My husband and I recently completed the Tour du Mont Blanc, an approximately 100 mile hiking loop around Mont Blanc in France, Italy, and Switzerland.  This is a popular route, and I benefitted greatly from reading the packing lists and blog recaps of other TMB hikers.  Here is one of my contributions — our packing list!  I am also posting a recap of our eight-day TMB itinerary and some FAQs about the TMB, in separate posts.  Enjoy!

As with any adventure, the key to packing is to bring things you might need but nothing more — minimize weight and bulk while still hiking safely and comfortably.  I think we struck a good balance on our TMB trip, as we saw many, many others with much larger packs (even people who weren’t camping, which obviously would require more gear!).  We didn’t take advantage of any baggage transfer, so everything we took with us to Europe we carried for the full trip.  Here is where we landed:

What would I have changed?  I would have brought more protein powder.  I would have left the portable charger at home.  I would have brought only quick-drying underwear.  I could have gotten by without the towel.  I would have brought two different sports bras so that they didn’t both rub the same spot on my traps under my pack.  I maybe would have bought the Patagonia Micropuff if I didn’t already have a perfectly good down sweater.  I wish I could have fit big cozy slippers and sweatpants, but I couldn’t.  Other than that, I feel like we did pretty well.

What are your favorite, must-have pieces of gear?  If you’ve done the TMB or a similar trip, what were you glad to have?  What could you have left behind?