Local, Climbing and Skiiing Info

Distance: 12km

Time: 5–51⁄2hrs

Start altitude: 1251m

High point: Col de Balme, 2204m

Height gain: 953m

Height loss: 925m

Map: LS 5003 Mont Blanc–Grand Combin 1:50,000 or LS 282T Martigny 1:50,000

Accommodation: Le Tour (1hr 30mins) – hotel, gîte; Col de Balme (3hrs) – refuge; Le Peuty (5hrs 15mins) – gîte, camping; Trient – dortoirs

Transport options: Bus (Argentière–Le Tour); Gondola and chairlift (Le Tour–Charamillon–Les Grandes Otanes near Col de Balme)

Alternative route: Col de Balme–Col de la Forclaz via Refuge Les Grands-Dessus

For a first full day’s walking this is a convenient and relatively undemanding stage. There’s plenty of height to gain and lose, but the crossing of Col de Balme is not at all severe and walkers fresh from the UK have an opportunity to get into their stride with ease. Views on the way to the pass, when you look back through the length of the Chamonix valley, are dominated by Mont Blanc and its aiguilles, while the col itself gives a magnificent vision of the Monarch of the Alps shining its great snow dome and sending long glacial tentacles into the valley.

The Swiss frontier runs through Col de Balme, so all the descent (and the rest of the walk to Zermatt) will be within Swiss territory. Vistas of Mont Blanc are shunted into memory, although in days to come sudden surprise views will draw the eye back to the west and that great crown of snow.

The valley of Trient into which you descend is green and pastoral. There are no major peaks nearby, of either snow or rock, to match the grandeur of France behind you, but the scene from the col is not short of beauty, for to the north a line of mountains indicates the crest of the Bernese Alps, with Les Diablerets, Wildhorn and Wildstrubel just discernible.

Much of this stage is shared with the route of the TMB, so you will no doubt meet plenty of other walkers during the day.

The Route

From the centre of Argentière take the road to the right (east), to pass the village post office and Office du Tourisme, and cross the river (l’Arve) with the Glacier d’Argentière (1) seen directly ahead. At a junction of streets bear right into the Chemin de la Moraine, and you will come to the line of the Mont Blanc Express railway. Pass beneath this and onto a track going ahead towards woods where you join the Petit Balcon Nord. Shortly after passing a chalet on the right, you’ll see another set back on the left. On coming to a second chalet on the left, take the path beside it which joins the main Petit Balcon Nord at a signed junction. Turn left towards Le Tour.

Rising steadily among trees you will come to a path junction (30mins) where you continue straight ahead. In another 10mins there’s a second junction where again you keep ahead. Emerging from the woods the path narrows and gradually loses height with the village of Le Tour seen below. Cross a stream draining the Glacier du Tour and walk on into

LE TOUR (1453m, 1–11⁄2hrs) Accommodation: Chalet Alpin du Tour [CAF gîte] 87 places, open April to end of September (Tel: 04 50 54 04 16, www.clubalpin.com); Hotel l’Olympique. Restaurant, water supply, public toilets, telephone, bus to Chamonix, gondola lift to Charamillon.

If you prefer to take the easy way to Col de Balme, ride the gondola lift to Charamillon, then take the chairlift to Les Grandes Otanes, from which a short contouring path leads to the col.

Walk to the roadhead by the Télécabin Le Tour Col de Balme.

The main path to Col de Balme passes along the right-hand side of the gondola lift station, and continues ahead on a broad track/ski piste. About 5mins from the gondola station a signed path strikes ahead to the right and twists up to the middle station of the gondola lift (CHARAMILLON 1850m, refreshments).
Above Charamillon a path branches to the right away from the main track on the way to the popular Albert Premier refuge, first passing the Gîte d’Alpage (20 places, open mid-June to mid-September (Tel: 04 50 54 17 07), refreshments). Ignore this option and maintain direction; when the track forks by a ski tow continue ahead, but 2mins later take a steep path which rises above the track. The gradient soon eases and the path gains height without undue effort to reach the

CHALET-REFUGE COL DE BALME (2) (2204m, 3–31⁄2hrs) The refuge has 26 places (Tel: 04 50 54 02 33). It stands on the unmarked Franco/Swiss border and purchases can be made in either Euros or Swiss francs.

The col makes a wonderful viewpoint. To the south stands the snowy mass of Mont Blanc (3) and its guardian aiguilles – Aiguille Verte and Drus being predominant in that view, while the Aiguilles Rouges line the right-hand wall of the valley.

Groups of ebullient walkers occupied all the seats outside the refuge, and most of those inside too. To a man (and a woman) they were all tackling the TMB and enjoying the cameraderie such a sociable walk inspires, greeting each new arrival with rude remarks, having established an easy rapport during the days in which they’d shared the same paths, valleys and passes. They were heading south on the closing stages of their classic walk, while we were going in the opposite direction, against the tide, as it were. I looked back at Mont Blanc, then ahead to a grid of distant ridges that both teased and enticed. Col de Balme held the key to a wonderland.

There are three ways in which to continue from Col de Balme: i] the direct route to Trient via Le Peuty described as the main Stage 2; ii] Alternative Stage 2 via Refuge Les Grands; and iii] a slightly longer option (2hrs 15mins) by way of L’Arolette, Catogne and Les Tseppes – this is described in the boxed section at the end of this Stage.

