Skip to main content
viewmygpx

Sample GPX file: Alpine stage on the Tour du Mont Blanc

14.8 km · +1,422 m gain · 7 h 6 m · 1,800 trackpoints

An alpine Tour du Mont Blanc stage — Les Houches to Col du Tricot to Les Contamines. Dense elevation, full-day timestamps. Gradient-analysis test data.

Drop your GPX file here

or browse to choose

About this route

A single-day stage on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Europe's most popular long-distance hike. The route climbs from the village of Les Houches in the Chamonix valley, up the Bionnassay glacier moraines, over the Col du Tricot at 2,120 m, then long-descends past the Refuge de Miage and the Bionnassay torrent down to Les Contamines-Montjoie. It is one of the more demanding stages on the standard counter-clockwise rotation: 14.8 km on the ground, 1,422 m of cumulative climbing, and a long technical descent on rocky terrain.

The middle of the file shows a clean alpine summit profile — a long steady climb to Col du Tricot at the 7-8 km mark, followed by a sustained descent of roughly 800 vertical metres. Three named waypoints mark the col, the Refuge de Miage at midday, and the arrival into Les Contamines.

What this file demonstrates

A long alpine file with sustained vertical, dense elevation data, and timestamps spanning a full hiking day. Useful for testing elevation-aware parsers, gradient analysis (the descent off Col du Tricot averages 12% with sections to 22%), and climbing-pace versus descending-pace algorithms.

The file has the hallmarks of real off-trail data: pace varies wildly with terrain (3 km/h on the steepest climb sections, 5-6 km/h on the flatter sections, 4 km/h on the rocky descent), trackpoints are sometimes spaced more closely on tight switchbacks. Apps that normalize against haversine distance handle this correctly; apps that assume even cadence trip on it.

Notes on the data

1,800 trackpoints across 7 hours and 6 minutes of moving time — about one trackpoint every 8 metres of distance, or one every 14 seconds of time. The file uses GPX 1.1 with a single track and a single segment.

Timestamps are ISO 8601 UTC; the start is 06:30:00Z (08:30 local summer time) and the finish is 13:36:00Z. The dense elevation series will exercise any rolling-average smoother, since GPS-only alpine terrain typically shows ±3 m noise that smoothing should remove without flattening real micro-relief.

Common questions about this sample

Is this a real Tour du Mont Blanc stage?

The route shape follows the published TMB stage from Les Houches to Les Contamines via Col du Tricot — a recognized stage on the standard 11-day counter-clockwise rotation. Trackpoint coordinates are plausible for that section but don't trace the marked trail exactly; the file is synthetic. For actual TMB navigation, official trail-association GPX downloads or a guidebook are the right sources.

Why is the descent steeper than the ascent?

The TMB Les Houches → Les Contamines stage genuinely descends more aggressively than it climbs. Col du Tricot is at 2,120 m; Les Contamines is at ~1,180 m. The descent loses 940 m in roughly 6 km, an average gradient of -16% (with steeper sections). The climb up from Les Houches gains 1,422 m more gradually over a longer distance.

Does this file represent a typical alpine GPS recording?

Yes for cadence and elevation noise. Alpine terrain produces wider GPS jitter than open road or urban environments because of multipath effects from the mountainsides and dropout under tree cover. The ±3 m noise modeled in this file's elevation is realistic for a barometric altimeter on the Tour du Mont Blanc; pure GPS-only altimetry would show wider swings (often ±10-15 m).

Can I use this file to test gradient-analysis algorithms?

Yes — it's well-suited. The file has a clear extended climb (gradient ~10-12% averaged), a flatter middle section near the col, and a long sustained descent (gradient ~12-22% in places). Compute gradient at every trackpoint and the distribution should range from -22% to +22%. Apps that bin gradient ranges or color-code segments will exercise their full range.

Why does the elevation profile look noisy?

Realistic GPS-only altimetry. We simulate ±3 m of per-trackpoint noise to match what consumer-grade GPS receivers produce on alpine terrain. If your viewer applies a rolling-average smoother, the noise should disappear without losing the underlying climb-and-descend shape. If your viewer renders raw points, the line will look jagged — that's accurate to real-world data, not a defect.

Download mountain-hike.gpx283.9 KB · public domain (CC0)

What's inside this file

  • Trackpoints: 1,800
  • Waypoints: 3
  • Tracks: 1
  • Distance: 14.8 km
  • Elevation gain: 1422 m
  • Activity duration: 7 h 6 m
  • Extensions: none
  • File size: 283.9 KB
  • Format: GPX 1.1 (topografix.com/GPX/1/1)
View as raw XML (first 30 lines)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<gpx version="1.1" creator="viewmygpx-samples" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1">
  <metadata>
    <name>Tour du Mont Blanc — Les Houches to Col du Tricot</name>
    <desc>Classic alpine day stage on the Tour du Mont Blanc, climbing roughly 1,300 m over 15 km from Les Houches to a high col before descending to Les Contamines.</desc>
    <author>
      <name>viewmygpx samples</name>
    </author>
    <bounds minlat="45.852813393400055" minlon="6.7485137783056555" maxlat="45.897056260785206" maxlon="6.8206005622898624"/>
  </metadata>
  <wpt lat="45.8901" lon="6.7975">
    <ele>1009</ele>
    <name>Les Houches</name>
    <sym>Trailhead</sym>
  </wpt>
  <wpt lat="45.8585" lon="6.772">
    <ele>2310</ele>
    <name>Col du Tricot</name>
    <desc>Views over the Bionnassay glacier.</desc>
    <sym>Summit</sym>
  </wpt>
  <wpt lat="45.8895" lon="6.81">
    <ele>1390</ele>
    <name>Les Contamines</name>
    <sym>Lodging</sym>
  </wpt>
  <trk>
    <name>Day 3 — Col du Tricot</name>
    <type>hiking</type>
    <trkseg>

How to use this file

Test a GPX parser. Drop the file into your code, library, or app under development to verify it handles real-world data — distance, elevation, timestamps, waypoints. The point counts and stats above give you expected outputs to compare against.

Demo content for tutorials. Use the file as a stand-in for a real user upload when recording screenshots, writing documentation, or filming product walkthroughs. The file is public domain, so no attribution is needed in your materials.

Test platform integrations. Upload the file to Strava, Garmin Connect, Komoot, or AllTrails to confirm your import flow works end-to-end. The route is plausible but unattached to any user account, so it won't appear in anyone's feed.

Drop your own file too. The embedded viewer above accepts any .gpx file. Use it to compare your file's structure against this sample, or simply to view your route without leaving the page.

License and attribution

This file is released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) — public domain. You may use it for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, with no attribution required.

The route is synthetic. Coordinates are plausible for the named region but do not trace any specific real-world trail, road, or ride. Use the file freely as test data; do not navigate by it.

More sample files

Browse the full set of 12 samples on the sample GPX files page, or jump to one of the related files below.