On the Knife Edge

You don’t need trekking poles on the Tour du Mont Blanc. In fact, you don’t need trekking poles anywhere. Plenty of people hike all over the world without them and have few problems. However, in my opinion, they are desirable: a very good idea indeed whether on the Tour du Mont Blanc or any other mountain hike. And here’s why:

• You are less likely to fall if you use them: this seems pretty obvious right? By using four limbs instead of two, you are more stable and less prone to fall. That is a very good thing on a multi-day trek like the TMB when an injury can send you back home on a plane, wasting months of planning; 
• You can walk further and longer with them: you will be sharing your load amongst four limbs instead of two. This means that there is less force going through your legs and that helps to conserve strength. This benefit is not to be underestimated when you are carrying a heavy pack that you are not used to; and 
• They reduce knee injury: walking in the Alps by definition involves long climbs and descents as you pass between valleys over high altitude mountain passes. The downhill sections are hard on your knees, particularly if you are not used to it. For me, the main benefit of poles is to take good care of my knees on the relentless descents.

Now some people will tell you that they also improve posture, making you walk more upright, which in turn helps with respiration. Others will tell you that they help strengthen your back muscles but I don’t know about any of that. All I know is that when using poles, I am less likely to fall over, get tired or injury myself. That is all I need to know to convince me to use them.

Telescopic poles or folding poles?

Telescopic poles collapse by pushing the sections into one another. Normally there are three sections and they tend to be very robust, lasting for years. Folding poles usually have four sections connected by plastic covered string. The sections do not fold up beside each other and so the folded pole is wider than the collapsed telescopic pole and tends to be less durable.

For decades, I used telescopic poles but once I bought a folding set, I never looked back. Although, they are less durable, the folding pole has two key advantages:

1. Telescopic poles when collapsed are too long to fit inside the small 35 litre backpacks commonly used for Alpine trekking. This makes like difficult when you want to take them on a plane because post-911 there is no way that you are going to be allowed to bring those poles into the cabin. If it won’t fit in your pack then what do you do? Of course, if you are going to carry a 50-65 litre pack then size will not be an issue; 
2. Folding poles are commonly made of carbon and so they are very light. I love carbon. My leki Micro Vario Carbon poles weigh 240g each. And although they are probably not as robust as aluminium poles, I have had them for years and, trust me, they are very strong. Everything is going carbon these days and no matter what anyone tells you, millions of people are using carbon poles. They are a little more expensive it is true but not massively so.

The Tour du Mont Blanc is an experience of a lifetime. No two ways about it. The scenery is exquisite, the refuges are just lovely and there is a wonderful sense of camaraderie amongst the TMB trekkers. Indeed, if the weather gods deliver clear blue skies and you are lucky enough to get accommodation, it will be an experience that you will never forget.

It is not a surprise therefore that you are competing with thousands of others to secure the gold dust that is bookings for the best refuges. And such is the popularity of this astounding trek that not everyone will get bookings. Nothing good in life is easy these days particularly when it comes to trekking and travel.

So what happens if you are one of the disappointed thousands? Do you simply wait until the end of the season and try to secure that alpine experience for the following year? Well that is what many do: the Tour du Mont Blanc is a famous bucket list trek after all. However, I think that is a shame. Now I am not suggesting that you should not try to book the TMB again the following year. What I am suggesting though is that the TMB is not the be all and end all of the Alps. I am telling you that there are plenty of other treks which are just as good if not better.

The TMB is the one that everybody knows about because it is a circumnavigation of the most famous peak in the Alps: the mighty Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc Massif is the highest group of mountains in the French Alps. But can you tell me what is the second highest massif? Or the third highest? I didn’t think so. The Alpine chain is absolutely huge and the Mont Blanc Massif is only a tiny portion of it. I guarantee that if you did any one of a hundred treks in the Alps, it would be an experience just as rich and fulfilling as the TMB. And most of these treks do not attract the volume of visitors that descend upon the TMB: not because the scenery is inferior but because the TMB circles the highest mountain in Western Europe and bucket lists like the word “highest”.

So why wait for 12 months when you can have a magnificent Alpine experience straight away? The difficulty is knowing where to start so let me help you with a few suggestions.

Walker’s Haute Route

​​That is the good news. The bad news is that the Haute Route is also quite busy. Not as busy as the TMB but busy all the same. But it is slightly easier to book the Haute Route so if you have failed to secure TMB accommodation, then often you can still get sorted on the WHR. It is, however, a bit harder than the TMB: 206km compared to the 170km of the TMB; with 14,000m of height gain as opposed to 10,000m for the TMB. It therefore takes longer than the TMB but you do not have to do all of it. It enjoys the same camaraderie between trekkers and I prefer it to the TMB. So don’t overlook this one.

​Tour of the Ecrins National Park (GR54)

​It is about 180km so it is a bit harder than the TMB but not prohibitively so: it takes around the same length of time. And it is much easier to secure bookings. Or if you wish to camp then you will be delighted to learn that wild camping is permitted almost everywhere in the park: a rare thing these days. In my humble opinion, this is a bucket list trek. Your friends won’t know where it is but who cares as you will be doing something very special?

But I hear you say, I am new to trekking and do not want to do a trek even a little harder than the TMB. And I reply: “no problem! There are plenty of treks of similar difficulty or slightly easier. But you are going to have to wait until my next post to be appraised of this secret. To be continued.....