Le Tour to Refuge Albert 1er

The Refuge Albert 1er, at an altitude of 2702 meters, is one of the most accessible high altitude refuges in the Chamonix Valley thanks to the Charamillon gondola, which departs from Le Tour, and the Autannes chair lift. The refuge sits next to the large and imposing Glacier du Tour and provides excellent views of the glacier throughout much of the trail. The refuge itself is an impressive structure and has a nice kitchen serving tartiflette, croute and a range of salads. Very impressive if you think of the altitude they are serving it at. 

There are a couple of options for reaching refuge. The most attractive part of the trail will be the traverse between the Les Esserins and the final steep climb up to the refuge. The main option we present here takes the gondola to the midstation and then traverses to the Refuge and takes the exact same route back. This option is doable with children and the times we did this trail we encountered quite a number of children following this route. If you want to further reduce the vertical gain then you can take the Autannes chair lift from the mid station and then do the traverse to the Refuge. This reduces the vertical gain to 537 meters and it will be the easiest option. Lastly, the option we present in the video is to use the gondola to the mid-station, visit the refuge but then take the trail straight down to Le Tour. This trail is beautiful and follows the Tour Glacier all the way down but it comes with a warning: the trail is very steep and it is a long descend. In many places you will be using your hands and metal railings and supports and there will be some steep drop offs in certain locations. This is not a child friendly route at all. Lastly, you could do this option in revere where you take the steep trail from Le Tour all the way up to the refuge and then head to the midstation from there. The best views are from the midstation to the refuge so doing it in reverse would be a waste in our opinion.