Mont Blanc climbing holidays
| country: | France |
| location: | Mont Blanc |
| departures: | We run 6 to 8 Mont Blanc weeks every summer between mid June and mid September. Private groups are also possible. |
| price: | From €1668 (7 days) excluding flights |
| more info: | Price includes: B&B chalet accommodation in central Chamonix, 6 days with our fully qualified IFMGA mountain guides, mountain huts on a half board basis, uplifts, and in resort transport. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Mont Blanc (4810m) is the highest peak in Western Europe. Although an impressive and imposing mountain, it is a very feasible objective if you have a good level of fitness and previous hill walking experience.
Our Mont Blanc weeks are run throughout the summer, in partnership with Chamonix based guiding company, Dream Guides. Your fully qualified IFMGA guides will teach you all the necessary skills to make the ascent during the week. Challenge yourself and go home with the greatest sense of achievement. You can expect several predawn starts during the week (but restful afternoons in the sun), with a 2am start on the Mt Blanc summit day! Open to anyone with a good level of endurance fitness and a sense of adventure.
Previous mountaineering experience is a bonus, but not necessary. Mont Blanc is high and the altitude makes it hard work and so determination is useful to keep going to the top! Just ask us for more information on dates, kit, costs etc. Our courses include accommodation in one of our central Chamonix chalets on a B&B basis, as well as 6 days’ mountain guiding, mountain huts, in resort transport, and more.
The minimum age for this holiday is 18, although younger may be possible – please ask!
Our Mont Blanc weeks are run throughout the summer, in partnership with Chamonix based guiding company, Dream Guides. Your fully qualified IFMGA guides will teach you all the necessary skills to make the ascent during the week. Challenge yourself and go home with the greatest sense of achievement. You can expect several predawn starts during the week (but restful afternoons in the sun), with a 2am start on the Mt Blanc summit day! Open to anyone with a good level of endurance fitness and a sense of adventure.
Previous mountaineering experience is a bonus, but not necessary. Mont Blanc is high and the altitude makes it hard work and so determination is useful to keep going to the top! Just ask us for more information on dates, kit, costs etc. Our courses include accommodation in one of our central Chamonix chalets on a B&B basis, as well as 6 days’ mountain guiding, mountain huts, in resort transport, and more.
The minimum age for this holiday is 18, although younger may be possible – please ask!
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | One of our team will meet you on arrival in Chamonix Mont Blanc and help you get settled in to your gorgeous chalet accommodation, before helping you get any equipment hire and last minute purchases in one of Chamonix’s many sports shops. Take a moment to enjoy the view of Mont Blanc from the chalet garden - imagining yourself standing on the summit! - before you meet your IFMGA guides in the evening to run through the week’s plans. Enjoy a meal out in town with the other climbers in your group. No excuses needed to sample one of the local speciality restaurants – mountaineering requires lots of energy, so bring on the Savoie cheeses! |
| Day 2: | A delicious and healthy breakfast buffet and packed lunch are provided every day that you stay in Chamonix, using local ingredients - making your stay as hassle-free as possible. Your guides will meet you at the chalet for a kit check before heading up to La Tour to walk in to the Albert Premiere hut. The walk is straightforward on well trodden paths, following the line of the glacier up to the hut itself. Settle in, take time for a cold drink and admire the stunning views and amazing atmosphere of the high mountains. The afternoon is a chance to practise some mountaineering techniques – including roping up for glacier travel, and ice axe and crampon use, before relaxing into the mountain way of life with dinner in the refuge and an early night. |
| Day 3: | Wake up to the amazing sounds of the glacier moving just below the hut. It’s a relatively early start as you set off in the dark up the valley, roped up, and travelling together towards one of the surrounding peaks. As the sun rises, you’ll be treated to spectacular views of snow covered peaks and the labyrinth of glaciers. Your climb will be an opportunity to practise your skills with short snow and scrambling sections – under the guidance of our team of excellent guides. Your day ends up in the Trient hut in Switzerland. At 3200m, you’re sleeping high, which is great preparation for Mont Blanc. Dinner in the hut is a fun and sociable affair. Be warned: if Pierre – the hut guardian – has anything to do with it, you may find yourself sampling local spirits as well as mountain food! |
| Day 4: | Your second morning in the high mountains and you should be feeling amazing – lots of exercise, fresh air, rest, and you’ll be used to the altitude. The day is spent enjoying another of the excellent climbs in the area – your guides will decide at the time depending on conditions – which will give you another chance to perfect your climbing skills at altitude and really feel like you’re ready for Mont Blanc. You’ll head back over the border (mountain ridge!) into France before descending back into Chamonix for a well earned rest back at the chalet and meal in town. You’ll have time to sort out your kit, and get yourself packed and ready for your summit bid. |
