Continued on the Fagaras ridge and got to the tourist hot point: the Vistea and Moldoveanu peaks. Moldoveanu is the highest in Romania (2544m) and is a short detour from the ridge trail. While short, it’s quite technical, so I was in for a 20 minute full body workout.

Continuing east, the trail becomes mellower and more deserted. Few tourists venture this far. While the views are less spectacular, I still enjoy how, whichever direction I look, I can only see rows upon rows of peaks and ridges.

After Ludisoru peak I turned south, down Mezea-Oticu ridge. It’s a rarely used trail, judging by the overgrown vegetation. The trail is easy to follow in good weather, but some parts may be harder to in case of low visibility. Slow going and a higher risk of twisting an ankle, but I made it through. Camped near its end, right on the trail, next to the only spring in the area.

Day 4

First half of the day was the Iezer-Papusa ridge traverse. These mountains are nice and all, but doing them in-between Fagaras and Piatra Craiului makes them the lamest in the group.

The final descent was on a trail that’s no longer maintained, but still exists on maps (so that people like me will have fun exploring).

Got to the far side of the little village called Satic (translates to Little Village). After several days at elevation, I was really feeling the heat. Would have liked a Coke or any other soda, but was unable to find anything for sale.

I filled my water bottles (4.5L capacity) at Cabana Valea lui Ivan and took on the ascent to Saua Funduri, the southern point of the Piatra Craiului ridge. The heavy backpack, the steep terrain and my desire for a Coke made the climb seem longer.

The Southern ridge was pretty nice (except for the complete lack of soda machines). Arrived at Saua Grind in good time and was able to enjoy a nice sunset along with some beef pasta and some pistachio.

This felt like the hardest day. First, I’m tired. My feet are also taking their toll, with a couple blisters, a hurt toenail and some sore areas from dirt + constant rubbing. 

Day 5

It’s my second time camping in Saua Grind. I really like this place. The chamois are friendly and you can see them come real close. Shine a light at night and you’ll have their eyes shine back at you. You can see both the sunset and the sunrise. Nice view over Brasov. Good phone signal (I was coming after several days of no phone signal). Also, it’s really quiet when you’re alone. And there I was, just me and a group of 30-something people. Needless to say, I wasn’t able to get a lot of sleep, so I was up and on the trail quite early.

Finished most of the northern ridge and descended to Cabana Curmatura in time to catch breakfast (I learned earlier this summer that between 10 and 11:30ish they don’t serve food). Descended to Zarnesti, bus to Brasov, 1.5 liters of soda + some Chinese food, 3 hours of driving and I was back home.

Love it when a plan comes together, right on track, no hiccups or issues. But that’s what planning’s for. My packlist is here. Things I learned:

• I was planning on eating 3500 kcal per day, but ended averaging about 3000 kcal. So that would save over 0.5 kg of weight off my pack.
• Started the climb up Piatra Craiului with 4.5 liters of water (for an afternoon + night + morning). Only needed 3.5 liters.
• Good to know where the springs are, especially on the eastern part of the Fagaras, Mezea-Oticu and Iezer-Papusa ridges (not including Piatra Craiului here because there’s nothing to mention about the springs there, as there are no springs on the ridge).
• Esbit pills are hard to ignite in strong wind.

Fast forward several months, a pandemic, widespread death and economical collapse and I had to cancel my original trip and find something fun to do nearby.

My new plan started with the Fagaras ridge, which is one of the best trails in Romania. I thought it would be cool to end with the Piatra Craiului Ridge, also one of the best trails in Romania (at least the northern half, since I haven’t done the southern one yet). I connected them by going over the Mezea-Oticu and Iezer-Papusa ridges. In total it would be around 140 km with 11000 meters of elevation.

Full plan by days:

1. Get to Brasov, take a train to Podu Olt, run/hike up the Fagaras ridge and camp at Avrig Lake.
2. Continue on the ridge, resupply at Balea and camp at Podragu.
3. Leave the Fagaras ridge for Mezea-Oticu. Camp at the spring just before the final climb.
4. Iezer-Papusa, followed by the southern half of the Piatra Craiului ridge. Camp on the ridge, at Saua Grind.
5. The northern half of Piatra Craiului, descend to Curmatura and Zarnesti.

Weather is quite important, especially when I don’t have flexibility in my schedule. With the exception of the first day, I was expecting dry and sunny weather.

