FidEgan's FastPacks (or not so fast) - Episode 7 - The GR 20, Corsica, France

John and I are currently on a world trip where we plan to persue our passion of trail running through the various landscapes and environments of the world. As we pass through each country we want to post our top pick for a trail run that we did. This does not mean that this is the best trail to run in that country. It just means that it was our favorite that we did. We are both using Ultraspire Fastpacks to carry our gear, hence the name of the column. On this trip we had our Fastpacks for the side trip we did but for the main trail full size backpacks were needed for all our camping gear.

Where: The GR 20 hiking trail which traverses the island of Corsica from north (Calenzana) to south (Conca).

Map from Wikipedia

 

Facilities/Trailhead: The trail is split into a northern and southern section with the village of Vizzavona being considered the middle point. In the north the town of Calvi can be reached by train or bus. A bus or taxi will be needed for the last ~10km to get to the trailhead in Calenzana. The southern terminus in Conca can be reached from the town of Porto Vechchio by bus. Vizzavona has a train station which is the best way to get there. There are some supplies available in each of these towns but it will be cheaper (and better selection) if you stock up on any supplies you need in the larger towns. Have enough money with you. They take cash only and the nearest ATM is an hour train ride from Vizzavona in the town of Corte.

There are Refuge mountain huts where you can stay or camp. Camping is only legally allowed at the Refuges. It takes between 5 and 9 hours of hiking between the huts. During the summer months there is food served (breakfast/dinner). There are also some private Bergeries scattered around but we didn't count on them. They were bonus places to find a tasty lunch (homemade cheeses, fresh bread, salami and drinks). The huts are often full and crowded. We elected to bring a tent and stove so we could could feel independent. This caused heavier backpacks and a slower pace but decreased the worry of not having a place to stay. It is possible to make reservations beforehand, however. The Refuges also had tents that they rented. Most Refuges had a kitchen or outside gas stove that the campers could use and each had some limited supplies for sale (pasta, tuna, chocolate, biscuits, bread, soup, wine, beer, beans, etc).

Refuge Tighiettu - Stage 5

 

Fees: The huts were typically 13 Euros per person to stay in. Camping was 7 Euros per person; renting a tent was an additional 10 Euros per person. We found the meals a bit pricy for what you received. 20 Euros for dinner (soup, pasta, dessert) and 10 Euros for breakfast (typical European bread, butter, jam, tea/coffee). Two people completely relying on the huts would be spending around 83 Euros per day not including any alcohol, drinks, or snacks. It adds up so bring a big wad of cash if you are going this way. We cooked our own food and slept in our tent and spent around 40 Euros per day for everything (less alcohol would have made it a lot cheaper).

Terrain/Trails: The northern section (9 stages) is the much tougher section of the hike and involves a fair amount of scrambling. There are many spots that are steep with large exposure. Chains and handrails exist in some places but in many areas you will be using your hands to climb across the rocks. If you don't like heights then this part of the trail is not for you. The rock tends to be solid granite and makes for beautiful climbing. If you rock climb this would be a great place to have a rope and full climbing rack. Climbing lines of all levels are in every direction you look.

The southern section (6 stages) is less rocky and rugged but passes through some very pretty areas. The Plateau de Coscione is the well known part of this but there are many other scenic spots.

Most people hike the trail from north to south to get the technical parts done while they are still fresh. This is the way we went. Hiking from south to north would be better for photography as the sun will be at your back as you walk.

This is the best marked trail we have ever hiked. There are red/white paint marking and cairns. If we went more then 100 meters without seeing a marker we would instantly stop and look around since we were off course. We did not have a guide book, only a map and probably could have done it without even that (this is not recommended however!).

Trail marker

 

There are a number of side trips possible along the way. There are mountains to climb or lakes to hike to. There are also a few places where there are “variants” - usually the variant goes over a mountain while the “normal” trail goes around.

Distance: 180 km or 112 miles with about 33,000 feet of vertical change. This is considered to be one of the most difficult (and scenic) hiking trails in Europe and is listed on the National Geographic Adventure website as one of the 20 all time epic trails in the world.

Description: We chose to do the trail slowly and just hike hut to hut. There are some days where it is totally possible to do a “double” and shorten the time spent out there. The standard is 15 days. The French Foreign Legion do it as a military training exercise in 7 days. The record is an INSANE 32 hours by Guillaume Peretti.

