Ep 4: Leaving the Most Beautiful Rifugio on the Tour du Mont Blanc

[@seamushand8439]

Thanks for continutin to film over the Col des Fours. It is very sketchy. We did the TMB in 2016 and again in 2022 and have just last month completed the Walkers Haute Route. We became addicted after the TMB - it is just such an adventure. Hope you are all recovered now and are planning for your next hike !

[@moniqueandkevin]

We have been enjoying your videos and look forward to the remaining days! We are doing the TMB in July and have watched so many videos but we can “relate” to yours the best. Thanks for the honest views and “real” commentary! We can’t wait for our trip!

[@OurExitStrategy]

Thanks so much for checking out the videos and for he kind words. You are going to LOVE the TMB. Epic beyond belief...

[@kayaker9912]

Now that we got our power back on after a storm, I am doing a marathon of your TMB videos. Wow, sad about the woman who went through the snow pack in that same area you walked across!!! That would be my biggest fear on hiking something like Everest, it is falling into a crevasse that would let go. Gorgeous weather you have had up to this point. Again thank you for taking us along!!!

[@edwardpetersen4309]

I always like the music you choose for both your joints. It adds profundity to your stream of consciousness narrations. Not to mention, it turns your B-roll into little spiritual shorts.

[@OurExitStrategy]

Thank you sir!

[@alliesoma]

I am going to create a drinking game from these videos. Every time someone says sketchy we have to drink. 😂

[@OurExitStrategy]

Add a shot for every time you hear heavy labored breathing and that will be a quick drinking game!

[@brianlawrence684]

I love your videos! You guys are so funny and real. My wife and I will be there in mid August. We hope it won't be too crowded, but we will make the best of it. Maybe we'll hike some of those off the beaten path trails.

[@OurExitStrategy]

Yeah, there were only a couple of times when it felt a bit crowded. And even then - it wasn't bad. Unless you get stuck behind some Instagramers who stop in the middle of the trail every 10 minutes with no regard of trail etiquette or the concept of other people being in the world with them. Ha! (Not that that happened or anything...) And my advice - STAY ON THE BEATEN PATH! The one time we got off the main route was definitely a mistake! But - as you already know - we're not that experienced. Some of the variants sound incredible. Have a great trip!

[@EckyPting]

I spotted your “Some Guy Rides” sticker on the door going into Rifugio Maison Vielle about a week ago! I took a pic - wish I could share it here. It still holds and undisturbed location in the lower left corner. I went in and got a very nice piece of apple pie (with caramel sauce & whipped cream) and a cafe au lait before stomping our way down to Courmayeur.

[@OurExitStrategy]

Nice! That was a great spot - thank you for the intel!

[@stephenmundane]

I remember sleeping on that bench at Elisabetta 36 years ago but they didn't have the upper tiers then -- probably a lot busier now! Thanks for the memory jog. It was always the Germans that were racing ahead like proverbial mountain goats...

[@anorthosite]

I did the TMB in Sept 2012. Col de la Seigne to Elizabetta Soldini was gorgeous. And beyond (past the HUGE glacial moraine/kame, below). But Ref Bonatti remains as the Gold Standard.

[@CzyzAdventures]

I’ve been enjoying following your journey. I like your commentary and the views you are providing are outstanding. I hope to be on trail in 2025.

[@OurExitStrategy]

Thanks for checking out the vids - you'll have a blast...

[@valblackburn48]

Awesome guys 👌 just awesome 👏

[@yairh77]

Very well done video. We did the TMB about 2 weeks after you and I enjoy watching the views again !!!! What an amazing hike it is, but as you said, not very easy 😝

[@OurExitStrategy]

Editing the videos makes me miss it! A bit of post trail depression...

[@saritakale4624]

I have really enjoyed your videos. Looking forward to the next ones! We are planning on doing this trip next year, so really appreciate your honest commentary.

[@OurExitStrategy]

Thank you so much for checking them out. It's an amazing hike - you're going to love it. But yeah - we watched a bunch of videos before doing it too - and there's a tendency to make everything look perfect. Honestly - the stuff that wasn't perfect is what was most memorable. There's also a written travel report at someguywrites.substack.com/t/travel-reports if you're interested...

[@CedricPerrier]

Cool man !!!! ❤

[@stuartparker-q3o]

1) SO SAD to read about that poor woman !! As if she fell into a glacial crevasse (which don't exist in snowfields, but same outcome) ! 2) At 8:05: That huge "tongue" is a magnificent glacial moraine/kame feature. Being a geologist, it caught my continued attention. From the pitted surface texture (not so visible in this video), it looks like a thick mantle of rocky debris formed on top of the (former) glacier, and then settled/collapsed as (some/all of) the glacial ice melted from underneath. The Mont Blanc massif (range) is oriented southwest-northeast, so the glaciers on the northwest side (France) were more active, and carved FAR more deeply into the range, than the ones here. 3) Gondola down to Courmayeur/Dolonne would have been best option: WE instead wound up doing a LONG (knee-busting) stair-step trail, at about 30-degree pitch. Hope you didn't do same (vertiginous, at times) 4) First place we saw in Courmayeur, we also ordered pizza slices. First time (the employee didn't speak English , and I don't speak Italian) that I had to just POINT ("Gratzi !"). XD 5) For those planning this trek: Courmayeur is GREAT place to pre-plan a "zero-miles" day off, early-mid-trip. I wish we had. Relax and let your "trail-legs" recover (and, to fit in: In Italy, grown men customarily wear LONG pants around town, esp during the evening) :D

[@PMan-fn7vc]

Have just spent a couple of hours looking for Rifugio Comb my Hair on the map. Not been able to spot it 😞

[@LocknessRides]

I wonder if it’s because I live full time in the United States that I think every other country is so much more beautiful?

[@OurExitStrategy]

This region is absolutely nuts. But the Utah parks, Glacier, Sawtooth Mountains -there's some crazy gorgeous places in the US too!