Mont Blanc Ascents

Thank you all for the most amazing week at Chalet McNab, on behalf of myself and the rest of the group. We had a truly amazing time and the whole experience will be with us for the rest of our lives. We'd have no hesitation in recommending you to anyone looking for adventure and great hospitality, I really hope we can return to the McNab chalet one day. Read more comments.
Darren Franklin, group of 6, Sept 2009

Mont Blanc is the highest summit in western Europe. At 4810m it towers over the alps, portentous, beautiful and challenging. For many it is one of the greatest achievements of their lives. Once on the top there is a spectacular views of the great mountains of Europe; the Eiger, Matterhorn and Monte Rosa to the east and the Italian Alps to the south.

One of the great challenges of the alps, the ascent of Mont Blanc requires endurance, skill, logistics and acclimatisation.

Our Mont Blanc courses take 6 days. You'll need to be fit, but we'll teach you all the techniques and skills you'll need to know whilst you're also gaining the acclimatisation necessary for the ascent.

We are a small company, passionate about what we do. We have a year round base in Chamonix (view of Mont Blanc) because we love living in the mountains. We look after you from start to finish from taking your booking, organising the huts and guides, taking you around the valley and looking after you in our lovely chalet (which has spectacular views of Mont Blanc, en-suite rooms and hot tub) where we serve up the best home made cooking in large quantities and where you can sit with your fellow mountaineers and discuss your day in the mountains. We take great pride in making sure that every aspect of your stay is the best it can be.
Our 6 day programme is our own and we've been running the same successful programme for 8 years.

UIAGM qualified and experienced guides

Your guide is one of the most important factors of your week. And it is important you immediately develop a good relationship with your guide and trust them completely. We pride ourselves on our Guides. Having run Mont Blanc ascents weeks for 8 years we have put together a great group of highly qualified and experienced Guides, of all nationalities, in which we have great faith.

Ascent via the Gouter

We run all our ascents via the Gouter Hut (subject to bookings). Starting from the Tette Rousse, though sometimes unavoidable, means you're adding on two extra hours to an already demanding 4 hour hike to the summit.

Thursday to Thursday

We run our courses from Thursday to Thursday to avoid the busiest periods on the mountain and to give us the best chance of getting all our hut bookings at the Gouter Refuge.

Small Groups

We take a maximum of 8 people per week with guide ratios of 1:4 for 4 days and 1:2 for the ascent.

Two chances at Mont Blanc

We don't include two chances in our itinerary, because if the weather is coming including two chances won't help. What we do is try to make sure the one chance you have is successful. This may mean you head up on the Monday evening rather than the Tuesday or do it in a day on the Tuesday, or even Wednesday or early Thursday morning. We've even had people change flights and extended things to the Friday. We try to be as flexible as we and our Guides can be. If the weather is unusually bad for the week then we also look for alternatives, one of which is Italy's highest summit, the Gran Paradiso.

250 climbers have succesfully summitted Mont Blanc with McNab Alpine.

Technical experience

Mountaineers need not be technically experienced as all of this is taught during the week, but the ascent of Mont Blanc is very demanding and mountaineers should be of a very good level of fitness; capable of a good full days hill walking in the UK.

Level of fitness

A good level of fitness is required. Mont Blanc is very demanding and mountaineers should be of a very good level of fitness; capable of a full days hill walking in the UK.

Itinerary:

Day One: Arrival at Chalet McNab, Argentiere (1240m)
Day Two: Mer de Glace (1909m)
Day Three: Start of a three day trek, Albert Premier (2707m)
Day Four: Petite Fourche, (3520m)
Day Five: Aig du Tour (3542m)
Day Six: First stage of the Mont Blanc ascent
Day Seven: Mont Blanc (4807m)

Before attempting to climb Mont Blanc it is extremely important that climbers have spent time during the days leading up to their attempt, walking and climbing at altitude. This itinerary has been designed so that over the week there is a gradual increase in the heights reached as well as the skills and endurance required in order to give mountaineers the best preparation possible for the climb.

