This guide to Tour du Mont Blanc Stage 5 will help you prepare for the route from Courmayeur to Chalet Val Ferret in northern Italy.
After combining Stages 3 and 4 and then taking a rest day, we began stage 5 of the Tour du Mont Blanc, leaving Courmayeur behind and traveling farther into Italy.
This stage of the TMB is often skipped entirely by hikers who take a bus from Courmayeur to Val Ferret. When I found that out, I was absolutely shocked. In my opinion, this was one of the best days of the entire loop, with gorgeous views for the majority of the day.
Hiking Stage 5 During the UTMB
We hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc during the same week as the UTMB, a series of ultra-marathons held in the Chamonix area. While the races didn't affect our trip for the most part, one of the UTMB races (the CCC) affected this hiking day.
We started hiking at around 7:30 a.m., and the trail race started at 9 a.m. in 15-minute phased starts. By 9:30 a.m., there were 3,000 trail runners all headed down the same path as us.
While it was fun to feel like we were part of the race, and the energy was amazing, as the day went on it became very stressful. It was hard to move down the trail at all because we kept moving off trail to let runners pass.
My tip would be to let the runners have the trail on race day, and try to plan your own trek accordingly. Read more about this and other lessons learned on the TMB here.
Tour du Mont Blanc Stage 5: Activity Profile
- 11.6 miles
- 4,262-foot ascent
- 2,333-foot descent
Tour du Mont Blanc Stage 5: The Goal
Our goal today was to ascend out of Courmayeur past Rifugio Bertone and then along the ridge line to Rifugio Bonatti. Finally, we’d push past Bonatti down into Val Ferret.
Find our gear recommendations here.
Courmayeur to Rifugio Bertone
The trail out of Courmayeur was quite steep from the moment we left our hotel, with both the initial road walking and then the forested trail.
You’ll get occasional glimpses of mountains and the city below through the trees, but the real treat comes when you arrive at Rifugio Bertone. As you climb, Mont Blanc appears to greet you.
Rifugio Bertone is not only in a gorgeous location, but it’s also a perfect spot to enjoy some local food and drink. For us, this meant cappuccino and pie!
Hiking to Rifugio Walter Bonatti
From this point on (until you near Rifugio Bonatti), the trail weaves up and down along the side of the mountain.
The views just kept on giving. We eventually stopped for another sandwich with a view.
Right before Rifugio Walter Bonatti there’s another steep uphill section. At the refuge, we stopped for a drink and pie (again). This was also a great spot to let the remaining runners get past us on the trail.
Technically, stage 5 ends here at Bonatti, but we pushed on another couple of miles to quieter accommodations.
Once we left Bonatti, the trail continued with mostly gentle ups and downs.
The amazing views in this section were often behind us, so we kept stopping to look behind at the beautiful Val Ferret.
Eventually we reached the switchbacks leading down towards Chalet Val Ferret.
We stayed here for the night (in a private room) and had an absolutely delightful experience.
For the Italian portion of the TMB, we decided that it made more sense to spend nights in a hotel instead of camping the whole way.
On to Stage 6!
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