TMB Les Contamines to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme
In this series of posts, we will tell our story of our Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) day by day.
This post is the day 2 where we will hike the official route from Les Contamines to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme where we stayed overnight. We opted not to go to Chapieux like the official route but stay in Croix du Bonhomme to use the TMB alternative route the next day.
If you are looking for a complete guide, you can read our full 1/2 TMB guide.
We hiked it, end of June.
Table of Contents
Mapping the day
Day 2 Route from Les Contamines to Col de la Croix du Bonhomme
Les Contamines to Refuge Nant Borrant
We woke up around 6:30am, packed our tent (that was still humid), had breakfast, got ready and left around 7h50 the Camping Le Pontet using the back door.
The first part of the trail was an uphill hike through a forest with a beautiful waterfall along the way. Further, we reached out of the forest to a stunning hamlet.
Refuge Nant Borrant to Refuge de la Balme
We kept on and ended through a gorgeous valley where Refuge de la Balme was waiting at the end. In the middle of the valley there were a small bench, water well and rubbish bin.
This part of the trail was a bit more crowded as many people do it as a one-day hike.
We chilled a while on bench, admiring cows across the field. Then, we continued until the Refuge that was a bit uphill (arrived around 10:30am). There another break was mandatory to enjoy the view toward the valley we just past.
Near the refuge there was a wild camping authorised area, public toilet, drinkable well and sitting area.
Refuge de la Balme to Col du Bonhomme
By 10:50am we left toward Col du Bonhomme. Uphill trail as we are at 1703m and need to reach the col that stand at 2329m.
The trail was beautiful and going slowly up. Some part of it was still covered in snow but it was not hard to past over.
We made it by the Col du Bonhomme around 2:05pm. The view was breath-taking, but it was really windy.
Col du Bonhomme to Col de la croix du Bonhomme
We followed the snow-covered trail on the left, opposite to the shelter, for another 1h30 (instead of 50min on the sign, but we do love to take break and enjoy the landscape). This part of the trail was quite steep.
From there, we just walked another 15min to reach the Refuge Col de la croix du Bonhomme.
It is possible to wild camp on the leftside downhill of the refuge. You can miss the spot, there are lots of rocky wall.
As we did not like to much what was already made, we pitched our tent and made a small wall around in case of wind. In the end, it was not windy this day.
Once done, we went by turn to take a shower in the refuge (3€ for 4min hot water) and had a beer for 8€ (50cl).
There are dry toilets in front of the shelter for everyone to use, drinkable water outside and in the shelter, plus the refuge had a small kitchen with gas that we could use for free.
Tina gave her Yoga class with an amazing view and I chilled in the tent.
 “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.” – G.M. Trevelyan