The following itinerary is flexible and may be changed to make best use of the conditions. Guiding is at a ratio of 1:4 during the build up and 1:2 during the ascent of Mont Blanc.

Arrival at Chalet McNab where you'll be made to feel at home. Your Guide will come round in the evening and talk to you about the week ahead, your equipment and answer any questions before you sit down to an excellent 3 course meal.

Day 2: descending onto the mer de glace.

After breakfast there will be time to rent or buying any kit you need for the week.
After this, we'll take the old rack and pinion railway up through the woods from Chamonix to the edge of the Mer de Glace (1909m). This is the glacier where Frankenstein hid in Mary Shelley's novel. All around are granite spires and the glacier flows chaotically through the middle. This is the start of your acclimatisation program. If you haven't used crampons or an ice axe before, this is your introduction. We'll spend some time getting used to walking in crampons and swinging an ice axe. Afterwards we'll weave our way through the crevasses to find a picnic spot with a view. If you're feeling brave there'll be an opportunity to climb some steep ice. Then we return to Chamonix on the railway and on to the chalet for dinner and a relaxing evening.

The start of our three day trek. We'll spend two nights in high mountain huts one of them in Switzerland. It's a wonderful trip and good acclimatisation and training. We'll set off after a leisurely start in the morning, with time to sort out your gear and make any equiment changes you made need. Then we'll take the cable car from Le Tour to Col de Balme (2130m). From here we'll walk along side the Glacier de Tour for two hours to a high mountain refuge the Albert Premier 2707m.

Alpine refuges are fantastic places. There's a sunny terrace to enjoy a beer and the view, espresso coffee and fresh baked pie. After a rest you'll have the opportunity to go out on the glacier. If you like, we can go down into the bowls of a crevasse or walk under the spectacular Aig du Chardonnet. Or if you prefer you can stay on the terrace and soak up the sun. That evening we'll have earned our three course meal in the refuge. Sleeping is in dormitories with blankets and pillows provided.

Plateau du Trient as seen from the Trient Hut.

We're up bright and early at five am. As the sun comes up we'll be crunching across the glacier in our crampons. Our aim for the day is to climb the Petite Fourche (3520m) from where we're hoping for a view all the way to the Matterhorn. The ascent is mostly walking with some scrambling on to the summit. No doubt you'll be feeling the altitude so we'll take it slow and steady with lots of photo opportunities. From the summit we abseil down an ice cliff into Switzerland. After the excitement's over we've got a gentle walk to the Trient refuge 3170m and lunch on the terrace. After a siesta there'll be the chance for a little afternoon activity for those who wish to learn crevasse rescue or experience some more steep ice.

Crossing the plateau du Trient on the way to climb the Aiguille du Tour.

This morning is another early start with the aim being to climb the Aig du Tour (3542m). Again, it's mostly walking on snow with a rocky scramble to its precarious summit. Our descent takes us over a col and back into France. We descend back to Argentiere for a late lunch, a relaxing afternoon and dinner at the chalet.

So all the training is over and we're ready for the ascent of Mont Blanc. We'll now be joined by more guides to give us the best chance of success.
The route we choose will depend on the conditions and your preferences. Normally we'll set off from Les Houches, a short drive down the valley where we'll take a cable car then a train to a height of 2077m. From here we'll walk to either the Tete Rousse or the Gouter Hut (3817m) where we'll spend most of the night. Those going via the Cosmique start later in the day with a shorter first hike from the Aiguille du Midi.

Final ascent of Mont Blanc

Both routes require a very early start, with all the climbing on snow. the route from the Tete Rousse and the Gouter is not technical, although the final ridge is exposed, but the route from the Cosmique rquires some technial ice climbing and although less exposed is slightly more demanding. As the air gets thinner, the going gets harder so we'll keep our pace slow and steady and with luck we'll be on the summit just after dawn and enjoying those spectacular views.

We can go down the same way or by another route and would hope to be in the valley mid to late afternoon.

The final evening is time to reflect on the adventures of the week and celebrate over dinner at the chalet.

Transfers to Geneva are available on request. .

Mont Blanc ascents success rate.

