UKC

So the wife wants to have a crack at Mt Blanc next summer via the Gouter route. Never done this route myself, my previous efforts have been via the Cosmiques hut and the
Traverse of the 3 "Monts" and that was over ten years ago!

Provisional searches of the Gouter Hut online booking system show that every day over the summer season is already reserved. I was led to believe that the booking system was only opened to reservations in March? Is this no longer the case?

Can you still rock up to Chamonix and rely on the fact that there are always cancellations?

Looking at the same. It shows reserved but it's just not available yet. They release dates periodically. Public dates are released on 10th April and 15th May. Make sure you're online at the minute they're released and remember the time difference. Good luck!

Are you still able to camp within the locale of the Hut and pop in for food?

Leave you tent up for the walk from there, pick it up on the way back down?

You can pitch your tent at the Tete Rousse hut but you are not allowed bringing it further. There is a gendarme office just before the first hut. 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/expedition+alpine/is_permit_required_for_...

Might be worth checking this out. We were in the Gouter hut in September and there seemed to be much discussion around this point at the pre-dinner guides meeting. Not sure how it has panned out for next year though.

I booked the Tete Rousse hut back in April for two this July.

I waited up until midnight for the online booking page to open and easily got two nights. When I checked online the following morning everything was fully booked.

E

How did you feel after adding an extra three hours to your summit day by staying at the Tete Rousse hut?

My buddy and I stayed in the excellent Tete Rousse hut a couple of summers ago and got a booking by phoning about 3 days in advance of a great weather window as the Gouter was block booked months in advance. Most folks we spoke to said the Tete Rousse was a far nicer hut to stay in due to the lack of grumpy, unacclimatised people with the usual headaches and throwing up to found in the Gouter higher up! My partner and I are average Joe's and we left the Tete Rousse at around 2am and were on the summit by about 8.30am, and then back down at the Tete Rousse for just after 12 noon before a leisurely stroll back down to the Eagles Nest to catch a train back down. 

The main advantages we found were we could have a leisurely first day before catching the Belvedere pherique around 12 noon before the mont blanc train to the eagles nest leaving a couple of hours walk to the Tete Rousse late afternoon. On your ascent you also cross the infamous grand couloir in the early hours when it is normally frozen into submission!

As a shameless plug you can see a short vid showing all the main landmarks + features on our ascent here:   

youtube.com/watch?v=fRBF_y3URI0&

Bon chance and hope this helps! 

Dave

At the time it was fine. Main advantage was day 1 was a very leisurely day so In the afternoon I did a quick reccy from the TR hut to the start of the Couloir.
Then I set my alarm for 1:15, was out the door at 1:45 and obviously did the couloir and the whole of the scramble up to the Gouter in the dark. Setting off at that time I only had about 2 or 3 other people in front of me with a whole line of headtorches behind me.
It was a full moon night and once I was on the snow I could turn my headtorch off - amazing.
Summit at 7:00, back at TR for about 11:00. I had the second night booked but couldn't be arsed hanging round all day for a crap sleep and very expensive meal and beer at 6€ a can so carried on down and got the 13:30 train to Bellevue cable car and was back in Cham for about 15h.

E
 

Ha! Just read your post after posting mine. I watched your video before my ascent - loved it.

Cheers,

E

Lovely vid, way better than the usual "our ascent of xxx" offering, congrats!

Interesting and useful replies

Nice tits

A few years ago we camped by the Tete Rousse and had dinner in the hut, worked pretty well. It was a bit noisy at the campsite if i remember, but saved us a few quid on hut fees. 

The extra couple of hours weren't to bad - the scramble up to the Gouter in the dark was fun!

Thanks a million Enty and I'm glad you enjoyed my wee vid! Cheers Dave

Hey McHeath many thanks for your kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed my vid!

For anyone thinking of attempting Mont Blanc I would highly recommend acclimatising properly by spending a few days trekking or climbing at a lower altitude, such as the Aiguilles Rouges or Aiguille de Tour for example. Then going up an easy 4000er such as Gran Paradiso (a couple of hours drive through the Mont Blanc Tunnel) in the beautiful Gran Paradiso national park. Presuming this all goes well then have a good sleep low down in the valley which should leave you refreshed and reasonably acclimatised so you will hopefully enjoy your summit day on the mighty Mont Blanc!
Cheers
Dave