The main climbing season is the beginning of June to the end of September. It is possible to climb outside of this main season, but often the main huts are shut and there may be more snow or colder weather on the mountain. July and especially August are the most popular months.

Mont Blanc certainly is a serious mountain; its height means it catches weather and snowfall all year round. Obviously if you’re hiring a guide then it’s one of our main jobs to assess any hazards and plan appropriately. We generally use the classic Goûter route as it’s much less avalanche-prone than the other routes on the mountain. Safety is certainly our number one priority, and we wouldn’t even set foot on the mountain if we thought conditions were unsafe.

It depends on weather, conditions, your fitness, etc. When clients are well trained, vetted and acclimatised before the trip, summit success rates are high. If you book a six-day course, and therefore have two potential summit days, you stand a pretty good chance. The uncertainty is an integral part of mountaineering.

Before the summit attempt we give you an honest prediction of weather, conditions and your fitness, meaning we can make a team decision if something isn’t looking ideal. We would then switch to a different mountain near Chamonix or Switzerland — there are a lot of very good 4,000m options.

The fitter the better! Depending on the route, Mont Blanc is around a twelve-hour round trip, with about 1,700m of ascent, so your training needs to reflect this. The fitter you are, the more chance you have of summiting and the more you will enjoy the ascent and descent.

The altitude affects everyone; certainly you will breathe more and move slower than you would at a lower altitude. One of the purposes of the warm-up phase is to get acclimatised to a moderate altitude before attempting Mont Blanc. Indeed, if you are unable to get high enough for acclimatisation, then you wouldn’t be able to attempt Mont Blanc, as you would be very likely to develop altitude sickness. During our initial meeting in Chamonix we talk about altitude and acclimatisation in detail.

Mont Blanc certainly isn’t just a walk. Taking the Goûter route as an example, there is rock and snow mixed ground to scramble up for about 600m from the Tête Rousse hut, which would be about a Grade II scramble in the UK. Often we wear crampons for this section. Higher up on the Bosses ridge, there are narrow sections where you will need good crampon skills and a head for heights. It’s not nearly as exposed as some alpine ridges, but you will need to be happy on a reasonably narrow ridge.

View our Mont Blanc Kit List page for full clothing and equipment recommendations.

Yes — we hire all technical equipment such as ice axes, crampons, harnesses and helmets (see our Equipment Hire page). You can hire mountaineering boots in Chamonix at the beginning of the trip.

The mountain huts, or refuges, are more like basic mountain hotels — certainly not like a garden shed! They have dormitory-style sleeping accommodation and often sleep around a hundred people at a time. Breakfasts and dinners are served on a set-menu basis, and you can buy lunches, soft and alcoholic drinks, and snacks. They are pretty comfortable, though they get busy in the main season when twenty people in a room may all be getting up in the middle of the night to climb Mont Blanc!

We very rarely stop for a long lunch on the mountain. Instead we take regular short breaks where you can have a snack and a drink of water — it’s important to keep moving and stay warm. Bring food that you can eat on the go and that won’t freeze: snack bars, flapjacks, sandwiches and energy pouches work well. During our meeting and warm-up phase we will advise you on what and how much to take.