UKC

My friend and I were planning on climbing Mont Blanc in early July via the Gouter Ridge. Both the Gouter Hut and the Tete Rousse Hut are fully booked. Does anyone know of any potential cancellations we could steal or any other alternatives?

Also, any advice on alternative routes and relative difficulty?

Kind regards,
Mark

In reply to markneilly346:

You can camp outside the Tete Rousse.

In reply to markneilly346:

If you don't want to camp, are fit and reasonably acclimatized then you can do it in one go, that's what I done. If your not sure then you can add some flexibility by taking a little bivi gear. this also saves faff and carrying tents.

I went very light and stopped off at the Vallot hut until first light (expect this hut to be full and I do not recommend staying here as it's only an hour from the summit). until the Vallot I had the entire route to myself although did get lucky with good moonlight.

Here's my experience of it anyway:

http://grahamwyllie.blogspot.com/2014/08/mont-blanc-4810m.html

In reply to markneilly346:

We camped outside the Tete Rousse, was a fair few peeps around so a little noisy but worked well for us. We went into the Tete Rousse to get a nice evening meal as well.

In reply to markneilly346:

You need to be fairly well acclimatized to start from the Tete Rousse. Some thirty years ago, I did this as my first route when arriving from England, as a "training" climb. It was early in the season, so the tram wasn't open and I walked up from the valley bivvying outside the hut. I did make the summit and back, but it was really hard going above 4000m.

I wouldn't bother taking a tent. There are plenty of good bivvy sites. If you leave the Tete Rousse very early, you should avoid most of the stone fall.

In reply to markneilly346:

As previously said you an camp at Tete Rouse but if I head that way again I will do what I saw several parties doing...namely....go as far as tete Rouse and eat and rest up until approx 20.30. Suit up and climb as far as Gouter hut. Sit and relax there for a couple of hours and then head for the summit. It makes a lot of sense as chances are you won't sleep in those huts anyway.

In reply to goatee:


Done something similar from Cosmiques hut more than once, be fit and get acclimatised. Go there for just an evening meal, drink(water) and be merry. 930/10pm when everyone else heads up to bed, head off out and go over all 3 peaks, top out MB 5/6am, down past the gouter hut before the stones start whistling.

In reply to punj:

450m/hr at that altitude is very optimistic...

In reply to MG:

Maybe but I'm just going by my timings. The point I used the timings to make is still just as relevant if you compare the Altitude rather than timings which are obviously subjective to the speed of the party.

gain from TR hut to summit = ~1640m
gain from VH to Summit = ~450m

To rephrase my initial point. I would not recommend staying at the Vallot hut as it is ~75% of the Vertical ascent in terms of height gain from the Tete Rousse hut. If you can carry overnight gear up to the Vallot hut you've likely expended the energy and used the extra time that would have brought you up the final leg to the summit anyway.

This seems obvious but when I was at the Vallot it was crammed full with people overnighting there with sleeping bags and cooking equipment. It's also very high so unless you are very well acclimatized you are subjecting yourself to a longer exposure at altitude increasing the potential to feel shitty.

In reply to punj:

If I remember correctly, the Vallot was built and should only be used for emergencies. Is this still correct?

I've only used the hut once and would not choose it for a comfortable night.

In reply to L'Eeyore:



yeah sure it was and it's Not a place I'd choose to spend a night either. plenty people seem to do it though

In reply to markneilly346:

In the same position as the OP. Would choose a more difficult route, but we're with a mixed group so some folk have a bit less experience than others.

Has anyone got any info/experience using the Grands Mulet hut and taking Le Petit Plateau route to Col du Dome? Not sure whether the hut is open when we're there (first 2 weeks Aug) though as on the website is say 'not specified'. Anyone know what this means (it's different to 'unguarded'.

In reply to peachos:

the petit plateau route is really only an option in spring on skis when the glacier below the grands mulets is filled in

In reply to philipjardine:

Ah that makes sense. Cheers for the heads up.

Gouter hut releases bookings of anyone who is not in the hut by 17:00. Whoever arrived during the day can put their name on the waiting list and get a space in such way.

On other side if you are not lucky enough to get a sleeping place it will mean 3 - 4 hours scrambling down to Tate or sleeping in gear room for 70 euros if you will manage to bribe guardians.

In reply to markneilly346:

What about the Italian side?

CB

In reply to markneilly346:
The Gouter is always booked up a month in advance, but people tend to make cancellations and slots become available. If someone cancels a booking 3 days before the arrival date they get their money back less 2 euros, if you don't cancel you have to pay the full fee. So places always become available 3 to 7 days ahead as people realise it's just not going to happen for them. So best bet is wait till your out there and keep an eye on the reservations and book a few days before your attempt.

In reply to markneilly346:

First time me and a mate did the Blanc (very new to the Alps) we dug a couple of snow coffins on the summit of the Dome du Gouter and bivvied in them for the night to get an early start on the summit the next morning - a wee rescue helicopter landed (and in the process filled them back in so we had to dig them back out) and asked us if we needed rescuing and couldn't believe we were actually planning on spending the night there. Not sure I'd recommend it but we definitely got an early start the next morning and the view was cracking