Veer left beyond the refuge to a signpost at a footpath junction, then branch right to begin the descent. Trient is 2hrs from the col. The path goes down in long loops at first (a water supply at the hut of Les Herbagères), but once you enter forest the way steepens with tighter zig-zags. It brings you into a rough pastureland where you bear left to cross the Nant Noir stream and walk down to

LE PEUTY (1328m, 5–51⁄4hrs) self-catering (meals in Trient) gîte accommodation and camping at Refuge du Peuty, 37 places, open mid-June to mid-September (Tel: 027 722 09 38).

Continue down the road for a further 10mins to the village of

TRIENT (4) (1279m, 5–51⁄2hrs) Dortoir accommodation at Relais du Mont Blanc, 70 places, open all year (Tel: 027 722 46 23, http://montblanc.site.voila.fr); Le Café Moret ((027 722 27 07); and Gîte La Gardienne, 21 places, open all year (Tel: 027 722 12 40, www.lagardienne.ch). Small food store (limited opening) attached to Relais du Mont Blanc, PTT, Postbus link with Martigny. Office du Tourisme, 1921 Trient (Tel: 027 722 19 29, www.trient.ch).

Note: In case of difficulty finding accommodation here, try Hotel du Col de la Forclaz 3km uphill to the east; 40 places in bedrooms and dortoir (Tel: 027 722 26 88, www.coldeforclaz.ch).

Alternative Stage: Col de Balme–Trient, via L’Arolette, Catogne and Les Tseppes

This descent to Trient from Col de Balme is slightly longer, a little more demanding, but more scenically interesting than the standard direct route described above.

Arriving at Col de Balme walk past the refuge and 1min later, where the path forks with the direct route to Trient branching right, continue ahead. The path curves round the hillside and forks again. Take the right branch, which rises gently and, 30mins from the refuge, brings you onto the 2330m saddle of L’Arolette to gain a view ahead of the distant Emosson dam backed by Mont Ruan.

The path now descends the north side of the pass, sweeping down and across the steep grass flank of the Croix de Fer. On coming to a signed junction at 2110m above the alp buildings of Catogne, fork right on a path which contours across pastures and into larchwoods with a view across the Trient gorge. The way turns a spur into the Trient valley, from where you look through the length of the upper valley to the Aiguille du Tour flanked by the glaciers of Trient and des Grands. The descent into the valley takes you briefly into forest, then you gain another, but even better, view of the same mountain and its glaciers. About 5mins later pass the two timber chalets of Les Tseppes (1932m), and shortly after re-enter forest for a steep, knee-crunching descent. At another junction within the forest (1750m) bear left, and 20mins later come onto a track which you cross directly ahead to continue the descent. The same track is rejoined lower down, but once again you cross directly ahead onto a raised footpath that brings you onto the track once more. Follow this to the right, pass some chalets, cross a river and come onto a road at the upper part of TRIENT (2hrs 15mins from Col de Balme). For accommodation in the village bear left. For Col de la Forclaz take the upper road.

Places or Features of Interest Along the Way

1: GLACIER D’ARGENTIÈRE

This major icefield flows from the great basin formed by the curving ridges of the Tour Noir, Mont Dolent, Aiguille de Triolet, Les Courtes and Les Droites. Mont Dolent is the lynchpin of this system, and on its summit the frontiers of France, Italy and Switzerland meet.

2: CHALET-REFUGE COL DE BALME

Standing astride the Franco/Swiss border on the Col de Balme with a magnificent view of the Mont Blanc range (‘If that view does not thrill you you are better away from the Alps,’ wrote R.L.G. Irving), the refuge – or rather its predecessors – was for centuries a bone of contention between the men of Chamonix and those of Swiss Valais, and was burnt down and rebuilt several times. It’s interesting to note that the col is measured at 2191m by the French, and 2204m by the Swiss. As the refuge is entered from the Swiss side, it’s reckoned to be in Swiss territory, although its telephone number is French.

3: MONT BLANC

As the highest mountain in Western Europe Mont Blanc (4807m) has been the focus of mountaineering attention for more than two centuries. In 1760 wealthy Geneva scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–99) offered a prize for the first man to reach its summit. Several attempts were made in the ensuing years, but it was not until 8 August 1786 that Michel-Gabriel Páccard, the Chamonix doctor, and Jacques Balmat, a crystal hunter, reached the top. (Saussure himself made the third ascent in 1787.) Tourist ascents followed, then attention was focused on neighbouring aiguilles and new routes to already claimed summits. Among the outstanding developments mention should be made of the Brenva Ridge in 1865, Peuterey Ridge (1927), Route Major (1928), Gervasutti Pillar (1951) and Central Pillar of Freney in 1961. But whilst practically every face, pillar, ridge and couloir has been explored, Mont Blanc still retains its charisma, and to non-mountaineers no less, its undisputed grace and beauty. (For a history of the mountain, see Savage Snows by Walt Unsworth [Hodder & Stoughton, 1986].)

4: TRIENT

A small village set in a narrowing of the valley of the same name below La Forclaz. In spite of its being the first Swiss community met on this walk, it is nevertheless very French in both architecture and atmosphere. Its location is ideal for tackling the crossing of either the Fenêtre d’Arpette or Col de la Forclaz and Bovine route for the next stage to Champex.

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This article is part of a chapter from ‘Chamonix-Zermatt The Walker’s Haute’ Route by Kev Reynolds (ISBN: 781852845131) and is available direct from Cicerone Press.