Tour du Mont Blanc Current Conditions June 2015

After a very mild winter with not a lot of snow and warm spring there is no better time to experience the Tour du Mont Blanc. Due to early summer conditions accommodation has opened early and the trails are open.

We have our first self guided clients arriving this week so in preparation I have carried out a couple of day recce’s in two of the key parts of the trek, the Col du Bonhomme and the Grand Col Ferret to see for myself what trail conditions are like. There is snow above 2000m but it is passable with care. There are groups out doing the route so the snow patches have been well trodden. Although the snow is soft it is advisable to take walking poles to aid balance & give you stability whilst walking on the snow.

Col du Bonhomme: Continual snow unto the col from about 2150m, snow on the traverse between the Col du Bonhomme & the Col du Crox du Bonhomme, take care whilst traversing as a slip could send you down the slopes into the rocks below.

Grand Col du Ferret: Minimal snow on the Italian side apart from the last section, quite an amount of snow on the Swiss side but the terrain is at an easy angle so it should be easy to cross.

Where there are large snow patches and navigation could be difficult in bad weather they have put wooden stakes with dayglow markings on. If you have bad visibility follow these markers in addition to using your map & compass.

Most other days and area are free of snow, It is advisable to go via Bovine from Champex to Trient rather than Fenetre d’arpmtte where there will be a lot of snow and the terrain is very steep therefore a fall or slip could be serious.

For more information on the services and trekking holidays we offer see our website: www.montblanctreks.com

Sara Haley, UIMLA guide & owner of Mont Blanc Treks

Excellent time to take an Alps walking holiday, thanks to strong pound

Would you like to go on an Alps walking holiday, with Mont Blanc Treks? If so, you’ll be pleased to learn that it’s now far more affordable to do so, because the pound to euro exchange rate has hit a 7-year high. To be specific, sterling recently touched 1.4256 against Europe’s common currency, its strongest since November 7th 2007.

What this means for you is that, when you exchange currencies to go walking in the Alps, you’ll get far more euros than in the recent past. For example, if you exchange £2,500 to spend a fortnight in the Alps, you’ll now get +€560 more than if you’d done so back at the start of 2014, when the pound was far weaker.

In other words, that’s +€560 extra sitting in your pocket, at no additional cost to you, just because the exchange rate has risen! With that sort of money, you could extend your Alps walking holiday by a day or two, splash out, in brief really make the most of Mont Blanc Trek's range of activities!

Moreover, it could soon become even better value to take a walking holiday in the Alps, if sterling climbs higher versus the euro. The pound could exceed this 7-year high, first, if Greece exits the Eurozone, as looks entirely possible. Second, the pound may also continue to climb, because the UK economy is easily outpacing the Eurozone’s.

With this in mind, make the most of this advantageous exchange rate, and book your walking holiday in the Alps!

By Peter Lavelle

Pure FX

http://www.purefx.co.uk

+44 (0) 1494 671800

peter.lavelle@purefx.co.uk

Summer trekking in the Alps 2015

After a very easy winter in terms of snowfall and low temperatures and a very warm spring so far this year we are set for a trouble free start to the season.

This was the winter that never really happened after a disastrous Christmas with no snow it finally arrived in time for New Year. With very sparse snowfall during the rest of the season this years skiing wasn't the best.

And then for the spring... Amazingly warm with temperatures in April of 20 degrees in the Chamonix valley it felt more like summer.

This all spells good news for our forthcoming summer season as it means the snow on the high ground will clear quickly making the Tour du Mont Blanc easily accessible in June and the Walkers Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt doable in early July.

We offer a wide range of guided & self guided options for the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walkers Haute Route & Gran Paradiso from June to the end of September. For more information see www.montblanctreks.com

Traverse of the Gran Paradiso

Fancy a new challenge?

We have many clients who complete the Tour du Mont Blanc and Walkers Haute Route with us and then ask the question what's next? Therefore we have for some time been looking for a new challenge within this area of the Alps.

There are lots on offer, Tour of the Matterhorn, Tour of the Monte Rosa but one that stood out for a number of reasons was the Traverse of the Gran Paradiso. Why? In 2014 we recced the route to find out....