Day 1

I was arriving in Podu Olt at 3:15 PM and had to make good use of the remaining daylight, as I was estimating up to 6 hours to get to Avrig Lake (with the sun setting at 8:20).

The forecast was spot on, at least when it came to the rain. At around 4 pm the rain started and it died out at around 6, right as forecasted. But those weather models missed an important detail for me: wind speed. Can’t believe how cold it can get when you combine strong winds, rain and low temperatures.

Made it to Avrig Lake at a little past eight. My original plan was to set up the tent, do a little stretching, cook food, wash and go to sleep. But first I missed the spring on the descent and then had to lose time and find another water source. Setting up the tent took ages, given the strong wind. Cooking food took a lot more than expected, with both my lighters refusing to work (luckily there was another group camping nearby and they gave me their lighter). By the end of these, I was shivering uncontrollably and I went straight inside my sleeping bag. Washing.. yeah right! Stretching and cooling down – funny!

The wind continued into the night, along with the occasional rain. My tent was flapping like crazy. But inside my warm sleeping bag, I was good.

Day 2

Good morning, sunny blue skies. Now that’s more like it. Packed my stuff and went off at a leisurely 8:30 am.

The highlight of the day was Custura Saratii. A ragged steep technical ridge, equipped with a bunch of chains so it’s only very difficult instead of crazy.

Stopped for supplies at Balea Lake. I was planning to get around 3500 kcal here, something like a kilogram of food. I was hoping to find biscuits and croissants, like in any small convenience store. But noooo! The selection was quite poor. Bought a kurtos kalac (yummy), a couple nutbars (ok) and some nougat and similar bars (yuck). I think I ate one of these throughout the next days and returned home with the rest.

My destination for the day was Podragu Chalet. Arrived there at 6:30, completing a 10 hour day. Ate every item from their menu twice – they were only serving pilaf.

The chalet was quite nice, especially given the elevation. But the lady in charge.. not so much. When ordering food, I asked if they serve any dessert. “Sure”, she said, “pancakes”. “I’ll have one, please”. She served me the pilaf and said to come later for the pancakes. 10 minutes later and I was back: “I came for the pancakes”. She said nothing, but went back. I continued waiting there, which is usual as I’ve seen. 5 minutes and several clients later and she noticed me: “What are you waiting for?” “The pancakes..”. “Haha, I don’t serve pancakes. Do you think I have the time to cook them? I was kidding”. “..?!”

Today I was able to complete my post-run ritual: washed myself and my clothes, did a little bit of stretching, even saw some YouTube videos. Kidding, there’s no phone signal here. But I did watch a movie on my phone :). Finished the night with some night sky photography.

Let’s get back to the story. If you’re like me, then you must be very curious about the logistical aspects. We found all accommodation via Airbnb. Struggled a little to find something that we liked and that was within our budget (around 600 EUR per month). In the end we settled on spending one month each in two places:
– a 2 bedroom apartment 15 minutes outside the city of Kavala, very close to the sea
– a 2 bedroom house in a small remote village, about 800 meters from the sea, “near” the city of Volos

We were very happy with both our accommodations and with searching via Airbnb. More so considering with 600 EUR you can get a central apartment in Bucharest that is 2-3 HOURS away from the closest beach or mountain. Haven’t you wondered why there are so many people in Bucharest? Amiright?

For transportation to and within Greece, especially for a longer period and with a small kid, a car is mandatory. Bucharest to Kavala is around 8 hours, so we did it in 2 days, with a layover in Veliko Tarnovo. Volos to Bucharest is 12 hours, so we drove for 3 days, stopping in Thessaloniki and in a random village in Bulgaria.

Something that I enjoyed in Greece and I can’t enjoy in Romania is the infrastructure. Forgot how it felt to drive for hours on highways. Breathe in, breathe out – the smell of civilization. One of the reasons I recommend travelling abroad is that it resets what the normal is and what your expectations should be from your country and government.

Palio Kavala

Spent the first month in an apartment next to the sea, in the holiday village of Palio Kavala. This is the sort of place where Greeks (or even Bulgarians, since the border is close) buy holiday homes. At the end of September, the area looked pretty much deserted. Many restaurants closed. For the last 5 days of so, we didn’t even have internet, as the landlord suspended the service during off season.