Mont Blanc Ascents 2005 - 85% success rate During the Summer of 2005 we ran 7 weeks of Mont Blanc and 3 private groups with a total of 67 people who came to ascend Mont Blanc. Of these 67 people, 57 made it to the top of Mont Blanc. Of the 10 who didn't make it to the top, 4 suffered from altitude sickness or lack of fitness, 2 had injuries, 1 had to leave early, 3 had bad weather. Two of the 4 who lacked sufficient fitness ascended the Grand Paradiso in Italy instead.

Mont Blanc Ascents, 2006 - 70% success rate. During the summer of 2006 we ran 8 weeks of Mont Blanc ascents with a total of 68 people. Of these 68, 54 reached the summit of Mont Blanc. Of the 14 who didn't make it, 11 of them had bad weather in early June (which is not usual) although 4 of these 11 stayed an extra day (their guide was happy to postpone free of charge) and reached the Mont Blanc Tacul. 3 of the 14 who did not reach the summit suffered from lack of fitness/altitude problems.

Mont Blanc Ascents, 2007 - 56% success rate. We ran 8 weeks of Mont Blanc ascents during the summer of 2007. Unfortunately the weather during the summer of 2007 was not good and none of the Mont Blanc companies in the valley had a good sucess rate. The bad weather made attempting to summit dangerous and the Gouter Hut was often closed due to high winds.
Mont Blanc Ascents, 2008 - 80% success rate. Summer 2008 was a good summer. We ran 6 weeks of Mont Blanc ascents, had all of our bookings at the Gouter and were lucky with the weather for nearly all the summits.
Mont Blanc Ascents, 2009 - 75% success rate. We ran 6 weeks of Mont Blanc ascents, had all of our bookings at the Gouter and due to lots of flexibility from our Guides, some who did Mont Blanc in a day, others who did back to back Mont Blancs when the group had to turn back but the next day was better, we had a very good success rate.
We offer an alternative summit.
Unlike many of the other companies we do offer an alternative summit to the Mont Blanc ascent and all of those clients who were unable to attempt Mont Blanc due to weather conditions were taken to Italy to climb the Gran Paradiso. This proved very popular and had a very high success rate.

What our Clients had to say:

Dear Shelagh
I just wanted to email and thank, you, Martin, Neil and Andy for the most amazing week at The McNab Chalet, on behalf of myself and the rest of the group we had a truly amazing time and the whole experience will be with us for the rest of our lives.
Thank you Martin for all the fantastic meals you prepared for us, they were just the ticket after our treks, the whole chalet experience was great, very infomal and homely, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
Many thanks to Neil and Andy for their expert guiding,encouragement and sense of humour, from day one we felt safe and secure with them both and they took us to the most amazing places, the Alps are truly stunning and awe inspiring. As for the Mont Blanc day, I think the 5 of us who made it can honestly say it was the toughest thing we've ever done. We're so glad we had to take the Cosmique route, although a lot more technical and tougher than the Gouter, we thought it was just incredible and can't believe we all made it.
Thanks to you all at McNab, we'd have no hesitation in recommending you to anyone looking for adventure and great hospitality, I really hope we can return to the McNab chalet one day.
Darren Franklin, group of 6, 27th Aug to 3rd Sept 09

Thank you all for your wonderful company. This was one of my best vacations ever.
Andy Morang, September 09
Vicksburg, Mississippi

We would like to give you all our collective thanks for a great trip the other week and especially the assistance you offered us all in making a 2nd attempt on the mountain.
Despite the pressures of running a fantastic chalet, providing excellent food for your guests, providing first class advice for us novice 'mountaineers' and having a geographical knowledge of the area that was second to none, your whole team bent over backwards to get us back on the mountain after a failed attempt on the Tuesday, which was greatly appreciated by everyone involved. Not only did we get a second attempt but you allowed us to stay on for an extra day to do so, providing hospitality that was above and beyond the call of duty!
Without Martin's cooking I believe that none of us would have made the summit. Without Neil's eagerness, banter and enthusiasm we may not have pushed ourselves so hard (to the limit for Ade and David!) and without Andy's patience and belief there may never have been the second, successful attempt at the summit - he had to summit twice in 24 hours to get us back up there! Of course, without Shelagh's organisation we would never have got out there in the first place!
A huge thanks to you all for our fantastic week. One which provides great memories now that the blisters have cleared and our legs feel human again.
Best wishes for the remainder of the year, good luck for the forthcoming winter season and we hope to see you all again at some point.
Now 'man-up' and get on with some work......!
Cheers, Matt, Ade and Jon, 3rd Sept 09
Nottingham

