazing what your love can do well change of plans when we were like on the balcony walking it was like good weather but some dark clouds kept rolling in and just when we arrived at the bottom you can hear the first thunder so we were very lucky and just in time here in the valley yeah and luckily we found some shelter where we had a good cup of coffee and we were considering reconsidering our plans because like our original plan was to go over and we had two other options like two refugees but they were all fully booked so no option to go over yeah so luckily we have a trail angel with us my little brother is in shamanie actually so he's picking us up on this side and then brings us to the other side of the mountain where we have our hut very lucky thanks for saving our lives yeah you're welcome nice thanks bro see you we safely arrived at our hut thanks to my brother Chris and we celebrated it with a local drink we later heard that a lot of hikers went into very bad weather at the top and had to hide from a big thunder and hillstorm we knew we made the right and safe decision to not go over the past to switzerland good morning it's our first day in switzerland yeah yesterday unfortunately because of the storm we couldn't do the high mountain pass to get into switzerland from italy the ferret pass but today luckily the weather is way better yeah and big shout out to Chris thanks little brother thanks for saving our lives yeah you're welcome he was our trail angel yesterday luckily today's weather is really good as you can see and we have quite an easy walk it's considered the easiest hike of the tmb 18 kilometers and it's a valley walk so it's a great introduction to switzerland okay so the weather actually is turning a little bit bad this afternoon like we expected to be really sunny but a lot of people are taking a bus actually we are walking and just preparing for if it's going to turn up to be stormy we have a rain gear and we have a gopro ready to go but we're just gonna walk right a lot yes that's part of the game as well you can't only walk but like good weather so exactly prepare for it yeah we're not walking on high elevation today just in a valley so if the weather turns bad we'll find some shelter and we're all right we're now 15 kilometers in and for hike and so far it's been really beautiful right yeah it is and we're now at the point where the climb will start the champagne lock a little bit further than champagne lock is our hut yes it's a climb of 500 meters so it should take about one hour maybe one and a half and then we're there yeah and a lot of people by the way predicted that there will be like thunderstorms and rain in a couple of hours which we said this morning but it turned out to be a beautiful day actually yeah and we don't see any dark clouds yet so i think we will get to the hut without any rain on our what what what what what what what what what what without any rain on our heads when we reached the hut we were very hungry luckily this place is supposed to have the best cheese fondue of the whole region so we had to try that of course good morning good morning we just woke up at Bonne-Abris Giet and that's a Giet in switzerland and yesterday we had a pretty good day even though everybody said that the weather would be dramatic we only had a few rain drops in the end and well maybe as you can see today we are wearing our raincoats because the weather could be better could be better yeah but the forecast is that it will be dry in two to three hours and today we're heading to Triant it's a 14 kilometer hike so not that long a 700 meter climb and like a descent which is similar to that we had a really good breakfast this morning so we're ready to go and like dain said the breakfast was really good but the dinner was amazing there was cheese fondue especially for dain because he really likes it and the spinach for me was also really really good so really can recommend Bonne-Abris and a lot of people skipped yesterday with a bus because they said it was the least prettiest route of the Tour de Mont Blanc but we really liked it and we met some amazing people on the road which we yoyoed along the way and had some talks with them so it was really enjoyable yeah and obviously this route has two options like a high route and the original route yeah but if you take the high route they say it has to be really really really good weather because there's a very steep climb and descent in the end so today we're taking like the regular the main route of the Tour de Mont Blanc we made it to the highest point of the trail of today yeah and this should be a really panoramic view with like lots of mountain rages behind us but as you can see we're into the mystic yeah it's very misty so we hope we can get some views today and yeah from now on it's only downhill to Le Petit it's in Triant it is pretty pretty pretty pretty busy on the trail though and a lot of people but still we are enjoying it what we have to like keep up like slow down and pace up so we cannot keep our own pace but we're still enjoying the trail right yeah definitely even though it was a very misty start of the day we were really lucky that the skies cleared up and we got rewarded with beautiful views in the end good morning good morning today we started in Le Petit because yesterday yesterday yesterday we had a quite a different hike than the other days it was a very misty we started in Champelac and we walked all the way up to Triant like the beginning it was a bit yeah challenging for us to get in the right mindset but then at the end we met some friends along the way and they completely changed our day and we had a lovely day and we ended up at Le Petit it's a beautiful campsite yeah and we really loved this place because we had dinner and breakfast at the Urd it was really cozy super friendly stuff so really really recommend this place and today we're actually crossing the border from Switzerland to France right yes it's at 2200 meters if I'm correct at Koldelabbaum and it's an 1100 meter climb to get there and it's actually the first time that we see the Mont Blanc and after leaving Italy yes and since it's an 1100 meter climb today and the weather will be really hot in the afternoon we got an early start so we are on the top before it's getting like insanely hot now we're at the border of Switzerland and France yes at an altitude of 2200 meters and we just had an amazing break we had a lunch at Koldelbaum which was incredible and now a 200 meter climb to Kolde Prisett and from there it's only downhill to Treleschambe where we will be sleeping tonight and by the way the views are absolutely incredible from here we can even see the hike we did at the Mirror Lake so definitely check that vlog out as well I can't stop staring you've put a spell on me and I hope that you never decide to set me free typical high-coholics that we are we took the whole day to finish this beautiful stretch and we were just in time for evening dinner at the hut good morning good