Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa range. Mixed Climbing Course

Day 0 - Sun
Arrival

Travel to Courmayeur, to arrive in time for the Evening Briefing.

Your guide will run through safety routines and kit checks, as well as hand out rental equipment for the week, before we go on to a detailed discussion of everyones ambitions for the week, together with the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our planning. We’ll also have maps and guidebooks to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up before we head on to dinner.

Day 1 - Mon

8.30am – 4.00pm: Ascent of Pyramides Calcaires (2689m) – via south-east ridge.

Starting from Courmayeur we use the car to access the middle mountain rocky terrain of the Pyramides Calcaires (2689m) at the end of Val Veni Valley. This gives the opportunity to put big boot scrambling and climbing in to context on the alpine south-east ridge of the Pyramides Calcaires. At just under 3000m altitude this also offers good acclimatisation training before going in to the high alpine zone for the next four days.
This day you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out all day.
Round trip ~5-7hrs

Day 2 - Tue

8.30am – 4.00pm: Ascent of Aiguilles Marbrees (3535m) – traverse from nord-east to south-east ridge.

Early morning climb with Sky Way cable car to Punta Helbronner 3462m and after dropping off overnight kit at the Torino hut we rope up Aiguille du Marbree (3535m). Varies in difficulty depending on the snow cover, but normally involves both snowy ridge and rock scrambles. By sticking to the crest, some short pitches are encountered, but these can often be bypassed on the south side. The ridge can be traversed in either direction, but we prefer N – S. This means doing some of the more trickier pitches in the ascent, and an abseil to regain the glacier. After the ascent we should also have time to cover more advanced crevasse rescue skills.
Overnight and Half board in the hut
This day you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out all day.
Round trip ∼4hrs - 5hrs

Day 3 - Wed

8.30am – 4.00pm: Ascent of Aiguilles d'Entrèves (3600m) – traverse from west to east ridge.

The Aiguille d'Entrèves (3600m)Aiguille d'Entrèves traverse is a great day out, traversing one of the best granite ridge of the range. The route isn’t overly long, making it ideal for a shorter day, or practicing leading on some varied alpine terrain. In afternoon – Return to Courmayeur, course debrief and preparing for the climb on next two days.
This day you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out all day.
Round trip ∼4hrs - 5hrs

Day 4 - Thu

9.00am – 4.00pm: Courmayeur – Guide del Cervino hut 3515m.

1.30hrs by road takes us to the Cervinia town situated at foot south face of Matterhorn. A cable car is used to take us to 3515m and a spectacular glacial environment, a further 2 minutes on foot takes us to the hut. The day continue with the crevasse rescue session (this is a wide ranging topic – with different skills being appropriate to different levels of experience, so we tailor the training to each particular group). In afternoon briefing – short talk on alpine rescue, using guidebooks and how to obtain reliable and up to date climbing conditions information.
Overnight and Half board in the hut
This day you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out all day.

Day 5 - Fri

3.30am – 5.00pm: Ascent of Pollux (4092m) – via the normal route.

Climb Pollux (4092m). – A short, technical climb leading to a great viewpoint. The main difficulty on Pollux is the initial rocky buttress which is often climbed in crampons, with fixed chains on the hardest sections. At the top of the rock section a short, snowy or icy ridge leads up to the summit. In first afternoon return to Courmayeur via Plateau Rosà lift and by car from Cervinia.
This day you’ll need a packed lunch, as we’ll be out all day.
Round trip ~8-9hrs.

End of Program

Day 6 - Sat

Return home.

After a night of well-deserved rest, departure from Courmayeur for your destination.