An excellent trip, and the support of the guides and Martin's culinary expertise made this an experience to remember! Thanks for the superb hospitality, food and accomodation.
Bill, Paul, Paul and Mark, July 06

Other teams turned back but thanks to a huge dose of faith in our abilities by our guide (why I will never know), and a good deal of hauling me up, at some point our little team of three actually made it.

The world's best chocolate cake at the McNab Chalet.
Melissa Butcher in the Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 05

I would just like to say last week was great, hospitality & professionalism of your team was first class. At the end of the week no aches, no pains and no blisters. Cheers.
Alan Robinson, Preston, MBA 1, June 05

Overall a fantastic experience.
Craig Crowther, MBA 1, June 04

McNab Chalet was faultless, excellent accommodation and better food than a restaurant.
Claire Smith, MBA 4, July 04

Whole trip was well planned and the week itinerary was clearly explained along with options (if the weather wasn't good).
Mark Cunningham, MBA 1, June 04

McNab were fantastic.
Graham Pay, MBA3 July 04

What a fantastic week that will remain with us for the rest of our lives! Thanks to Martin and Mel for looking after us at the chalet - Martin if you ever give up your day job - become a top chef (that lamb was incredible). Miles for sheer professionalism and ultra cool approach (even if he does cheat at cards!) and Matt who got Rich and I up Mont Blanc despite the "Umbungo joke".
The Green Family (Dad, Mike and Rich), July 04

Can't say 'thanks' enough. Thanks to Keith, Melanie and Martin for unbelievable hospitality, kindness and friendship.

Thanks of course to our Guides...I'd certainly never have made it without the skills, encouragement and motivation you gave me.
Mike Griffiths, North Wales, Aug 03

Absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere at 'Chalet McNab' and Martin's cooking and hospitality combine to perfection with a brilliant mountaineering week.
Rob Moonie, Leeds, July 2001

Staying at Chalet McNab has been a real pleasure and I can't thank Martin enough for his friendship, hospitality and that cooking! Dave Murrell, London, July 2001

Weather - GREAT
Views - GREAT
Climbs - GREAT
Martin's cooking - GREAT
Mile's training - GREAT
The view from the top of Mont Blanc - GREAT
A GREAT week for everything
Phil Hill, Berkshire, Berks, July 2001

Climbing Mont Blanc

Author: Melissa Butcher

Sydney Morning Herald, November 2005

There are those holidays when the brochure really can't capture the entire experience. For example, a stroll up Mont Blanc, western Europe's highest peak at 4807 metres, sounded quite nice on paper. After all, the brochure promised a 'wonderful mountain excursion', 'spectacular views' and beer on sunny mountain terraces.

I must have missed the bit about 150 metre vertical ladder descents onto glaciers. I don't recall anything about being dropped into a 40 metre crevasse either (or stepping into a couple of others over the course of the week). There was nothing about requiring the gymnastic ability to land one crampon point on a tiny crack in the rock, while holding rope and ice axe in either hand and ignoring a death defying drop into Switzerland. The weather warning doesn't really prepare you for Mont Blanc on a bad day. And there was absolutely zilch about the psychological trauma of realising that I am more Bridget Jones than Lara Croft.

A climb of Mont Blanc begins in Argentierre, a gorgeous village tucked away at the end of a valley in the French Alps where people still close shop at 12.30 for a long boozy lunch. Home for the week was the very comfortable McNab Chalet in the town, and alpine huts while on the trek which are positively luxurious by Australian standards. Helicopters bring in enough food for three course meals, and enough wine and beer for a well stocked bar. Stunning views over snow fields and peaks come standard, but ear plugs are de rigeur in the communal sleeping areas.