morning woke up in Giet Le Moulin which means the meal in French and we absolutely loved that Giet the food was amazing good breakfast yeah and we really needed the big dinner after yesterday because yesterday was an amazing day with lots of sunshine and it was a bit longer than we expected and the GPS track set but the views on Koldebaum were amazing yes and today we have a very short hike six kilometers to Locke Blanc which is called the White Lake and in October this year we went through the lakes just a little bit beneath it Locke chez Serre which is named the Mirror Lakes supposed to see a beautiful reflection of the mountain range across the valley but when we were there in October check the video out and find out today short day to Locke Blanc the famous stairs the famous stairs I always thought that it was only like three stairs because everybody only filmed probably the first three but I think it are like 10 10 ish 10 we're not there yet no so a few steps but it's pretty cool this was it for the steep part it was pretty cool right yeah I loved it there were way more stairs than I expected to be honest I think there were like 15 or so 15 yeah like in all the videos we only see like one letter or stairs I don't know the correct name but now there were way many and if you are a little bit scared of heights and afraid and find that scary there is an alternative route to get here as well but to be honest I had a fear of heights and this was awesome and not scary so I would recommend it it's a cool trail and by the way in this exact same spot on this exact same trail we walked in last October and well the difference gonna be bigger it was fully covered in like autumn colors and there were snow patches but both are really beautiful yes and from here it's a 15-minute walk to Lactosche Seers the mirror lakes which were frozen at the time but now they are visible hopefully hopefully and we'll have some lunch there oh this could be the best thing that I'll ever know talk for hours I never slept two silhouettes on the concrete stairs we watched the sun as it slowly crept from the horizon to the place we met oh this could be the best thing that I'll ever know hmm be the best thing that I'll ever know after a beautiful climb we reached Lac Blanc where we rewarded ourselves with a refreshing drink after this hot day we spent the rest of the evening exploring the beautiful surroundings of this lake with its location you have a panoramic view on the Mont Blanc massif so of course we took the time to take some nice shots here we saw ibex and mountain goats witness the stunning sunset as a storm approached and watched a thunderstorm from a distance good morning it's our final day on the Tour de Mont Blanc yes in this morning we woke up at Lac Blanc as you can see right behind us and the evening was absolutely spectacular like on the white side we had an amazing sunset it seemed like the mountains were on fire and on the left side there were thunderstorms and right in front of us there were ibex and it was crazy it was really really beautiful the hot though we wouldn't recommend it the hot was really beautiful but the food was really bad yeah to be honest it was really bad and the beds were really really small and we are really tiny Dutch people so you can imagine that like tall people can't fit in a bed but we were still really lucky because the scenery was beautiful so in the end we were very happy that we stayed there today like i said it's a final day to Les Houch where we started as well it's an eight kilometer hike to get there and the weather forecast is a little bit all over the place there is sunshine there is rain and there are thunderstorms predicted but there is an alternative route Petit Boconsult a beautiful trail which we hiked before that runs a little bit lower so if the weather turns bad we can do that hike but today first go to Flecher which is an hour from here and we'll check the forecast from there so an original route of the tnb goes via Prevent it's higher than La Flecher where we are going first and when it's tundering the cable cars won't go from Prevent so that's not the best spot to be in and hiding when the thunderstorms come so that's why we go first to La Flecher and then just see from there so we just had a little brunch break at La Flecher which was amazing and gave us a lot of energy yeah and now we have a three hour window for going to La Prasse so we are going to push it to there and then we'll see from there so far the weather has been perfect actually nice and sunny but we see some darker clouds rolling in but so far we're really enjoying it and there are a lot of escape routes so either way we're good to go today together we are free just me hey Lytte yeah how are you feeling good it's a good again the climb was pretty technical there were some staircases and like barbed without like the security so it was a little bit scary and a little bit like wobbly knees but we did it and yeah um for the people who are a bit afraid of heights or don't like the technical climbs there is also an easier route to a breifang there's even a cable car to a breifang so there are multiple options so we're now at the top at breifang which is at 2,500 meters maybe a little bit more and from here no more climbing after 12 days of climbing 11 days or 12 i can't remember it's only in downhill it's a 1,500 meter downhill the longest downhill so far and then we're at the trailhead again at the finish line well deserved yeah and so here we are at the end of our tour the Mont Blanc adventure a journey that took us 170 kilometers through three incredible countries France Italy and Switzerland we had our ups and downs along the way with thunder and rain being some of the low points but the stunning mountain passes and beautiful views we encountered more than made up for it and of course the trail magic thanks thanks for saving our lives yeah you're welcome we were challenged physically with a lot of climbing with over 10,000 meters of elevation gain but the reward was worth it in the end we encountered some amazing wildlife on the trail like marmots eyebags and mountain goats and we met some amazing people the snow capped peaks of the Mont Blanc massif were a constant reminder of the magnificence of nature and its power the fresh air the silence and the fastness of the mountains were a welcome escape from the hustle of our daily lives the Tour de Mont Blanc is a test of willpower a celebration of nature and a chance to connect with the world around us it's a journey that will stay with you forever and we hope that you too will have the chance to experience its magic this was the Tour de Mont Blanc it's our first morning luckily we found some shelter so we have to be careful could be better quickly better yeah no not me well the difference gonna be bigger that was pretty cool right yeah i loved it what what what we would also like to take a moment to thank our first patreon chris for supporting us and becoming part of the high-coldx family