Les Houches to Les Contamines, day 1

Today we started our long planned hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc, starting in Les Houches. The weather was surprisingly nice this morning after experiencing 2 days of rain in Chamonix. We took the cable car from the start as most hikers do and then started hiking. There was quite a bit of mud on the trail but eventually the trail improved. It was a slog uphill to reach the Col de Tricot and then a long, steep descent down to refuge Miage where we had pie and ice cream. Shortly after leaving there it started to rain and in another half hour it turned into a downpour. Luckily we reached our accommodation 2 hours later in Les Contamines at Hotel Gai Soleil. This was a wonderful place to stay with a beautiful garden area though we didn't get to sit there as it was too wet. We had drinks, showered, I napped, we had dinner, then stretched and to bed. Tomorrow will be a long and tough day, 20km and about 1,400 m elevation gain and lots of snow near the end at the Col du Bonhomme.Read more