But we weren’t complaining! The weather was sunny and warm, we had the beaches for ourselves and we had plenty of restaurants and supermarkets in the nearby villages and in Kavala.

An unexpected find was a system of bike trails, built by locals one hour away, near the city of Xanthi. Had a fun day there and even met the guys responsible for them. Liked the variety of trails and terrain. Climbed 2000 meters, but wasn’t able to cover all of them.

Closer to us we had the mountain of Pangaion, with the highest peak just under 2000 meters. Great playground to explore by bike or on foot.

Milina

Milina is a small village in the Pelion Peninsula. The nearest city is Volos, but you’ll need an hour for those 40 km of slow winding roads. As you first drive from Volos to Milina, you notice villages are getting smaller and farther apart and you start to feel the remoteness of the area.

We rented a beautiful stone house, around 200 years old, rebuilt to modern standards. The walls were so thick, cell or wifi signal wouldn’t pass. We struggled with internet signal in the beginning and ended up buying a wifi repeater to boost coverage. The house was in a valley, surrounded by vegetation, around 800 meters from the village center and the seaside. Unlike Palio, Milina has restaurants operating year long (but the frozen yogurt place had to close mid October..).

Had about a week of rain, but after that it was warm and sunny. Even in the start of November we could still lounge by the sea or go in the water.

We tried to explore as much as possible of the peninsula, with picturesque mountains (the highest being Pelion), small beaches and beautiful villages:
– Agia Kyriaki, at the far end of the peninsula, with great restaurants serving fresh fish and psarosoupa
– Platanias and Mikro, with sandy beaches
– Lafkos, just uphill from Milina
– Argalasti, nearest town, with a decent supermarket

While biking through Milina, I noticed a marked trail. The markings mentioned a website: Friends of the Kalderimi. Browsing it, I learned kalderimi are the old stone trails built centuries ago to connect villages and improve trade between them. Many of them are gone – replaced with paved roads or forgotten and reclaimed by nature. But some were being brought to life by this association. On their website I found maps and descriptions, so for my month there I set out to ride as many as I could. There are two trails from Milina to nearby Lafkos, one starting from behind our house. Both are in good condition and excellent for downhill biking. Other trails are wild and not rideable – but I have no problem carrying my bike on steep terrain through thick thorny bushes while being attacked by mosquitoes – the thrill of exploration keeps me going.

By the end of the month, I ended up mapping (with GPS tracks and some photos) a total of 6 bike-worthy trails in the region and adding them to Trailforks. This should promote the area in the MTB community. Check them out here.

This is just a brief overview of our time there. I’m sure I forgot to mention many useful things. Just let me know if you have any questions. It’s an experience that I recommend to anybody and it’s actually doable – as long as you can afford the rent and you can work remotely (or get an extended leave of absence). We were actually planning to repeat it this fall as well – we would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that meddling virus.

Like most people, whenever I’m facing a complex decision, I perform a SWOT analysis. But let’s keep it simple here and just focus on the “why go”s and the “why not go”s.

Why go:

Sea. According to a recent study by British researchers, living on the seaside in Greece is better than living in Bucharest. I’m not a sea person, but knowing that my desk is just a couple of minutes away from the water and I can go pretty much anytime for a swim is a comforting thought. The fact that I’m not a fan of swimming and I only got in the water 5-6 times is an unimportant detail.

Mountains. While the sea is not my thing, mountains definitely are and Greece has a ton of them as well. We stayed near moutains like Paggaio (1956m) or Pelion (1624m), so we had a big playground for biking, hiking, exploring. Which brings me to…

Mountain biking. Also considering road biking here, since it’s biking and it’s up/down mountains. I rode the local trails/roads 5 times a week and I could see my shape improving. By the end of my time there, I managed to fetch quite a few KOMs on Strava, all of them on unpaved (or rough concrete) roads/trails. Can’t believe I got a KOM on a descend – as my downhill technique is mediocre at best.

Better weather. According to the Meteoblue’s historical data, in September and October nights are warmer in Greece compared to Romania, with very small differences between night and day. Basically, it’s T-shirt weather 24/7. I carried some cold weather clothes with me, but never got to wear them.

Seafood. I ate a ton of calamari while there. First because I like them and second because I wanted to over-eat up to the point where I stopped liking them, so I wouldn’t miss them back home. Didn’t manage to reach that point though.