This amazing trek takes you through the Gran Paradiso National Park high in the mountains to the west of the Aosta Valley from Champorcher in the south to Courmayeur in the North.

The trail is amazing, remote and quiet. Some days we trekked all day and only cam across a couple of other fellow walkers. The scenery is stunning, wildlife in abundance as we passed great herds of Ibex, watched marmots play and enjoyed the sights of Eagles gliding above the rock faces and over the high valleys.

Challenging is an appropriate word to describe the route, the ascents and descents are steep and tough so a great deal of good mountain fitness is required and its not for the faint hearted as you gain some incredibly lofty positions well over 3000m with the highest col being Col Loson at 3300m!

One important factor that we mustn't overlook... This trek is in Italy for its entirety, which means fantastic food, wine and coffee at every rest stop. The accommodation is friendly and welcoming as only the Italians know hoe to do.

So if you are looking for a new challenge for summer 2015 look no further, the Traverse of the Gran Paradiso is a fantastic gem. We offer this trek Self- guided and we also have a bespoke guided trek running in August 2015 with bag transfer support.

For more information on Guided or Self-guided trekking on the Traverse of the Gran Paradiso, Tour du Mont Blanc, Walkers Haute Route and any of our treks see: http://www.montblanctreks.com/gran-paradiso

Summer 2014 on the Tour du Mont Blanc & Walkers Haute Route

Another busy summer season comes to an end in the Chamonix valley and ends on a high with superb weather throughout September & October however this wasn't always the case!

After a warm spring the trails were relatively free of snow in time for the arrival of our first clients at the end of June. Our first guided and self guided clients enjoyed good weather on the Tour du Mont Blanc but this was soon to change with the arrival of July!

Generally July is a great time to do the TMB we have settled warm weather the trails are not mad busy however this year July was a test! The western Alps experienced some horrendous weather lots of rain and cold temperatures and snow on the high ground. It seems our Haute Route treks from Chamonix to Zermatt faired better as they were trekking further east they seemed to miss out on most of the poorer weather, lucky for them!

August brought improvement but still unsettled at times with one of our August TMB groups experiencing high winds, rain & snow on the first section, fortunately for the group the weather changed and for the second half of the trip they enjoyed magnificent views.

We hoped and prayed for an Indian summer & boy did we get it with amazing clear & sunny weather for all our groups on the TMB and Chamonix to Zermatt in. September.

We are always asked the question which is the best month to do the Tour du Mont Blanc and Haute Route however there really isn't an answer to that question. Every year is totally different. Everybody who has mountain experience knows that weather can be fickle and temperatures can change rapidly with good weather an be replaced with bad fairly quickly but on average you would expect to have one or two day poor weather for the duration of your trek. 

With that in mind this year certainly wasn't the norm and don't let it out you off, the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Walkers Haute Route are without a shadow of a doubt two of the best multi day treks worldwide.

For more information on Guided or Self-guided trekking on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walkers Haute Route and any of our treks see: www.montblanctreks.com

Summer 2013 continued

August, good weather continues

August brought continued good weather which was fantastic for our Augusts treks. We saw one half day of rain for the full duration on the Tour du Mont Blanc and likewise on the Haute Route.

This year we have used the Refuge Mottets for our guided and self guided TMB treks, this proved to be a very popular and clients really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place, great food and the evenings entertainment after dinner by the accordion playing host. Excellent evenings were also to be had with great accommodation and food along the way at the Hotel du Bois, Les Houches, Refuge Bonatti, Val Ferret, Hotel du Glacier, Champex.

On the Walkers Haute Route accommodation can be as varied as on the Tour du Mont Blanc, we had made some changes to that used in 2013 and these proved to be enjoyable. Using Grachen as a stopping point rather than Gasenreid gave us more options in terms of accommodation with the lovely Hotel Wallister and Hannigralp, The Hotel Antika in Zermatt was also fantastic.

September and back to snow!

Generally speaking September is usually a quieter time to undertake any of our treks however that didn't seem to be the case for us during the first half of the month with at one point with guided and self guided we had 46 folk trekking along the routes at any one time.

