Mont Blanc, Barolo and Rome all in the same trip?

Hi,
My main comment is than end of May is too early for Tour du Mont Blanc; it is unadvisable before mid-to-late June due to snow at the passes.
I have no idea about how to get your luggage from Chamonix to Courmayeur but there must be a way.
And you should plan for a car to tour Piemonte, but train between regions.

@balso, thank you for the reminder. I was aware and hoping and will be monitoring the forthcoming snow pack. I definitely do not what to be there in July or August with the rest of the world and September is too late in the season for me. As I plan I can always flip the itinerary from south to north. I have friends where we leave larger volume of luggage and just take the essentials for hiking. Still planning - juggling the idea of Rome for Christmas then in late May/June be in the north entirely. Thanks for the reply.

You’ve picked some great areas of interest. I do agree that it might be a little early to hike. Last month we spent some time in Cinque Terre, picked up a car in La Spezia, and drove to Aosta. We really enjoyed it! If you started in Rome, you could train north to the La Spezia area (I personally like staying in Riomaggiore) and then go to Aosta from there. We were very glad to have a car in that area. Good luck with your trip planning!

May is definitely too early for the Tour du Mont section you intend to hike (Chamonix to Courmayeur) and June could be as well. We did the whole circuit in early August, in 2018 at the end of a major heat wave in Europe, and there was still snow on the trail in one section.

If you look at the guided trips offered by various companies, you can see that many do not schedule trips before July—-Wilderness Travel is one. We went with Mountain Travel Sobek and they do offer a trip starting in mid-June, but our guide told us that she often has to re-route that trip because of snow. I actually read the reviews of the early trips the year we went (2018) and the people who went in June were not happy with the substitute route.

I suggest you start in Rome and work your way north, putting the TMB at the end, and as late in JUne as you can manage. May is fine (better than June in my view) for the Italy destinations you propose>

@Meg, great comments. Especially around the car for the Piemonte region (agree we've done that section of Italy a few times) and thanks for the tip, per Riomaggiore. Nice that you went now. I cant stand crowds lol and Cinqueterre gets crowed in mid-summer (ugh).

@Lola, indeed even great comments on TMB. We are used to alpine climbs and have the gear. We've done Mt. Whitney, a few times and we're 14'ers :) But regardless of experience, weather and conditions is critical to a safe and successful hike.

I am still in planning, and I can see we are all in agreement about Rome first, then head north. Mille grazie amici.

With your experience with 14ers, you will have no trouble at all with the TMB. I have only summited Whitney one time, at the end of a multi-week hike from Yosemite on the John Muir Trail. There is nothing on the TMB that approaches the altitude or the rugged, rocky terrain of the High Sierra. The passes on the John Muir Trail can be 11,000 feet high. The highest you will face on that section of the TMB will be the Col du Bonhomme and Croix du Bonhomme at 78 00-8100 feet. But there could well still be snow there in June; just be prepared (maybe with hiking poles and micro spikes?).

On the other hand, early season hikers may be safer from the more recent hazards of the Mont Blanc and other Alp areas, resulting from melting ice.

https://www.chamonix.net/english/news/mont-blanc-glacier-collapse-global-warming

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49820542

Our hike in 2018 was interrupted at one point—-the day we left Courmayeur to hike the Val Ferret and on into Switzerland. The rain that fell on days 1 and 3 of our trek caused a massive mudslide that closed the trail. Our guides took us on a very nice alternate hike, with an ambitious 4400 feet of climbing, and then the driver and van met us and drove the group to our next overnight stop in Champex.