Get away from Romania. My country has a lot of things I love: the mountains, the delta, villages in Transylvania, papanasi. But it also has many things I’d like to get far away from, such as corruption or the way things are (not) done.

Get away from Bucharest. Bucharest also has a lot of things I appreciate, but I wanted to get away from the pollution, traffic, noise and Firea.

Stay in a house. While I generally prefer an apartment for its low maintenance and proximity to the city center, staying in a nice house in a remote location has its charm.

Bonus: Bulgaria. Since we traveled to/from Greece via Bulgaria and took a leisurely 2 or 3 days per trip, we got to spend a few days on Bulgaria and we visited some of the sights along the way.

Why not:

Work from home. I like working in the office. It makes it easy to separate personal from professional life. I also have a nice desktop computer with a comfortable desk, which I can’t carry with me.

Small city/village. While staying in a remote location has its appeal, there are also some disadvantages that need to be weighed in:
– how far you have to drive for a well stocked supermarket
– if friends/relatives want to visit, how easy can they get there by public transport
– if needed, where could you get medical assistance

Ice. Whenever you order one of those free refill drinks, you won’t get a glass of soda, but a glass of ice with a little bit of soda in between. I might understand some ice in drinks when it’s hot outside, but certainly not so much ice that the drink I ordered becomes a minor ingredient of the drink I get. And how can anybody justify so much ice when it’s cold outside? Maybe it’s a cultural thing. I say this because I saw ice machines in most hotels I stayed at in the US. When did you see an ice machine in Romania? You don’t even know what an ice machine looks like, do you?

Bread. Throughout the US, bread is crap. You might not know it, but you love bread. Even if you say you don’t eat bread. And you’ll end up discovering your love for bread when you’ll visit the States. Regardless if you prefer 1 RON white bread or 5 RON whole wheat bread, you’ll miss them in the US. Normal bread there is sweet and puffy. Sugar in bread… what the hell?

Food. Having just complained about the added sugar in bread, let’s look over the big picture here. US food is just a combination of fat, sugar and salt. American cuisine (far fetched use of the word) seems to be the dream of a starving kid. Or a cardiologist’s blacklist for his patient. Healthy food feels like a niche – not for everybody. Weird that you have to pay more for less calories. Not that I’m complaining. I actually struggle to not lose weight.

The image above – that’s supposed to be a variation of a burger..

Toilets. Why is there so much water in US toilets? I’m nervous whenever I’m around one of them. They look like miniature swimming pools. Is there something I’m missing? Does that pool of water serve any hidden purpose? Or is it one of those historical things that Americans can’t part with? Like guns or the imperial system.

Commercials. Let’s see now. The radio voice. Extremely happy people. Drugs recommended for any symptom. Everything is fun and perfect. Watching commercials, I get the feeling every little aspect has been studied over and over again with the sole purpose of convincing me how awesome I would be if I buy that product. All of a sudden, I kinda miss those simple Romanian commercials, where a lady gets her dress stained and her friend whips out a 9 kg bag of detergent from her purse.

Misleading phrasing. This is something else I find weird/disturbing about commercials in the US. The words advertisers use are carefully selected so that a product seems a lot awesome-er than it is, but not as much for that statement to become a lie. It must all be either too vague or provable. For example, “we make the best burgers in the world” is most likely a lie, but “we make the best burgers in the world… according to an online poll / a contest / our clients / our staff” is not a lie technically speaking, even though you’re pretty sure there is a better burger somewhere else. I remember reading a product’s label – “94% fat free”. What? It’s either fat free or it’s not! You can’t go fractional with stuff like that. But “fat free” makes you think you’re eating something healthy, so let’s put it on the label, why not? What would you choose between normal fries and 85% fat free fries? Doesn’t really matter, normal fries are 15% fat.

Sport commentators. Watched some sports clips on the long flight to the US and immediately thought about the video below. Such a striking difference between US and Romanian sports commentators. Romanian commentators feel… normal. There are some guys moving a ball around. You get their names and general information about what they’re doing, then a little history, some gossip, stuff like that. Feels like it’s a hobby these commentators have – they get together and enjoy a game, while also talking about it on live TV. Meanwhile, in the US, something BIG is happening or is waiting to happen! You don’t know what and how, but surely something is, judging by the energy and excitement you’re hearing from the commentators.

