UKC

I'm on a guided 1st time trip to Mt Blanc in September and would like to hear from anybody who has a sensible, (i.e. fits in with work and family, I am committed to the training so will make compromises at home), training program to prepare the legs and lungs for what I'm sure will be a challenging first ascent. I regulalry walk over the Brecons and Snowdon, Lakes also. Just never walked for that many hours up a mountain side and would like to be as prepared as possible, so as to really enjoy the experience and not wishing I'd done more training.

In reply to sml66:
Try running with a rucksack on. MB is just a long plod so cv fitness is the key.

In reply to sml66:

Nothing in this country beats lots of hillwalking with a heavy sack on your back. When training for the alps I try to find long continuous ascents or steep ascents and slog up them without stopping for a rest.

eg Helvellyn from Thirlmere is pretty good, 2500ft straight ascent, head down into Brown Cove, up the east ridge of White side (this hurts!), back down into Brown Cove, up the east ridge of Catstycam (this hurts aswell!) and back over Helvellyn and down to Thirlmere. About 10 miles and 5500ft of ascent.

If you can do that with a 20kg sack in 5 hours you should be ok for Mont Blanc.

welcome to use this...

http://www.summitclimb.co.uk/training.html

good luck

In reply to sml66: If you walk regularly already you probably won't need to do any extra training at all. When I did mont blanc the only training I did was to walk up Kinder one day, my mates didn't do anything at all! Even if you are just moderately fit you should have no problems what so ever.

In reply to stu:

You must be one of the lucky sods that are naturally fit!

I think it best to get as fit as possible, you can enjoy the views more when you aren't gasping for breath and cursing the pain in your legs

In reply to sml66: If you walk regularly in this country, you will probably be OK. The bit that's difficult to gauge is how the altitude will affect you. This does not appear to bear much relationship to fitness. I recommend doing something like the normal route on the Aig. Tour to help acclimatise. The more you can acclimatise the better.

In reply to sml66:
I know some great long routes in the Black Mountains 27-40 k routes,if you can do good long days in the hills ,you will be fine,if you want details of routes etc,just drop me an email

In reply to sml66:

Practice your sprinting to get across the Grand Couloir between the rock falls

In reply to sml66:

Hi,

I was lucky enough to have spent a whole week above 3,000 metres before I first 'did' Mt Blanc, unguided, by the voie normale.

Whatever people say, there is quite a high failure rate, because guides (who are both fit and acclimatised) schlep up to the summit with their clients after just a night at altitude. The client is already tired after getting to the hut at guide speed, and has a blinding headache!
It's not the best way to start, finish, or remember your first alpine tick. Do you want to just get up it, or enjoy it?? You choose.

So, what can you do? Well, you could pay a guide to take you up the bossons glacier, practice crevasse rescue at 3,000 metres for a day - whatever- and then take you down again the following day. Rest for a day, in the valley, and then go for the attempt. What I'm suggesting is adding an extra day of acclimatisation at the 3,000 metre contour. A lot of people fail because they're not acclimatised - and that hits hard if you're genuinely fit - which you should be, it goes without saying!

In reply to SimonW:

Or the tour of the Cairngorm 4000 footers, the long way, from Coylumbride. Make sure your navigation's up to it, even in overcast summer conditions, and travel light. That's 37 mountain miles on rough terrain, with more feet of ascent and descent than you want to know about in advance. This has to be one of the best tours of any massif in Britain. It's a very long outing, unless you're a seasoned ultra-runner, I guess, and will get you well accustomed to keeping going, and going, and going... which is what Mt Blanc is all about.

In reply to al siddons:

You need to go far higher than 3000m to acclimatise if you want to really benefit for an ascent of MB. Somewhere nearer 4000m is really needed.

In reply to SimonW:

It worked for me!

In reply to al siddons:

You must be lucky then!

In reply to SimonW:

Well, I had been up there for a week, and in that time I'd already nipped down to Chamonix and back (leaving Cham 3 hours after I got there.) I was amazed to find that in just a week, I'd acclimatised so much that I was minutes faster than the guidebook time to the Mulets hut (cf, a week earlier, when it took us 45 minutes longer)

How did you acclimatise?

In reply to al siddons:

I did few routes on mountains up to 3800m and kipped out a few nights at around 3000m. Worked fine for me.

I think the jump from going no higher than 3000m to 4800m may be a bit much for most.

In reply to sml66:

Long hill walking miles is as good as anything. If you are hill fit, you won't have any trouble at all with that aspect.

I'd practice cutting your kit down to the layers you really need - don't go trying out a new layering system or boots once you get there. Ditto, comfort food - you may well be feeling shit on the day of ascent - make sure you have something you know you can graze on - dried apricots work for me.

If you are taking your crampons, make sure they fit and you can put them on with inner gloves on. Try a few roped scrambles / easy climbs to get the feel for moving with a harness on. Enjoy.

In reply to GrahamD:

And take anti-balling plates. In the lower part of the descent, the snow will clog up your crampons unless the glacier is dry.

In reply to al siddons:

Never had that problem myself - but if you need them, a piece of plastic from a bottle cut to fit between boot and crampon works well enough.

In reply to sml66: Have a look at the bottom of this page: http://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/exp/grading.html

In reply to GrahamD:

Cunning bit of improvisation! I've never used them, but wish I had. It's annoying having to tap, tap, tap, with your ice-axe every four steps on sun-facing slopes in the afternoon.

In reply to al siddons:

Afternoon ? there's your problem !

In reply to GrahamD:

I remember that a lot of parties - even (or especially?) guided, do get back in the afternoon. They travel at the speed of the slowest, of course.

In reply to sml66: I think running from home on a very regular basis will get your cv fitness better than almost anything. When it comes to the actual ascent the most important thing is stick to a pace that you can maintain all the way up. Stopping for rests is a complete disaster you need to plod at a very even rate. Remember, to be safe you must not be exhasted. You need something in reserve as mont blanc is a serious place guide or no guide. Have fun!

In reply to stone:

Good call, the 'serious place' reminder.

In reply to sml66:

Previous posters are correct in mentioning acclimatisation - this will make a massive difference. You can be very fit and unacclimatised and not make it, or only a bit fit and acclimatised, and do it easily. You need at really to have been to 4000m once and have spent 2 nights at altitude (>3000m), and had a good night's sleep in the valley before trying Mt Blanc, and enjoying it.

In terms of pre-training I find that cycling helps me a lot, especially long days with plenty of hill climbs. I can't get to the hills very easily being a Londoner but there are lots of suitable cycling routes nearby.

One other tip I would offer is to take the so-called "3 summits" route from Aiguille du Midi, and not the Gouter route (except maybe to come down). The Gouter route (up) is a bit dull, the hut is terrible, and there are too many other people that way. By contrast the views etc on 3-summits are great, there's lots of variety in the ascent, and the Cosmiques hut is excellent.

Just my 2p's worth!

Tim.

P.S., best way down is by parapente, not that I've done it, but it looks awesome, if terrifying.