Most Inspirational Moment
Being constantly surrounded by the stunning snow capped mountains and glaciers. Favourite hikes include the Italian Val Ferret with legendary hot chocolate, incredible wild flowers and well deserved ice cream at the end. Also the hike to the stunning Lac Blanc from La Flegere, which included a cable car ascent over the valley, and our free day hike from the middle cable car station of Aiguille du Midi, along the valley to the Mer de Glace Glacier with descent by cog railway. Views from the top of Aiguille du Midi were breathtaking, not only because they were beautiful, but also because there were 35kmph winds and sub zero temperatures! Sadly the cloud base was too low and it was too windy for the cable car over the glacier to Italy to run, but that was our only disappointment all week, and the walk made up for it!
Thoughts on Group Leader
Adrian was an extremely good leader. He is incredibly fit, very knowledgeable and a good judge of the group's ability for setting pace without being restrictive. He was very good humoured and helpful, and helped us negotiate the more challenging sections of the walk without any pressure. He kept the group motivated and took an interest in everyone. Couldn't fault him.
Advice for Potential Travellers
It's a week that requires a good level of fitness to get the most out of it. There are a lot of steep climbs over rough terrain, and some more tricky sections which are not suited to people who are scared of heights. Expect to negotiate steps, rocks, ladders, chains, wires, suspension bridges and some steep and narrow sections, but the mountain scenery more than makes up for the effort required. It's a great way to see some of the gorgeous scenery of the Mount Blanc circuit without the need for two weeks of long and strenuous days, there's no roughing it or constant moving from place to place, so you can have plenty of down time to relax and take it all in.