Prices. “How much is this generic item?” “It’s 2.99”. “I’ll have one please” “It’s gonna be 3.18” “BUT YOU JUST SAID 2.99!!!!”

Final day of my Tour du Mont Blanc. The route for today: a long 1400m descend, a 600m climb and then the final 600m descend into Chamonix Valley.

Will the MTB gods be good today as well? Apparently not. That long descend was first too steep, technical and rocky to be ridden. It then turned into a road (still steep and rocky, would be a difficult climb on a bike) and finally it even had a little singletrack, especially in and around the towns in the valley.

The final climb ended at the top of the bike park in Les Houches. Took the Alpage Respect trail down. Pretty steep, with some erosion in a few sections, but still doable.

If Chamonix felt a little crowded when I arrived 5 days ago, it was now packed full. Wherever I looked, I could see trail runners. They’re quite easy to identify if you know what to look for: race t-shirts, trail running shoes (used ones, you don’t wear good shoes around town!), chiseled calves (or calves covered in compression gear), backpacks or bags from Hoka, La Sportiva or Salomon.

Returned to my hostel to find the room full of UTMB competitors. All of them serious, planning their gear and food, looking with dread over the weather forecast. I had a great week of hot sunny weather, but rain was expected in a few days.

After a supermarket, a curry and a shower, I was officially done with the TMB. So what did I feel in the end?

• Awesome views along the way. Beautiful mountains, especially with those glaciers on top.
• There’s some great MTBing along the way. But a lot of it is in the bike parks in Le Tour and Les Houches.
• Didn’t have the feeling that I’ve finished something hard. Nor that I went into the wilderness and returned 5 days later. The route is just too crowded, too tame to get the feeling you’re immersed in nature.

Day 6

This was the buffer day in case of bad weather or technical issues. I chose to start it with some more bike park riding in Le Tour. Had to end this part a little earlier than expected since I used up my last set of disk brake pads. Went down the mountain looking for bike stores (which I easily found) and fixed the brakes.

Continued with the trails of Petit Balcon Nord (nice singletrack when going downhill), followed by Petit Balcon Sud and finally the Pranplaz downhill. This was a technical trail (especially the upper part). Had to walk several sections, but overall it was worth it (even when considering the long push bike up to the trail head).

Just as I got into Chamonix, on the final stretch of biking after 6 full days, accelerating at a junction, I broke the chain. After almost 1900 km, after going through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, Fagaras Mountains (and a few others in Romania) and now the Alps, that chain couldn’t have picked a better place to die on me. Walked to my hostel, packed Kenosha and my stuff and I was ready to go.

Day 7

Going back to Romania. Looking over the past week – highways, trains, cable cars – I’m going to miss you, infrastructure!

The Geneva airport didn’t want to take my bike wrapped in foil. They said bike boxes are mandatory – and they can sell them for 20 CHF. But they only take cash and I only had EUR and RON. Found an ATM.. but, since I’m in Switzerland, land of the non-poor, the minimum withdrawal was 50 CHF. That was one expensive piece of cardboard.

Logistics

What I learned: biking the TMB in August is definitely something to avoid. The trails are very crowded. No fun walking your bike down an awesome trail because there’s a long queue of people climbing it.

Prices:

• Plane Bucharest Geneva – 875 RON
• Bus Bucharest airport – 14 RON
• Shuttle Geneva Chamonix – 57 RON
• Double Whopper menu at Burgerking, Otopeni airport – 53 RON, wtf..
• Night at a hostel in Chamonix – between 20-40 EUR (UTMB was approaching, leading to higher prices)
• Night at a mountain shelter – 45-60 EUR, dinner and breakfast included
• Omelette in Switzerland – 11 EUR.. 0_0
• A can of Coke at a mountain shelter – 2-3 EUR

So the most important choice you have to make when planning is between:

• packing just the bare minimum and relying on mountain shelters for sleeping and food
• taking camping gear, but still eating at mountain shelters
• taking also food supplies from supermarkets in Chamonix and Courmayeur, carrying more, but also spending the least amount of money

In the busy months of July and August it’s recommended to book your nights in advance. But, as I’ve mentioned several times already, it’s best to just avoid this interval altogether if you’re on a bike and just make do with the shorter colder days of September.

