Feedback from one Mont Blanc guide company

Thank you for your e-mail. Please find below our information for an ascent of Mont-Blanc.

Please note that the Mont-Blanc is a serious high mountain route and very physically demanding.We recommended that you do a 5 day Mont-Blanc course (information below).

Price: 875 € /person. 2 persons per guide.

Price includes: guides services with an internationally qualified (IFMGA) mountain guide, half-board in the mountain hut during the Mont-Blanc ascent, transport in cable-cars and on mountain railways, group equipment.

Price does not include: lodgings in Chamonix, day food, drinks.

Personal equipment : rucksack, head torch with new batteries, jacket (gore- tex type outer garments), micro fibre, polar-fleece, hat, warm gloves, gaiters, water bottle, sunglasses, sun cream, picnic, hill food.

Technical equipment (ice axe, crampons adapted to mountaineering boots) can be rented in any sport shop in Chamonix.Your guide can provide your harness.

Bookings : from mid-June until the end of September. If you can, do not reserve during august: it is very very busy....we need to reserve the guide and the mountain hut well in advance.

MONT-BLANC COURSE.

Reaching the summit of Mont-Blanc, the highest point in Europe, is a wonderful experience, and one which is accessible to fit, experienced walkers.

In order to give you the best chance of getting there, we offer 5-days course with a 2:1 client/guide ratio. This personalized approach increases safety and allows the guide to tailor his work to meet your needs.

Despite the large number of people who get to the summit, and the reputation Mont-Blanc has for being an “easy tick”, it is actually a serious high mountain route and very physically demanding. Anybody attempting it should be in excellent physical condition.

If the prevailing weather conditions are unsuitable for climbing Mont-Blanc itself, your guide will be able to suggest suitable alternatives (ex. ascents of 4000m peaks in Switzerland or Italy).

The program:Learning how to walk and climb properly on a glacier with crampons and ice-axe.Acclimatizing at altitude on snow or mixed routes; e.g. Vallée Blanche traverse + ascent of the Aiguille de Toule, Petite Aiguille Verte, Mont-Blanc du Tacul (if Mont-Blanc is to be attempt by the Gouter hut), Crochues traverse etc...Ascent of Mont-Blanc.

This program is obviously very weather dependant and subject to change. Your guide may have to modify the schedule so that the summit day coincides with the most favourable conditions.

CLIMBING MONT-BLANC

The ascent during 2 days of the highest peak in Europe (4807 m), a fantastic viewpoint over the Alps.

Technical level :A relatively simple snow route at the high altitude which requires good physical condition.

In order to increase your chance of success, we recommended that you also do a snow route or a few hours of ice-climbing training beforehand. The ascent is not recommended for people under the age of 18.The guide can take a maximum of two people on his rope. This rule is a judge of quality and security and therefore an extra chance of success for this ascent.

Personal insurance :We advice you to take a personal insurance (for instance a C.A.F. insurance card).

Normal route

1st day:Bellevue (1850 m) by the les Houches cable car, Nid d’Aigle (2372 m) by the Mont-Blanc tramway, Tête Rousse hut (3167 m) : 2h to 2h30 then to the Goûter hut (3819 m) : 2h to 3h.

2nd day:From the Goûter hut to the dôme du Goûter : 2h30 then to the Vallot hut (4362 m) : 1h, followed by the Bosses ridge to the summit : 1h30 to 2h.

Descent : By the Aiguille du Goûter or by the Grands Mulets hut (3050 m) on the Plan de l’Aiguille.Eventually the descent can be made by the traverse of Mont-Blanc, Mont-Maudit, Mont-Blanc du Tacul and return by the Aiguille du Midi cable car. Traverse of Mont-Blanc

The Cosmiques hut allows the ascent of Mont-Blanc, climbing successively Mont-Blanc du Tacul, the Mont-Maudit and the Mont-Blanc per a logical and beautiful route.

1st day: From the summit of the Aiguille du Midi cable-car, a short walk (less than 1 hour) allows us to reach the Cosmiques hut (3613 m).

2nd day:Ascent of Mont-Blanc du Tacul (4200 m), then the shoulder of Mont-Maudit (4280 m), the col de la Brenva and the summit of Mont-Blanc (4807 m) after 6 to 8 hours of ascent.

Descent by 2 routes:Grands Mulets hut or Goûter hut depending on snow and glacier conditions, approximately 4 to 5 hours of descent.

James

Feeds

Thought I try and give myself a quick teach in on some of the tech. I am trying to subscribe myself to the site feed. This allows anyone who cares to be automatically updated to subscribe to the blog and be auto-notified of any new posts. I have just included a link to two different feed codes - Atom and RSS in the right hand menu of the site. Frankly I know next to nothing about them but what I do know is that this helps someone subscribe.

I am trying to subscribe in two ways (either of which should do the trick):

1. Using the automatic facility in my Firefox browser. Click on little orange icon in bottom right hand corner.
2. Through Newsgator - which I am going to attempt to get linked up to my Outlook. I believe this will allow me to read posts as I do e-mails form within Outlook

Fingers crossed

Tim

What the Hell do we Want a Blog For?

In short: James and I decided we wanted to work out what all the fuss about blogging is about.

We have this sneaking suspicion that blogging has all sorts of applications for the business world (where we spend most of our time). OK, we know they do but don't have any first hand experience of it - yet.

This blog will hopefully get us up to speed with the basics as well as find out just how useful a blog is for project management or otherwise.

Who knows, it might even provide some amusement to family and friends as we attempt to send pictures from our mobiles whilst suffering half way up the mountain.

Tim

The Challenge

Whilst getting off to a rather slow start I am proud to announce that the Mont Blanc Expedition in now off the ground – at least I’ve started to do some digging in terms of prices and general approach/logistics to climbing Europe’s highest summit!

Initial thoughts

1. We need a guide!
2. Whilst not hugely technical, basic experience using ice axes, crampons and basic rope work is required. With this in mind I think it would be sensible to take an extended trip which provides some training before the big climb (would assist with acclimatization)
3. Each of us would need to be pretty fit and have the right gear
4. Season is from mid June – End of September - Think we may struggle to be ready this year, damn the ski season!!

What next

Whilst we may have missed the boat this year I still really want to do this, having been to Chamonix and seen the thing as well as listened to others who have done it, it sounds like an incredible mountain to climb. It may well be that we kick this thing off again in a couple of months, however I would like to start to get an idea of who’s interested and you views the approach to take.

Let me know

James