again : Hiking the TMB in sandals

theo said:

Yesterday 1 meter fresh snow in the SE Alpine region of
France at 2500m altitude.

Whobutwhatwhatwhat?

Whereabouts are you, Theo? (Or: of what area are you writing?). I didn't pay
that much attention to the meteo last week, but I don't remember it being
*that* bad. But maybe it was. The weekend before we put our feet in the
first snows on the Grand Sorbier [Chamrousse, Belledonne]: 20cm at about the
same altitude when we left around 1300 on Sunday (although it was still
coming down well).

Seems my half-laid plans to Do Something Big this weekend in dept. 74 need a
bit more research. Mt. Blanc looked pretty from the office windows today
though 🙂

Martin.

Yes, I just returned to Hawaii yesterday. We had fairly decent weather
the whole way and we finally finished on September 30th after 11 days
of wonderful hiking. Some snow and rain hit the area a few days later,
and now I hear that they are getting quite a bit more. I talked to
several TMB'ers who finished behind us and they spoke of wet and cold
conditions, with rain at the lower elevations and snow on some of the
higher passes. I suppose we were just plain lucky that the weather
decided to hold back until we were done.

So, would I recommend wearing sandals on the TMB? No, definitely not. I
love hiking in sandals and I have worn them on numerous other trips,
but they are definitely not suitable for this hike. Anyone who is
considering wearing only sandals on the TMB should consider these
points:

The Alps are steep and rocky, and the TMB is consistently steeper than
most other trails. I was quite surprised! This trail has almost no
level ground; when you're not going up, you're going down, often quite
steeply. It's almost as though the trail builders took special pride
(or perhaps some sort of perverse delight) in the almost utter lack of
flat sections (see, no wasted steps!) Anyway, along with all the ups
and downs there are numerous long, relentless descents. Anyone wearing
boots without ample toe room or lacking in forward support will end up
with a serious case of rammed toes, and anyone trying the trail in
sandals will probably discover that their sandals don't provide nearly
as much forward support as they ought to. Mine certainly didn't. I
tried them out on some of the long descents and found that I had to
make the straps uncomfortably tight in order to prevent my toes from
poking out the front. Of course, the last thing I wanted was to slip
and jam my toes into a rock. No thanks! Back to the boots.

And speaking of rocks, the trail is quite rocky in many areas, and
there is also some loose, slippery rock. It's all too easy to slide
forward or sideways and jam your foot into an adjacent rock. This sort
of move is no problem in boots, but it would be terrible in sandals.
Risking a possible foot injury with up to 11 more days of hiking ahead
is just not a good bet.

All this being said, I must admit that my boots failed on the last day
and I had to switch to my sandals. Imagine, Vasque Sundowners failing!
I was shocked. Luckily this was not a particularly rough day to be
wearing sandals, and I chose the easier route down. However, I would
not have wanted to be wearing my sandals on the day I climbed up
through the Fenetre d'Arpette (in Switzerland). Talk about rocky! Add a
little snow (and it snowed up there a week before I went through) and
you've got guaranteed foot ramming.

The TMB (Tour du Mont Blanc) is a wonderful hike which I strongly
recommend for anybody who loves fantastic views and doesn't mind paying
for them with long ascents and relentless descents. Midweight boots or
decent hiking shoes are the best things to wear on your feet, and make
sure your toes have plenty of room. Also, walking poles should be
considered a necessity.

I hope to post some of my better photos (I took hundreds) as soon as I
get caught up, and I will put up a link on this board.

Thanks to everyone for all your good advice.

Dan

theo said:

Is Dan back in Honolulu yet ? How was your trip if you are ?
Yesterday 1 meter fresh snow in the SE Alpine region of France at 2500m
altitude.
No sandals I suppose.

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

"Martin Carpenter" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

theo said:

Yesterday 1 meter fresh snow in the SE Alpine region of
France at 2500m altitude.

Whobutwhatwhatwhat?

Whereabouts are you, Theo? (Or: of what area are you writing?). I didn't
pay
that much attention to the meteo last week, but I don't remember it being
*that* bad. But maybe it was. The weekend before we put our feet in the
first snows on the Grand Sorbier [Chamrousse, Belledonne]: 20cm at about
the
same altitude when we left around 1300 on Sunday (although it was still
coming down well).