Despite three climbs done almost exclusivity alongside the bike, both of today’s descends were bikeable! Can’t believe it! The second descend was actually quite easy – nothing technical, just go straight down.

Went through one pair of disk brake pads already. Wow, that was fast. This time I was more prepared. Swapped in some new ones and continued my ride.

Ate a slice of cheese tart at Refuge Auberge de la Nova, just before the final climb of the day. With 900 m of gain over just 5 km, I needed some food to keep my energy up.

Spent the night at Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme. Highest altitude shelter I’ll be staying in, at 2443 m elevation.

Had to pay to use the shower. You buy tokens, and a token gets you 4 minutes of water. Didn’t know if 4 minutes is enough. Found out it is.

Reached the high point of my tour – Grand Col de Ferret, ~2550m. Not the view I expected though. This is also the border between Switzerland and Italy. Arrivederci Svizzera!

Had some very good mountain biking (km 10-20 in the Strava track). Mostly level trail, good quality, great views. The descend into Courmayeur was steep and technical. Walked most of it. I guess somebody more downhilly than me, on a day with fewer hikers, would have fun.

Wanted to buy some soda and fruits, but the only store I could find was closed during lunch hours.

From Courmayeur I had a 900 meter climb to today’s shelter – Maison Vieille. The climb was mostly on paved roads, with the final third on gravel roads (which become ski slopes in the winter).

On long boring hot climbs like this one I like to think about a reward at the end, something to motivate me. It’s usually a 2L bottle of soda. But I would be OK even with a smaller one, say 1.25L. As I got to the shelter, I threw my bike (gently against a table), entered the dining area and asked for the largest bottle of Coke they had. The largest was unfortunately also the smallest they had – the ubiquitous 0.33L can. Made a sad face, then took 2. Later I walked past a room which had something like 100 1L bottles of Coke (in the photo you can only see a part of the stash). Supplies for the upcoming UTMB.

For dinner we had pasta. A big plate for the 4 of us sitting at a table. Struggled a little, but we managed to clean it. But it seems that in Italy pasta is an appetizer. The main course was pork with vegetables. For dessert we each got an apple. And then we got the dessert, a slice of pudding something. Best meal so far.

Started with the descend to Trient, followed by several ascents and descents, that I’ve lost track. What I can say is I’ve ridden (or pushed my bike) on all types of surfaces, but the main one was steep gnarly rocky rooty trail. And yes, I’ve pushed my bike up and down a lot. Not only because of the technical trails, but also because of the hordes of tourists I’ve met. It’s incredible how crowded this trail is.

It was also sunny and hot. On the list of things you don’t know you like until you miss them I’m adding convenience stores. Every Romanian village has at least one. Meanwhile Swiss villages looked like lovely immaculate ghost towns. Deserted. Just picturesque houses and me baking in the sun.

I must admit I didn’t do a lot of planning in terms of the track to follow. I had the tracks from Vertical Riding Romania and pretty much relied on them. So when they veered off the TMB trail and went along a dirt road, I followed (km 37 on my track below). When that road dissapeared into a rocky riverbed, I honestly thought there was a reasonable explanation. But after 1 km and 30 minutes of carrying my bike, jumping over boulders, scrambling up a hill, pushing through dense brush and finally emerging off the side of the road, I understood: double check any track you have from somebody else. People can get lost. Kinda lame to get lost following them.

Spent the night at Gîte Alpage de la Peule. Another high altitude (2100 m) shelter. But don’t imagine something primitive. They have a tractor, cow milking machines and a lot of milk processing equipment. And, surprise, all the work is done by a few families from Romania. They spend each summer working here, while the rest of the year they’re in Cluj.

Dinner tonight – a bed of bread, topped with ham, fromage and some tomatoes, then baked in the oven. High fat high calorie meal. Just what I needed.

Met many TMB hikers here, but one of them was fishy. Dressed in trail running clothes and shoes, with a pair of good trail running poles, but also with a huge backpack. He said he’s doing the whole route in 3 days (I’m doing it on a bike in 5, while most hikers are doing it in 7-10 days). He also said his name is Cori Benoit and he’s a professional runner. He was checking out the route ahead of l’UTMB. He ended up on 30th place.