The first day is mostly up and takes you into the rocky steep first half of the trail. If you start in the morning you will spend most of the day in the shade which is good because it can get hot in Corsica, especially lower down. Section 2, 3, and especially 4 are the most technical of the route. On section 2 with our heavy packs it took us 6 1/2 hours to go 7km. The trail consists of a lot of up and down steep scrambling with little forward progress. Day 4 is the Cirque du Solitude which is the crux of the whole trail. Here is where you find the most chains, metal ladders, and hand rails to help get through this area. Even with the artificial help you will still have a lot of exposed rock scrambling to do. Being comfortable with exposure helps in getting through this section. It would be a very bad place to fall. Section 7 has some beautiful lakes that can be climbed down to. From there to the halfway point at Vizzavona there are still some brief scrambling areas but much less. 

 

 

The southern section of the trail is more mellow. The trail goes through more forested sections but there are also large meadows, ridgelines, and fields you pass through. The Plateau du Coscione provides huge wide open vista views and easily competes with the north for beauty.

 

In both sections we saw Mouflon (wild sheep), wild boar, and foxes. Be careful about leaving food lying around. 

Mouflon sheep                

We took the side trip to the top of Monte Cinto which is the highest point in Corsica. The trailhead for this is at the end of Stage 3 (Refuge Ascu-Stagnu). There is some rock scrambling involved here and makes a great day trip. 

Summit of Monte Cinto

 

FidEgan's FastPacks - Episode 6 - Tour du Mont Blanc

John and I are currently on a world trip where we plan to persue our passion of trail running through the various landscapes and environments of the world. As we pass through different countries we want to post our top pick for a trail run that we did. This does not mean that this is the best trail to run in that country. It just means that it was our favorite that we did. We are both using Ultraspire Fastpacks to carry our gear, hence the name of the column.  

Where: The Tour du Mont Blanc – a hiking trail that circumnavigates the Mont Blanc massif mountain passing through the French, Italian and Swiss Alps.

Facilities/Trailhead: There are multiple places that you can use as trailheads. The most common places are Chamonix, Les Houches, Les Contamines in France, Courmayeur in Italy, or Champex and Martigny in Switzerland. There are other possibilities also. We started in Les Contamines where we left our car at a trailhead parking lot. We were told by the Tourism Office that car breakins were not a problem but we made sure that nothing was visible inside the car. We left our larger backpacks and valuables at one of the guesthouses in Les Houches where they would be more secure.

There is camping along the route but we chose to use the wonderful Refugios and Guesthouses or Gites. These provide overnight accomodation and can include dinner (usually a 3 course meal (appetizer, main meal, and dessert) and breakfast (standard European coffee/tea, bread, butter, jam, honey and sometimes included cereal or fruit). We chose to stay in the cheaper dormitories (dortoir) but there are private rooms available. This is a popular trail so the private rooms in the huts are usually booked ahead. Even the dorms were pretty full at some huts since we did this in August. Reservations are recommended, especially for larger groups.There were showers at every hut. Sometimes they charged extra for this (2 Euro) but most of the time it was included. Bring slippers or flip-flops as boots/shoes are not allowed inside most of the huts. 

One of many beautiful Refugios

There are multiple huts or towns along the entire route so lunch options existed every day.

Fees: There are no park fees or cost for using the trail. Staying at the huts runs about $65 per person for 1/2 pension (dormitory accomodation, dinner, breakfast). Drinks and snacks are extra. Some of the huts have heartier and bigger meals than others and vegetarian options exist (veganism is more of a challenge because of the meat and cheese culture of Europe). You may be charged about $8 to camp near some of the huts or at designated spots. Wild camping is frowned upon but we saw lots of people doing it with no consequences.

Terrain/Trails: The trails ran the full gamut from wonderful single track to dirt roads and some pavement (usually when passing through the towns/villages). On one section of trail above Argentiere there are ladders and handrails to get past the rock cliffs. The scenery is ridiculously beautiful with alpine passes, forested valleys, and the ever present Mont Blanc massif with its constant changing perspective as you work your way around these massive mountains and glaciers. The “normal” direction is to travel counter-clockwise but either direction would work fine. Hikers will often take 10 to 14 days to do the loop. We “ran” it in 7 days. The winners of the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) race cover the distance in 21 hours (that is FAST!!!). We really recommend taking your time to truly be able to stop and enjoy the beauty of this loop. Don't rush through it.

Distance: The full loop is 170 km or 105 miles and has about 33,000 feet of vertical ups and downs. The Tour du Mont Blanc does not follow the UTMB course exactly. The hiking loop is longer, has more vertical, and is more scenic. The trail is well marked with signs and symbols painted onto rocks, buildings, and trees.

