UKC

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and thought I'd try out the collective knowledge to answer a couple of questions I have.

My climbing partner and I are planning to try Mt Blanc this summer in mid July. We have done the mountaineering course at Glenmore, a week of Scottish winter and 2 weeks of guided/instruction in the Alps (over 2 years).

I quite like the look of the Trois Monts route and potentially continuing the traverse and descending the Gouter route, but presumably this involves crossing the grand couloir late-ish in the day. One potential solution would be - day 1 midi lift to cosmiques, day 2 summit and traverse to gouter hut and then day 3 descend. Meaning that you would be crossing the couloir earlier with hopefully less stone fall?

Is this a good idea? I can't see that many reports of people doing it this way so is it a bad idea for some reason that I have not forseen?

Lastly, how do you pay for huts? I have heard that people book up hoping the weather is good and then if it isn't cancel the booking. Do you still have to pay? Is there a minimum warning time you need to give them? I appreciate this is a very basic question but i've never actually stayed in a hut before! Will the Gouter hut already be booked out?

Any advice gratefully received, thanks all

Nick

In reply to NickH85:

the way things have gone the last few years I would be steering clear of the grand couloir at any time of day in mid july! like many things it all depends on weather/conditions though, it could be a cold and wet summer...

im sure there are people who do break up the route as you suggest, but it would make a very expensive way of doing it!

cant really comment on huts tho as I always bivy

In reply to NickH85:
Why not try somewhere a little less problematical for a first independent trip? The Saas Fee area of Switzerland for instance.

In reply to NickH85:

The huts are fully booked out at the beginning of the season and have been for many seasons. Punters rely on scheduled guided parties not being there. When we were there in Chamonix we just turned up at the huts. They were "fully booked up" as usual and my mate and I shared "we have left only one and a half spaces in the Gouter", it was the best they could do they told us. I remember when one person turned around to sleep on their other side, we all had to do it in turn. I was trying to sleep next to a Spanish guy with the scariest face I have ever seen, I got a fright every time I turned over to my other side, or when the wave was coming from his direction and he turned to face me. The snoring and farting was terrible, and in the midst of all this squalor, one randy French couple decided to have a quiet shag.....and others kept getting up to go for a hose or a dump. Don't expect to get much sleep! This was way back in 1997 and 1998. It may be more civilised now but I'm not sure. Lastly, we didn't buy the reciprocal rights card, but just showed them our BMC cards and this got us the reduced prices.

Your itinerary is adventurous, with a massive gain in altitude very quickly. I wouldn't hope for much chance of success until you can squeeze at least a week for it. Mont Blanc is such a special moment in your life it's worth giving it a chance, otherwise you'll be vomiting beside all the others and heading back down early. For every weekend warrior who flew into Geneva one day, summited the next day and flew home on the next again day, there's a sorry load of folk who found it too hard and didn't.

But don't let me put you off, just stay sensible and safe with your mate.

Tom two goes at Mont Blanc.

In reply to NickH85:

Assuming you're well acclimatised that's a good 3 day plan for the traverse. Lots of people stay at Gouter to descend early morning. You'd want to check conditions first of course - the Tacul/Maudit section can be tricky, as well as the couloir.
However, if you're reasonably fast and leave early from Cosmiques you can be crossing the couloir by midday, avoiding a night at the Gouter hut.
Book huts in advance. Book online for Gouter.
http://refugedugouter.ffcam.fr/resapublic.html
Alternatively try phoning a day or 2 in advance as there will often be cancellations freeing up spaces last minute. Turning up without a booking just makes life hard for the guardian!

In reply to NickH85: i wouldfind it very difficult to stop at the Gouter.

In reply to NickH85:

I wouldn't go and try this without get fully acclimatised first, ideally by staying a night or three in a different (not so booked up hut) and climbing a lower peak or two. By the end of that you'll have a better idea of your capabilities vs your objective and you should be fit enough to tackle it.

In reply to NickH85:
I wouldn't recommend trying for MB summit without spending time at height beforehand, ideally getting above 4000m if possible. Everyone is different, but I know for sure that personally I'd really suffer if I tried that.

I've done MB via the 3 monts route, using the first Midi telepherique from Chamonix and avoided the cosmiques hut. But we'd been in the valley for a few days beforehand and had already been up Mont Blanc Du Tacul. We got the last tram down from nid D'Aigle then used the Bellevue cablecar back to Les Houches.

We didn't have any bother with grand couloir, but obviously this varies all the time. Worst bit for me was descending down from the Gouter hut. Lots of rotten loose rock. Watch out for stuff coming down.

In reply to drunken monkey:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I should have said in my first post that currently our plan is to try mt blanc at the end of a 10 day trip, so hopefully that will help with acclimatisation, although it will be highest either of us have gone so will have to see how it goes.

Thanks again!

Nick