The puncturing of any self-delusions I had about my ability to climb mountains began in the days preceding our planned ascent. To increase the chances of reaching the summit, a few days of preparation and acclimatisation are needed, particularly for those of us who live in the world's flattest, driest continent. Let's face it, we're not used to stomping around in snow, scrambling up peaks or leaping over crevasses in a single bound, none of which seemed to bother my English climbing companions. Within a day I realised I was no longer an over-achiever but in the special education class. I gave my best rendition of a diva and gave up any hope of making it to the summit.

Luckily the guides made a fine art of ignoring many of my pleas that week like 'I can't go on, just leave me here to die'. With some patient coaching, scrambling did become less a display of unco-ordination although I suspect the real climbers in my group were inwardly dying at my less than elegant execution of what is after-all a very elegant sport. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with a good bum slide, as long as you don't get your harness hooked on a rock so you're left hanging like limp lettuce.

The three days spent wandering over snow fields, and scrambling up smaller peaks for some spectacular views over the Alps, were a highlight of the adventure. For someone who had become uncomfortable with any sort of height, abseiling into a crevasse, albeit with a lot of handholding, was overcoming a fear I thought I'd have for life. Sure, they forgot to tell me how to get out of it resulting in a rather undignified hauling up but I wouldn't want to sound ungrateful.

Feeling less than confident the ascent of Mont Blanc itself took two days, with a gondola and train ride to help out. There's a gentle climb half way, and a scramble straight up to an overnight hut which sits precariously on a rocky outcrop at 3800 metres. From that point on everything gets faster and slows down at the same time. The half hour between 1.30 a.m. and departure at 2 a.m. is hectic with gear thrown on, backpacks prepared and breakfast eaten as quickly as possible. I hooked myself up between our guide, and my 6' 7" tail man praying he didn't fall down anything as there was no way my 5' 2" of nothing-like-muscle was going to be able to pull him out.

The climb began with a slow and steady plod up a heartbreaking dome of snow, after which there was a second where the going became even slower. There was little time to eat or drink as the weather closed in. The third rise was steeper and by then my stomach had had enough of the lack of food and oxygen and was about to throw up whatever was left. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse the weather turned really ugly. Wind ripped across the 50 cm wide summit ridge. Sleet hammered us, axes and poles were coated in ice an inch thick, and we looked like Scott in the Antarctic with frozen hair and skin.

Other teams turned back but thanks to a huge dose of faith in our abilities by our guide (why I will never know), and a good deal of hauling me up, at some point our little team of three actually made it. I can't say I remember much - there was a white out, a gale, and a blizzard - my glasses iced over and I couldn't see a thing on the way down.

The record ascent of Mont Blanc, running from the valley floor to the top and back again, is about six hours. It took our team about 30, with a few hours sleep in the middle. We covered the final three kilometres to the summit at about 500 metres an hour. I'd heard Mont Blanc described earlier as a 'brute of a mountain' which I thought was a bit unkind at the time, but it's not a mountain to be taken lightly. Three climbers were killed the week after our party had ascended although they were attempting a far more technical route. Statistically only about one out of three who attempt it will make the summit, which makes the odds from our group - eight out of eleven - pretty good.

We made it back to the village, the last team, to a hot bath, champagne and the world's best chocolate cake at the McNab Chalet. Within a few days most of the bruising and swelling had disappeared, and what was left was a strange desire to do it again. They didn't mention in the brochure how peaceful it was when there's no-one else on the trail or when you're sitting up on a perch overlooking Europe; how good it felt to, eventually, let go, to have absolutely no control over anything and to put your trust in someone else; and how great it felt to remember what we're capable of. Not bad, Bridget Jones, not bad. Lara would be proud.

And if Mont Blanc sounds too much there is plenty of action down below: mountain biking, beautiful lower level walks, chairlifts for the more sedate, and cafes, pubs and restaurants in Argentierre and near by Chamonix for apre-anything.