| Day 5: | Trained, acclimatised, and well rested, you’re ready to go for Mont Blanc itself. Your guides will check the weather and conditions and plan the best route and timings. We normally climb via the Gouter Ridge and your day will be spent making your way up to the Gouter hut at 3800m. Begin with an uphill walk to the Tete Rousse hut, from where you’ll don crampons, rope up, and begin the real mountaineering: crossing snow fields and couloirs, before scrambling up to the Gouter hut. Perched on top of a rocky slope, you’ll enjoy stunning sunset views as you prepare for tomorrow with plenty of fluids and a good dinner. Head to bed for a few hours kip in preparation for summit day |
| Day 6: | It’s not easy to haul yourself out of bed at 2am for breakfast … but worth it when you leave the hut, roped up, wrapped up, and ready to go. One look at the star filled sky and the silhouette of Mont Blanc’s summit, and adrenalin takes over from any lack of sleep you may be suffering. A steady pace and a good rhythm and you’ll be amazed how quickly you make progress, in spite of the thin air at over 4000m. A few hours in, as the first glimmer of light reaches the horizon, you’ll be nearly there! Just one more push up a steep slope and you’re on the summit ridge, only 200m from the top of Europe. Enjoy spectacular views looking down as Chamonix is just waking up, and over at Switzerland and Italy – surely the best panorama in the Alps? Photos, congratulations and it’s time to head down, either all the way to Chamonix, or stopping for a night at the Tete Rousse. |
| Day 7: | Your final day is a weather day, so if you’ve already summited, you’ll enjoy a day’s rock climbing or a via ferrata with your guides – normally a pretty relaxed and laid back affair. Or, if you’ve lost a day during the week for weather, then this is your opportunity to make it up, before packing up and heading home, fitter, more relaxed, envigorated, and with the taste of all things Alpine fresh in your mind. We look forward to seeing you again soon for a winter snow sports adventure or more climbing next summer – Mont Blanc is just the beginning! |
how this holiday makes a difference
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We live, work, and run holidays in a stunning mountain environment, below Europe’s highest peak – Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc dominates the views of the Chamonix valley and it’s impossible not to be inspired by the powerful and dramatic scenery. The untouched beauty of our adventure sports playground is its biggest attraction, and keeping it that way is one of our main priorities!
Mountaineering and climbing are inherently environmentally sympathetic - it’s just you and the mountain! We work hard to ensure that all our trips leave no scar on the surrounding hills. Working in partnership with IFMGA guides we leave no litter and no permanent equipment on the mountains, help avoid erosion and disturbing the flora and fauna by sticking to well trodden paths, and are active in supporting local businesses and traditions. Our guides are all passionate climbers who love the environment we live in, and who have trained and climbed extensively in the Mont Blanc area. They are a wealth of knowledge, not just about the technical side of climbing, but also about the mountains themselves and the delicately balanced mountain ecosystem. Our Mont Blanc trips:
Chamonix is the home of Alpinism and mountain guiding in Chamonix is an important part of the traditional culture of this historic mountain town. Being a guide in Chamonix is a respected profession in the valley, dating back to the birth of modern Alpinism, and maintaining that tradition and supporting local guides is an important part of our aim as a company. We are committed to supporting the local economy. We don’t automatically opt for the cheapest supplier – it’s the closest, smallest, or friendliest who usually wins our business. We work closely with a network of trusted local suppliers to help ensure your stay with us is fun, hassle free, and supportive of the local economy. From your breakfast croissant to the ham and cheese in your packed lunch, it’s all produced or supplied locally, and carefully chosen by us to support tradesmen and small businesses who we know. Environment Climbing and mountaineering are our biggest passion and we’re keen to share our world with as many people as possible – in as sustainable a manner as we possibly can. Our Mont Blanc weeks are run in groups of 4, with a maximum of 8 per week, to help minimise the environmental impact of our holidays. We work hard to ensure that our mountaineering holidays leave no mark on the beautiful mountains around us. We encourage all our guests to think about the environmental impact of their actions during their stay, providing information about the local ecology, never littering, encouraging minimal use of water and heating, and offering easy access to recycling facilities, free public transport, and environmentally friendly methods of transport. We are a young company and a small team, offering a 100% tailor made service. We are fully integrated into the French system, and we all live year round in the Chamonix valley. Our aim is to grow slowly, sustainably, and in the most environmentally conscious way we can. As a company, we recycle, reuse, and actively promote the environmentally friendly option in terms of transport and travel around the valley. We support the Chamonix tourist office’s campaign for an ‘eco-friendly’ town. We run shared minibuses, use natural cleaning products (vinegar, baking soda etc), and run an almost entirely paper free office. At every step of our company development, we consider not only the economic viability, but also the environmental viability – we want to keep our mountains the way they are for the rest of our company’s life, but also for our children and grandchildren to enjoy as we have. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |