Training and Acclimatization
The itinerary for the first three days is not always identical from one course to another. As the summer advances, conditions change, and the guide in charge might decide on another program for these days. Any such changes will be announced at the latest during the briefing on arrival day.

Day 0 – Arrival day – Afternoon brief
We meet in Chamonix in the late afternoon. The guide will present the program. We hope everyone can join this briefing as it is a great chance to ask last-minute questions and meet the entire group.

Day 1 – Trek to the Albert Premier hut, 2702m
Rendez-vous in the Le Tour village around ten o’clock. You can take a bus from the town centre to the meeting place.
With a lift, we reach the Col du Balme, where the trek to the Albert Premier hut starts. The walk takes about 2-2.5 hours.
After eating lunch at the refuge (you can bring your sandwich or buy one in the hut), we descend to the glacier below the refuge. Here, we spend valuable time practising alpine techniques using crampons and ice axes.
We spend the night in the hut to acclimatize and be able to start early the next morning.

Day 2 – Climb of the Aiguille du Tour / Tete Blanche or Petit Fouche
Setting off pre-dawn (a so-called “alpine start),  we enjoy the stillness of the early morning and will hopefully enjoy a beautiful sunrise. The Alpine start makes progress much easier as we can benefit from more firm or frozen snow on our way up the mountain. We have many various peaks to climb. We can go for the Aiguille du Tour, Petite Fouche, or the Tete Blanche. We will decide upon the objective according to the group size and the current conditions. Any route we take will involve glacier travel,  climbing, and great views of the surrounding peaks if the weather god is with us. Before lunch, we will make our way back down towards the valley. Everyone will have time to relax in the afternoon.

Day 3 – Aig. du Midi or rock-climbing.
We will lift to the top of the Aiguille du Midi early and experience the beautiful area around the Col du Midi. The descent down the narrow ridge of the Aiguille du Midi will be a good test and valuable training before the climb of Mont Blanc.
Suppose the weather isn’t good enough to access the Aig. du Midi, or if conditions are too icy on the ridge, we will choose another excellent venue for the day. This could be a half-day of rock climbing/scrambling in the Aiguilles Rouges or on a nearby climbing crag—a good investment before climbing the rocks between the Tete Rousse and the Gouter hut.
We try not to make this a massive day. We must focus on the last three days of climbing Mont Blanc.
At the end of our day, we will make a debrief and explain and plan for the last three days.

The Mont Blanc ascent
We set aside the last three days for our Mont Blanc attempt. We aim to spend two nights in huts on the Mont Blanc, but due to the difficulty of assuring consistent huts in the same refuges, the order of our stays in the huts might not be the same from course to course.

Day 4 – Trek to the Tete Rousse hut
After a well-earned rest, we turn our attention and focus toward climbing the Mont Blanc. We will attempt the Mont Blanc by the Tete Rousse/Gouter route.
We aim to stay in the Tete Rousse hut for the night before we attempt the Mont Blanc. From the Nid d’Aigle train station, we only have about a two-hour trek to the refuge on relatively easy trails. If the path is slippery, we might wear crampons before the Tete Rousse hut. Some prefer wearing trainers to avoid walking in hard-soled mountaineering boots on this first day.

Day 5 – Summit Climb
It’s a long climb from the Tete Rousse hut to the summit. The first 700m from the Tete Rousse hut is the most technical. We use the rope from the refuge and climb the Gouter ridge to 3800m. Crossing the notorious “Grand Couloir” is a crucial passage on this stretch. To cross it safely and efficiently, it’s essential to have good timing and be careful while maintaining a steady pace. Once on the actual ridge towards the Gouter hut, the climbing can be pretty nice. Often, we can climb on dry rocks; other times, when the mountain is snowy, we must keep our crampons on all the way. The climb takes about 1h30 to 2h. We stop shortly in the Gouter hut, continue on a snow ridge (10 min), and start climbing the immense snow slopes of the Dome du Gouter. We walk up for about one hour on mostly easy snow slopes, often crossing over some deep crevasses. Reaching the Col de Dome, we finally see the summit of Mont Blanc. A short descent leads us below the Vallot shelter at the start of the “Bosses” ridge at 4315m (2h). The route steepens, and we mount the Bosses ridge and cross several sections to the summit that demand precision and attention. We reach the summit after about 1h30mn. After a good rest on the summit but not long enough to get cold, we will take the same route down as we came up.
We spend an additional night in the Gouter or the Tete Rousse hut, allowing for a mellow descent Friday to the lush valley floor.

Day 6 – Descend to Les Houches
If we are coming down from the Gouter hut, we have about four hours of descent to the train, and we will depart very early to cross the Grand Couloir while it’s still cold. From the Tete Rousse, it’s only about 1h30mn. What would have been a struggle with tired legs yesterday becomes a pleasant stroll down the mountain and an excellent way to enjoy our last time together on the hill.
In the Valley, we have a refreshment and give each other goodbyes. Hopefully, this is just the start of many more mountain adventures.

Note:
If the weather and conditions are too bad for climbing Mont Blanc, we will do other climbs during the last three days. If one participant is not fit for the Mont Blanc, they must stay in the Valley when the rest of the team goes for the summit. Within our possibility, we will assign a guide to do other climbs with this participant(s). (This is mainly only possible if your teammate is willing also to stay down or if you are on a 1-1 ratio).