Seems my half-laid plans to Do Something Big this weekend in dept. 74 need
a
bit more research. Mt. Blanc looked pretty from the office windows today
though 🙂

I'm from the Continent, from The Netherlands to be precise. The news on
television shows us the weather from Ireland to Turkey and from Norway to
North Africa. Every extreme in Europe is a newsitem : 3000 sheep had to be
moved on foot by sheperds.
Can't pinpoint the exact area, just looked at the pictures.
I know the British weatherforecast is actually an *English* weatherforecast
and not very (a)broadminded.

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

theo said:

I know the British weatherforecast is actually an *English* weatherforecast
and not very (a)broadminded.

Well, all too often it's a South-East England weather forecast because
that's where all the people in power and the broadcasters and forecasters
are, and we know how important they are :-)

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the time
we don't share it with anyone else and it's completely different from what's
happening on the continent ! [I read somewhere that Britain occupies an
area where about 5 different weather systems meet, and what we get at any
one time is whichever one is in charge.]

--
Back when I was a boy, we carved our own ICs out of wood.

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

theo said:

I know the British weatherforecast is actually an *English*
weatherforecast
and not very (a)broadminded.

Well, all too often it's a South-East England weather forecast because
that's where all the people in power and the broadcasters and forecasters
are, and we know how important they are :-)

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the
time
we don't share it with anyone else...

But you *are* sharing it ! First you *enjoy* it yourselfs and when you find
it of no use anymore you send it over to us in Holland. We get the Scottish
weather from the NW and the English weather from the SW.

Quoted message said:

....and it's completely different from what's
happening on the continent ! [I read somewhere that Britain occupies an
area where about 5 different weather systems meet, and what we get at any
one time is whichever one is in charge.]

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

theo said:

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the
time
we don't share it with anyone else...

But you *are* sharing it ! First you *enjoy* it yourselfs and when you find
it of no use anymore you send it over to us in Holland. We get the Scottish
weather from the NW and the English weather from the SW.

That's fine just as long as we can share a little of your continental
cold for a period after we have had a snow fall this winter. My axe
and points could do with some use this winter.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

theo said:

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:28:42 +0200, "theo" <[email hidden]> wrote:

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the
time
we don't share it with anyone else...

But you *are* sharing it ! First you *enjoy* it yourselfs and when you find
it of no use anymore you send it over to us in Holland. We get the Scottish
weather from the NW and the English weather from the SW.

I'm sorry about that - I hadn't realised the weather was now recycled. I
assumed we just dumped it in the North Sea when it was beyond its useful
life !

I'm not sure about the "enjoy" bit though. Mostly, we Brits tolerate the
weather. It is, however, especially mild at the moment. Rain and then
clearer, colder air is promised for the weekend, which is good as I'll be
outside Friday and Saturday.

--
If we do not succeed, then we face the risk of failure. - Dan Quayle

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

theo said:

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:28:42 +0200, "theo" <[email hidden]>
wrote:

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us
what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the
time
we don't share it with anyone else...

But you *are* sharing it ! First you *enjoy* it yourselfs and when you
find
it of no use anymore you send it over to us in Holland. We get the
Scottish
weather from the NW and the English weather from the SW.

I'm sorry about that - I hadn't realised the weather was now recycled. I
assumed we just dumped it in the North Sea when it was beyond its useful
life !

I'm not sure about the "enjoy" bit though. Mostly, we Brits tolerate the
weather. It is, however, especially mild at the moment. Rain and then
clearer, colder air is promised for the weekend, which is good as I'll be
outside Friday and Saturday.

Last five weeks have been like summer (we didn't have summer during summer).
Very pleasant and smaller energybills :-)

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net

"Phil Cook" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

theo said:

"John Laird" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But even when it's a UK forecast, yes you're right it rarely tells us
what
is happening abroad. But that's because it's our weather. Most of the
time
we don't share it with anyone else...

But you *are* sharing it ! First you *enjoy* it yourselfs and when you
find
it of no use anymore you send it over to us in Holland. We get the
Scottish
weather from the NW and the English weather from the SW.

That's fine just as long as we can share a little of your continental
cold for a period after we have had a snow fall this winter. My axe
and points could do with some use this winter.

I'll send some to you !

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net