Stage 6 — La Forclaz to Col de Balme to Le Tour
The most satisfying day of the trek. It started by going the wrong way, then climbed 3,000 feet to a view of the whole massif from the far side of the loop.
At a glance · 8.3 mi · +3,112 ft · high point Col de Balme (~7,190 ft) · moving 5h20 · hard
Stage six started by going the wrong way. The first stretch dropped down past Le Peuty, the little village laid out below us in the morning light. Beautiful, but every step down was a step we'd have to win back. We knew it going in.
Then the climb came to collect. Three thousand feet up to Col de Balme, steep and unrelenting, the kind that tests your lungs. Sweat just poured off me. But the views opened wider the higher we climbed, and that trade felt fair.
The high traverse — the green Trient valley below, alpenrose in the foreground, layered peaks and building cloud
By now I didn't have to reach for the breathing. On the first climbs I had to work at staying with it. This one I just climbed. Somewhere along the way the practice had stopped being something I do on the hard parts and turned into how I move now. The noise in my head went quiet and my legs kept moving on their own. I barely felt it working, and the hardest climb since day one went by almost quietly.
Then Col de Balme delivered. The whole range stood open in front of me, the valley falling away below, the Mont Blanc massif seen from the far side of the loop we'd been walking for a week. Hardly any snow to cross up top. Just the view, and the quiet of having earned it.
The Refuge du Col de Balme on the border saddle, 2,191 m, snowy aiguilles to the left
We dropped down to Le Tour and caught a bus back to the hotel. The descent was hard on the knees, same as always, but they're starting to get used to this. Dinner was a poke bowl with the rest of the crew at a place in town.
This was the best day of the whole trek. Somewhere on that climb, it settled in as a certainty: we're going to finish this, all of it, just like we planned. One day left.
Walking down the trail toward the Chamonix valley, Mont Blanc filling the head of it ahead
Trail Notes
Route: La Forclaz (1,526 m) → down past Le Peuty → steep climb to Col de Balme (2,191 m, Switzerland–France border) → descend to Le Tour → bus back to Argentière.
Start smart: Have the taxi drop you at the La Forclaz col, not the village below, to skip an extra climb.
Water: Sources are thin. Fill before the climb.
Border: Switzerland back into France at Col de Balme, and the first full Mont Blanc massif view.
Snow (late June): Minimal at the col.
Where we stayed: Hôtel Le Dahu, Argentière (second night). Dinner: a poke bowl in town.
The watch said: 8.26 mi · +3,112 ft, biggest climb since Stage 1 · 5h20 moving · avg HR 123 · effort tagged Hard (7).Planning your own TMB Stage 6? Read the practical guide: TMB Stage 6 Guide: Trient to Argentière
