Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn (Haute route)

Hi Phil,

Just booked onto this trip, so excited, only 4-ish weeks away! An ascent of the Breithorn sounds fantastic, do share any details you have. Hope your prep (if any!) is going well.

Any other fellow travellers out there? Apparently there are 11 of us booked on now.

Megan

Hi Megan

 11 is a fair sized group.  My prep at the moment is making sure I don't hurt myself rock climbing etc....!!! 

Info about the climb (from Peter at Exodus)

No unfortunately we can’t book it in advance, sorry. The leader can help to book it a day or two before.  The route is quite weather dependent so it is better to do last thing. It is never a problem to hire the equipment or find a guide so there is no advantage in doing so before.

  The information below may help you. These prices are approximate and the guide fee is based on 4 clients sharing the guide.

 The ascent of the Breithorn is optional and not included in the price of

the holiday. You need approximately CHF185 for the guide depending

on the size of the group if you want to attempt the climb and CHF 108

for a return cable car to the Klein Matterhorn. The maximum ratio is

1 guide to 6. This is arranged with and paid directly to the Alpine

Guides' Centre in Zermatt while you are on the holiday. You will need

some special mountaineering equipment to climb the mountain - you

can bring it with you or hire it locally (see 'Equipment for the optional

ascent of the Breithorn' below). The Alpine Guides are members of

the IFMGA (formerly UIAGM).

Equipment for the optional ascent of the Breithorn

Please note that each client must book this directly with the Alpine

Guides Centre in Zermatt while on the holiday. It cannot be booked in

advance. It is totally weather dependent, so if the weather is bad the

Alpine Guides will not guide you up the mountain.

The Alpine Guides will provide ropes. In addition to your daily trekking

gear you will need boots that will take a crampon (this is why we do

not recommend soft fabric boots), crampons, walking pole or walking

axe and a sit harness.

The crampons, axe or ski pole, and harness can all be hired in Zermatt

for a total of 30-40 Swiss Francs. You can also hire mountaineering

boots if your own walking boots are not compatible with fitting a

crampon; these cost around £10 for the day. Alternatively you can

bring your own gear if you already have it.

The weather in the summer can vary enormously on high Alpine

4000m peaks, ranging from a baking hot day with no wind where

you are likely to get very hot, to a clear cold day with strong winds

where you will need windproofs, warm clothes, a good woolly hat

and thick gloves to protect you from sub-zero temperatures. The sun

is extremely strong at this altitude and so total sun block and good

sunglasses are essential.

PS you need to take out Exodus' (or another companies) mountaineering insurance.  In the case of Exodus it is the one above you need for the general Haute trail trip.

Hi Phil, Megan,

Another fellow traveller here. An ascent of the Breithorn at the end does sound like a fanastic way to end the trip if the weather is good. It does look like booking via the Alpine Centre in Zermatt is the simplest way to arrange it (http://www.alpincenter-zermatt.ch/welcome.html). Hopefully it could be sorted once we get to Randa. My only issue might be the insurance, I've got cover for the trip but that won't cover the Breithorn and most travel insurance companies don't like me at the moment (or want large volumes of cash) :-( That said I think my Austrian Alpine Club membership should cover rescue/repatriation for the ascent.

I'll drop an e-mail to one of the guides I know working on Exodus trips out of Chamonix to see if he knows who is leading our trip yet and if he knows any guides in Zermatt for the Breithorn, he sorted out an excellent guide for two people in our group that wanted to go onto the Mont Blanc area from the Aiguille du Midi at the end of the Mont Blanc Circuit lat year.

Have either of you thought about what to do on the other rest/limber up days? On the Tour du Mont Blanc I got some excellent walks in on these days, a via ferrata up Mont Chetif and a walk along the Mont Joly ridge. I'm not sure what there is around Les Haudères but for the limber up day I've got my eye on a nice scramble/walk over aiguillette du Brevent to le Brevent which we didn't quite get to do last year.

Preparation wise I finally started to break-in the new boots yesterday, I got them last September and promply continued to use the old ones, but they've not got much tread now. Thankfully they are the same as the old ones and seem nice and comfortable already. Otherwise it is just keeping up with the cycling, walking, gym :-( and running until we go. Oh and like Phil avoiding injuring myself climbing, though due to work pressures I think the closest I'll get to a crag before the trip is one of the local indoor walls called the Cragg!

 

Adam.

Hi Adam,

 No I've not done any research for the rest days, probably will scramble up whatever is near to the camp/hut I guess, though now you've made me think will have a google around beforehand.

Hi Phil,

I have to be honest I wasn't that organised last year, the walks on the rest days were not finalised until the last minute. I think we finally decided on the Via Ferrata whilst on the bus into Courmayeur and I seem to recall having to buy the map for Mont Joly along with my lunch that morning!

I've not heard back from guide I know that is working out of Chamonix, I'm not sure how often they get chance to catch-up on e-mails etc. So I guess who we get will be a surprise for Sunday.

I've discovered a few of the guys I climb with are going to be around Chamonix over the weekend so I'm trying to negotiate meeting up for a quick bit of Sport Climbing on Les Gaillands, which is just down the road from our campsite, at somepoint on the limber-up day. If that fails I might see if they can pop past the campsite to loan me a rope for the day, assuming my pack isn't too heavy I'll chuck some quickdraws and my climbing shoes etc in. I'm sure if you've got a harness with you and were up for it you could join us.

Anyway see you and the others on Sunday, either at Heathrow, Geneva or Chamonix.

Adam.

Hi Phil, Adam, Must admit it's been a busy while I've not had the chance to cast much thought over the rest days, hoping to find inspiration when we arrive! The Breithorn is certainly on the to do list if there's interest & the chance to make it happen though. Sounds like you are both a little more organised than me, and limbered up as given bar the odd snowdon stroll I've not done much since everest base camp last year! Still, can't wait, only a few days to go now! Megan

Hi

I've done nothing about the rest days.... and am only just working out how many francs to get so not *that* organised.  I'm not sure I'll have space for my climbing gear, and I may decide not to risk hurting myself after being careful whilst at home!