After just one month without snow on the routes September brought some much cooler weather with snow down to 1600m for one or two days. Although when it snows at this time of year it doesn't last it still caused a few minor problems but on the plus side it allowed folk to test out their warm weather kit! What was lost view wise the groups made up for in commaradery with our September guided group. 

Our self guided clients had a fabulous time with some fabulous days of pristine views with cooler air and the freshening of new snow.

And now for a little reprieve before the next season arrives, 2014 winter and summer bring it on!

Summer 2013

It's hard to believe that it is October already and after a very
busy season we have now time to reflect on the trials and tribulations of this
summer.

June Winter remains!

Col des Chaux from the Cabane du Mont Fort, July 2013

June is always a tricky time to undertake any of the high level
trekking routes in the Alps, for example, people presume the Tour du Mont Blanc
will be fine by mid June but in reality that is often not the case, depending
on the amount of snow during the winter and the weather and temperatures during
the spring therefore with the snow abundant winter of 2013 and the extremely
cold spring the start of the season was a challenge. After spending some time
recceing the route mid June and passing this information on to our self-guided
clients starting later in the month we found that there were three main areas
of concern... Day 3 Col du Bonhomme, Col de la Criox du Bonhomme & Col des
Fours, day 4 via the Col du Seigne & the Mont Fauvre Spur and day 6 via the
Grand Col Ferret. Self guided clients who started towards the end of June had a
challenge on their hands and were advised to hire crampons and walking roles to
aid balance on steep slopes where a slip or fall could be problematic. On a
recce to the Col du Bonhomme on the xx June it was still snowing at 2000m just
making the problem a whole lot worse, when would spring and summer finally
arrive?

Col du Bonhomme, 27 June 2013

July, Straight into Summer

The start of July brought a total change to the weather, it was as
though someone had flicked a switch bypassing spring and going directly into
summer with temperatures of 28 degrees. This made the routes more achievable
however the amount of snow would take sometime to abate on the more sheltered
shady slops and high Cols.

Swiss Valais from Bovine

Our self-guided treks

Both our Tour du Mont and Walkers Haute Route proved popular again
this year and during late June and July we had many groups undertaking each
trek, with or without crampons!! During summer 2013 in addition to our own
clients we also provided self guided TMB treks for Macs Adventure providing
accommodation, self guided packs (daily route cards, maps and important trek
information), bag transfers and on hand support during the trek for all
clients.

Our guided treks

Walkers Haute Route July 7- 21 July, excellent weather and snow
abundant cols.

Walkers Haute Route group July 2013

After a recce of the high sections of the Walkers Haute Route we
realised that it really wasn't advisable to take our guided group over the
Fenetre d'Arpette and on the section between Cabane du Mont Fort and Arolla.
The week before we amended the route by taking the Bovine route from Trient to
Champex and arranging a minibus from Le Chable to Arolla then adding an extra
night in Grimentz which created an additional day of walking. The rest of the
trek remained unchanged although the group came across large amounts of snow on
the on and around all of the high Cols en-route. The Europaweg (high level
route from Grachen to Zermatt) continued to be a problem throughout the season,
the section between Europa Hutte remained closed and new stone fall between
Taschalp and Ottanwen made this section impassable. This meant that the low
route had to be taken for the majority of the season.

Tour du Mont Blanc,11-26 July & 28 July- 4 August, always be prepared!

TMB group July 2013

Descent from the Col des Fours July 2013

You would have through that by mid July that we would manage to get
around the tour du Mont Blanc without seeing that much snow, how wrong! Our
group that departed 7 July had fabulous weather and a great deal of residual
snow to deal with especially on day 3 from Contamines to Refuge Mottets. The
descent from the Col des Fours was epic and clients perfected the art of glissading
for the best part of 600m, this of course made that section of the descent
quicker than usual! Our only bad weather day was day 4 via the Col de Seigne
where wind, rain and low temperatures prevailed, this was a timely reminder
that having good kit with you at all times is essential and some of the group
who had decided to travel lightweight were cold and damp! Thanks to LaBet and
here sparkling wit we laughed our way through most of the day!

August and September to be continued....

For more info on our guided & self guided treks visit www.montblanctreks.com