For whoever’s not familiar with the TMB (hi mom!), it’s a very popular hiking route going around the Mont Blanc massif. It crosses troix pays: France, Switzerland and Italy. It’s around 175 km with 8000 m of elevation gain.  For whoever has some mountain biking experience, doing 175/8 gives you an average of 22 km per 1000 meters of elevation (or an average gradient of just under 10%) – so you know it’s going to be gnarly. This route hosts the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc – the most popular trail ultramarathon in the world. I arrived in the area at the end of August (a week before the race) and left just as the first of the UTMB races were starting.

I planned the route in 5 days. It looks like quelque chose that can be done in 4 days, but I planned 5 to have an easier pace and enjoy the views and the area. I also had an extra day in case of bad weather. I tried to bring as little gear as possible – only had a day pack (which included my DSLR) and a frame bag. I didn’t want to carry a tent+sleeping bag and relied on spending the nights and eating in alpine huts.

I’ll add the logistics/planning details in the final post of the series. This first post covers day 1 (and the day before it).

Day 0

It’s only fitting I start my TMB adventure with a hike a bike from home to the bus station. Just a km away, but still far enough that I already got blisters from the new MTB shoes. It’s going to be a long week..

Didn’t manage to find a bike box, so I tried another approach at packing Kenosha. And guess what.. it didn’t fit through the X-ray machine at Otopeni Airport. Had to remove a wheel, then repack it. Good to know in the future.

Landed in Geneva with half an hour delay. Cinq minutes shy of missing my shuttle to Chamonix. Once there, I had to take care of some administrative tasks:

• Assemble the bike. Kenosha survived the journey. As I saw the gears and brakes working as expected, I finally relaxed.
• Get a bike map from the tourist office so I can finally understand where I’m allowed to bike in the valley. During July and August (the busy summer months), bikes are only allowed on a handful of trails in the Chamonix Valley area. I saw on this year’s map they relaxed the rules a little (compared to the information I found online).
• Buy some supplies and also something to eat. Found a good burger joint (Poco Loco). Instead of that fluffy bun classic burgers use, they had French bread. Nice touch!

Day 1

After going over the Chamonix valley bike map, I had a plan in place:

• • Started with the Chamonix – Argentiere trail. This ended up being just a gravel road through the forest. Boring.
  • Followed with the Petit Balcon Nord. Mostly single track. Lovely trail.
  • Ended in the Le Tour area.

A day pass for riding your bike in Le Tour is just 23 eur. A bargain! Couldn’t help myself. So what do you get?

• 3 cable cars:
  • Charamillon – gets you from Le Tour halfway up the mountain;
  • Autannes – gets you from the upper station of Charamillon up to the top, at the Col de Balme;
  • Vallorcine – this one is on the other side of the mountain, starting from the namesake village.
• Trails:
  • On the Le Tour side there is one big trail from top to bottom (the first half is called Cerfs, while the second is called Chevreuils). There is another trail (Marmottes), but it was closed for work);
  • On the Vallorcine side there are several trails, wilder, with fewer markings. I didn’t have the GPS tracks for them, so I struggled to follow one.

The trails in Le Tour are purpose built for biking. They’ve got drops, jumps and switchbacks. They’re not difficult and can be done even with a hardtail (but I wouldn’t understand a person that uses a hardtail in a bike park). I spent all afternoon riding in Le Tour. No, I didn’t get bored.

On the Vallorcine side, I started from the top with a trail that was at an easy enduro level. Afterwards I had to go down on some gravel roads (yuk) and finally managed to get on the downhill route (which was an easy one). This side of the mountain was wilder, more remote and the trail resembled those in Romania. So I just returned to Le Tour and the bike trails there.

The chairlifts closed at 5 pm and I made my way to the nearby Refuge du Col de Balme, where I just sat on a chair in the afternoon sun and enjoyed the warmth and the view towards Mont Blanc.

Le Refuge du Col de Balme (2190 m) est situé à la frontière avec la Suisse. Don’t be fooled by the name. This is not a mountain shelter, but a chalet, so they serve food. Unlike most Romanian chalets, they have running water and flushable toilest (just the shower was closed for renovation).

At 7 pm dinner was served. Cauliflower soup, followed by polenta with chicken and yogurt with chestnut cream. 

Henry, the guy in charge of the refuge, is friendly. Il a dit que mon français est très bon, which is obviously not accurate. It’s his first year as a caretaker here and I can see the refuge is in the middle of renovation work.