Trail marker in France        

Trail marker in Italy           

Trail marker in Switzerland

Lots of trail signage            

Description: We were originally going to start in Les Houches but the weather was so bad that day we elected to drive to Les Contamines and start from there where the weather was better. This area is notorious for bad weather and Mont Blanc creates its own conditions. While it was pouring rain in Chamonix it was sunny and beautiful in Courmayeur. We were fortunate to have our friend Glenn Tachiyama fly out from the United States to join us. The trail first traveled over the double pass of Col du Bonhomme and Col de la Croix du Bonhomme. This was one of our favorite passes and was a good introduction to some of the climbing that we would have to do. Once above the trees the terrain is alpine grass that almost looks like it has been mowed. Cows with large loud cowbells graze the fields. The UTMB race was two weeks away so we had some really fast tough looking runners going by us at times as they trained. We stayed that night at Refuge des Mottets and were glad we had a reservation since it was very crowded. Just as we got to the Refuge it started to rain and that continued all night. 

Starting in the rain                                      

View from Col de la Croix du Bonhomme

The weather was still ugly at the start of the next day as we climbed Col de la Seigne which was the border into Italy. Once we started the descent into Val Veny (Veny Valley) the rain became even worse. High winds, driving rain, and cold with the rain bordering on sleet/snow. The wind was so strong it would almost knock you down. During this section as we approached the Courmayeur ski area we literally had to run for our lives. We called it the “Race Against Hypothermia”. At the Refugio Monte Blanco we were able to find shelter and some of the best hot chocolate we have ever had. It was literally like a mug of melted chocolate. Yumm! The weather improved in the afternoon as we passed through the charming but large town of Courmayeur and then climbed up the next ridge to Refuge Bertone where the clouds broke and we finally got our first good views of Mont Blanc.

The Race Against Hypothermia

The next day running along the ridge of Mont de la Saxe was wonderful compared to the day before. Panoramic views of the Mont Blanc mountain range and wonderful runnable single track. This was one of the best days of runnable single track all the way to Refuge Elena at the base of the Grand Col Ferret which is the highest point on the loop (2537 meters).

Mont Blanc massif

Crossing the Grand Col Ferret takes you into Switzerland. The price of everything jumped up even higher once across the border. This was our other day of bad weather. At the top of the pass we had 5 minutes of a view before being engulfed into a cloud and it started to snow. It was cold enough that it was starting to accumulate on the ground but we were able to descend enough that it turned to rain. This day's trail passed through another beautiful river valley called Val Ferret. The trail passes through several small villages that are so perfectly Switzerland that they almost look fake. The tidiness of Switzerland is like no other place in the world. That day ended up in the town of Champex next to a small lake. There are numerous hotel and Gite (guesthouse) options here. 

Cows on the Grand Col Ferret

 

Day 5 took us up and over the Col de la Forclaz and then to Col de Balme which was the border back into France. This route has expansive views looking north into the Martigny valley. The hike up to Col de Balme was steep with constant switchbacks. The end of the day brought us to the Refuge du Col de Balme but we elected not to stay there. It was small, dingy, had no potable water, and the lady running it was grumpy. We elected to take the chairlift/gondola combination down to the town of le Tour. Since there were no affordable hotels there we then caught the bus/train combo to the town of Vailorcine where we stayed at a nice guesthouse called the Gite Mermoud. The owner was concerned that he didn't know how to cook anything without butter or cream but he ended up being very successful at feeding Glenn a vegan dinner.

View into the Martigny Valley

Day 6 took us through the most “technical” section where the trail follows the mountainside on the north side of the Chamonix valley. There are sections of ladders, handrails, and steps driven into the rock to get past some cliffs, especially in the Echelles area where numerous climbing teams were negotiating the rock walls above us. Our lunch spot at Chalet de la Flegere had a hot tub on the porch next to the tables but none of us had the nerve to jump in. The trail then followed a rugged ridgeline across Col du Brevent and Le Brevent mountain before dropping steeply down into Les Houches. Since our backpacks were there for the first time all week we were able to have access to clean clothes.

Glenn coming up a steep section 

View from trail above Chamonix

The last day was an easy one from Les Houches over the ski area and Col de Voza to get back to Les Contamines and our car. It was nice to have an easy last day since our legs were pretty tired. The sunny weather helped our sense of accomplishment as we slowly closed out the loop. You know it was a good trip when you are glad to be done but at the same time wish it never would end. 

Mont Blanc from Les Houches ski area