The Mont Blanc Esprit de Corps – Rick Steves’ Travel Blog
2 min read



Mountaineering Europe’s Tour du Mont Blanc was a entirely unique slice of European tradition for me: Coming on a distant farmhouse-turned-thriving-cafe serving superb lunches…flowers and cows (with traditional bells) scenically sprinkled throughout…and an esprit de corps the place everyone is like loved ones.
As practically everyone hikes in the same direction (counter-clockwise), you grow to be friends with fellow hikers. It appeared like half the men and women on the trail had been from the US, and I achieved a lot of Seattleites.
And in the desire of mountaineering mild, lunches have been really simple — just a sandwich from the lodge, it’s possible a carrot, a piece of fruit, and drinking water. But upon achieving the mid-day summit, lunch was a marmot’s banquet. (Talking of marmots, we saw no wildlife except a few of mice that had been squished less than mountaineering boots on the path.)



