Days + Guide on Mt. Blanc?

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flargley
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Days + Guide on Mt. Blanc?

Post by flargley »

Hi, Guys--

My friend and I are considering climbing Mont Blanc sometime during the first half of August. We both live in the Lausanne, CH area.

My questions for you are thus:

1) Me, having done 13 of the Colorado 14ers last year (the usual suspects), and some snow ascents (Sherman...ha, Cristo Couloir), as well as a number of other snow hikes (North Star, Grizzly.....basically the first 10 winter climbs in the Cooper Colorado Snow Climbs book) and my friend being military and in great shape, how many days would you guess we should set aside for Mt. Blanc? Just reading the trip reports and the previous posts, it looks like a lot of people do it in 2-3 days. (Train ride to eagle's nest, stay at gouter, hike up, try to come back down in a day).

2) I've also NEVER done a guided trip before. The locals here in CH seem super scared to even think about doing an unguided trip, and advise that the common 5-6 day package that the companies offer is necessary. This seems somewhat like typical Swiss cautiousness, but I thought I'd reach out to you guys about whether it's necessary or not. It looks like there are a couple spots where you clip into a cable, and............not much else technical? I am worried slightly about not living in Denver anymore and the altitude advantages that that holds, but figured if I trained enough between now and then I'd be fine.

3) Anyone know of any good english-language beta guides on Mt. Blanc? Here in CH I can't get any good recs that aren't in french...

Anyhow, thanks guys for any help you can give!
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RobE
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Re: Days + Guide on Mt. Blanc?

Post by RobE »

The 5-6 day packages are to ensure you've acclimatized (heading to 15,770 ft from Chamonix at 3400 ft would be quite a shock) and practiced glacier travel.

See http://cosleyhouston.com/mont-blanc.htm
tjf242424
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Re: Days + Guide on Mt. Blanc?

Post by tjf242424 »

I would recommend hiring one of the Chamonix guides. Many of them speak English very well. You can keep an eye on the weather and book a guide on relatively short notice at the office in Chamonix. The day before you want to go to the hut is usually adequate, although you may want to check for the Gouter route, since space at the hut is the limiting factor. You may need to plan a couple of days ahead or go from the Cosmiques Hut instead. There's a set fee for the route you want to climb (there's a brochure with prices for essentially every route that anyone would ever want to climb from easy routes on Mont Blanc to the Walker Spur). You also have to pay the guide's overnight and dinner at the hut. If the weather ends up being bad and you don't leave the hut, you're only out the cost of the hut stay and dinner. If you book one of the packages through a British or American agency, you pay a huge cost for the package and lose some flexibility with dates and routes. I would recommend hiring a guide for a warm-up route (like Tour Ronde) and then go for Mont Blanc. You can often use the same guide if you get along on the first route.

I've spent a lot of time in Chamonix, climbing with guides on more recent trips with my wife (who doesn't like alpine climbing). I hired one of the local guides several years ago and now I just e-mail him directly if I'm looking to climb something in France. You live very close to Chamonx, so if you have some flexibility with the exact dates, you can save some money and increase your chance of success by watching the weather and using a local guide.
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